X predicts a riot

It's been quite the weekend here in the UK. A tragedy in Southport last week has triggered a set of riots across the country, with emboldened extremists taking to the streets in acts of violence to protest what they see as the take-over of the country by immigrants.

It's been a thread of British culture that's been simmering near to the surface since the Brexit referendum, but the combination of an inciting event and the political right losing power in the general election seems to have led to it boiling over.

In Prospect, Alan Rusbridger explores the role of social media (and X in particular) in this:

Elon Musk’s misinformation machine made the horrors of Southport much worse

The X owner’s commitment to free speech absolutism contributed to a whirlwind of false reporting around the perpetrator’s identity. Why does he seem t…

masthead logoAlan Rusbridger

It will be interesting to see if, as the Home Secretary suggests will happen, people who incite riot on social media are arrested…

(There's also plenty of discussion on X of the mainstream news media’s role in stoking this. It will also be interesting to see if that spreads beyond the usual suspects on the platform.)

A (possible) peek at the future of search

During my break, OpenAI announced SearchGPT, their new LLM-based search engine. It's in a closed beta at the moment, with a waitlist for access. But this will give you a taste of what it's offering:

Everything a publisher should know about SearchGPT by OpenAI

Originally titled, “Everything an SEO should know about SearchGPT by OpenAI”, this LinkedIn post by digital marketing agency Go Fish Digital is required

Media Makers Meet | What's new in mediaContributor

Health warning: The “Google it” habit will be hard to break. SearchGPT will have to be compellingly better for enough use cases to get people to switch. So, for now, it's watching brief time.

Local journalism: new growth after the wildfire

One of my longest held and most cherished theories is that existing local news media will need to be burned away before their successors can grow and thrive in the aftermath. This piece from Press Gazette is evidence that this could actually happen:

Local heroes: The independent titles making news pay in London

Three independent publishers who are making local news in London: the Enfield Dispatch, Havering Daily and City Matters.

Press GazetteAmy Seal

I do worry about those titles hanging so much on the print editions, though. They carry so much more overhead than building a digital business.

Useful things

Stop a SLAAP

Useful piece from the j.co.uk folks on what to do if people use legal threads to try and kill a story:

What to do if you are threatened with a SLAPP lawsuit

TBIJ offers pointers on how to deal with legal letters that aim to scare reporters into retracting or toning down work

Journalism.co.ukLucy Nash

Courses

Talking of the Journalism News folks, I have a couple of courses kicking off in September:

Essential SEO skills for media professionals

This intensive online course taking place over four 90 minute Zoom sessions will teach you how to use SEO to plan, develop and optimise articles to find readers through Google and other search engines

Journalism.co.uk

Creating compelling newsletters

This four-session online course will give you the tools to create your own engaging online newsletter

Journalism.co.uk