New AI Chatbot at New York Post, an MS NOW Subscription Service & More: Media News Recap for August

Welcome to Media Insider, PR Newswire’s roundup of the biggest media stories from the past month.

August was full of must-read media industry headlines, covering the latest AI innovations in the newsroom, big changes for journalists covering the Trump administration, new subscription products and much more.

Dive into our recap to find out which stories you might have missed, and which ones need a deeper look.

New York Post launches “Hamilton” AI chatbot

New York Post Media Group is launching Hamilton, a custom AI chatbot, as part of a broader AI-powered personalized news experience. The chatbot and suite of AI tools are named after Alexander Hamilton, the paper’s founder.

Hamilton is available across the New York Post and California Post Android and iOS apps, and there are plans to extend it to the company’s sites on the open web. It delivers hyper-personalized content recommendations to users whenever they open their apps.

The features include the chatbot “Hamilton Search,” personalized news briefing “Post Express,” recommendation engine “Picked For You” and commentary and analysis discovery tool “Post Voices.” Hamilton pulls current and archived editorial content from the two newsrooms, but doesn’t produce original content or make any editorial judgments based on that content. (Axios)

In other AI news:

• The New York Times is testing AI-generated search summaries. (Semafor)
• Anthropic began watermarking text generated by its models to comply with European regulations. (TechCrunch)
• Apple is discussing new deals with publishers to use their content to power Siri AI. (Wall Street Journal)
• Prism News’s network of more than 200 AI-generated publications – posing as local newsrooms and hobby sites – shuttered. (Interlochan Public Radio)
• USA Today is testing different ways to reformat its website content to attract AI content licensing deals. (Digiday)

Washington Post Ordered to Rehire Fired Columnist

A private arbitrator ordered The Washington Post to rehire opinion columnist Karen Attiah and compensate her with back pay. Attiah was fired last September over her social media posts about the assassination of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk. She argued that the posts were within her purview as an opinion writer.

In the written decision, the arbitrator said The Post “did not have good and sufficient cause” to terminate Ms. Attiah and “violated” its labor agreement. Ms. Attiah said she is willing to return to her role at The Post and hopes the decision “sends a message to journalists and media institutions everywhere that freedom of expression is always worth fighting for.” A spokeswoman for The Post said that the company respects the arbitration process. (New York Times)

In other personnel news:

• Also at The Post, opinion section editor Adam O’Neal resigned a little over a year after taking the role. (New York Times)
• The Associated Press laid off 20 video production staff in the U.S. and moved those jobs to a new hub in India. (Poynter)
• At Fox News, Emily Compagno will move from her role as a co-host of the early-afternoon program “Outnumbered” to its most-watched program, “The Five,” as a co-host. (Variety)
• Vox.com laid off four employees, the first cuts since its acquisition by James Murdoch. (Reuters)
• The entire editorial staff of Restart, Walmart’s gaming site, was let go. (Aftermath)
• Christian Baesler was announced the permanent CEO of Business Insider.
• ProPublica hired four reporters to join its Washington bureau.

Karoline Leavitt stepping down as White House press secretary

President Trump announced in a Truth Social post that Karoline Leavitt would be stepping down from her role as White House press secretary at the end of the month (her last day was Aug. 27). In the post, he explained that Leavitt decided to leave the role in order to spend more time with her family. Leavitt was the youngest White House press secretary to ever hold the job.

In her own social post, Leavitt said “The truth is since returning to the White House after the birth of my daughter, I have felt in my heart that I cannot be the best mom my two young children deserve while devoting the constant time, energy, and attention required of the White House Press Secretary.” (Axios)

Read next:

• In early August, the FCC voted to repeal an ownership cap for media companies, opening the door for major broadcast TV consolidations. (Deadline)
• Veteran journalist Alex Brandon was named the AP’s chief White House photographer. (AP)
• The BBC is seeking to dismiss Trump‘s $10 billion lawsuit against the network, challenging the president’s claim that a documentary at issue aired in the U.S. (Deadline)
• The Pentagon fired Stars & Stripes publisher Max Lederer and the editor in chief, Erik Slavin. (AP)
• Trump nominated Sarah B. Rogers to oversee the parent agency of Voice of America. (New York Times)
• ABC is suing the FCC, claiming the network is being punished for its editorial decisions. (Variety)
• The Treasury department denied credentials to several individual reporters to cover the G20 finance meeting. (New York Times)

Paramount Has Considered Creating Oversight Body for CNN in Warner Deal

Paramount Skydance has reportedly considered setting up an oversight committee to govern CNN if its deal to acquire the news network’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, is approved.

“We always remain open to internal improvements to journalistic integrity,” Paramount said in a statement. The plan is believed to create the impression that Paramount takes the CNN’s journalistic independence seriously, a concern that has grown since Bari Weiss’s appointment at CBS News has caused repeated drama and skepticism about the network’s future. Inside CNN, there is a strong concern that Paramount’s executives “don’t know or don’t care” about managing the news giant for profit or for the future, according to one staffer. (Variety)

Read next:

• California’s attorney general canceled a meeting with Paramount reps to begin discussing a settlement of the state’s lawsuit seeking to block the Warner Bros. Discovery deal. (New York Times)
• The date for the antitrust trial has been set for March 2027. (CNN)
• Paramount CEO David Ellison penned an opinion piece for The New York Times defending the deal.

MS NOW to Launch Subscription ‘Membership’ Service in September for $7.99 per Month

MS NOW, the Versant-backed news outlet, plans to launch a new subscription-based membership, making it the last of the nation’s three main cable-news outlets to offer a stand-alone subscription service. The new platform will offer original content, new verticals, and ways to interact with the network’s anchors and reporters.

“We will continue to research, test, and refine this experience because we want it to be something that our loyal MS NOW fans genuinely love, as well as something that future fans genuinely need,” Rebecca Kutler, president of MS NOW, said in a statement.

The $7.99 per month price tag places the new service between CNN’s “All Access” ($6.99 per month) and Fox News Media’s Fox Nation ($8.99 per month). (Variety)

Read next:

• After more than two decades at NBC News, Peter Alexander debuted “State of Play with Peter Alexander” on MS NOW. (Editor & Publisher)
• NBC News is launching a weekly, subscriber-exclusive newsletter centered on Steve Kornacki’s signature data-driven analysis. (Axios)
• The Boston Globe is investing in local and specialist content to get more potential subscribers in the “front door.” (Press Gazette)
• Fox will keep its existing NFL rights deal through 2029. (Wall Street Journal)
• Former “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens is hoping to launch a new rival show with other fired staffers. (New York Post)

ICYMI

Here are a few more interesting stories from August:

• A new deal will bring six iHeartPodcasts titles to Disney+ and Hulu streaming platforms. (Barrett Media)
• PolitiFact is joining forces with local newsrooms in battleground states to help midterm voters navigate political claims and online misinformation. (Editor & Publisher)
• Nearly a year into its Creator Program, The Athletic has amassed 50 million video views and 100,000 new followers. (NiemanLab)
• The New York Times lost its first defamation lawsuit in the U.S. in more than 50 years. (New York Times)

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.