For years, leaders across the news publishing industry have gathered separately to address many of the same challenges, from strengthening local journalism to navigating digital transformation and public policy. This September, that changes. For the first time, the News/Media Alliance (NMA) and America’s Newspapers will hold their major annual meetings during the same week in Washington, D.C., creating a unified gathering designed to strengthen collaboration, expand advocacy and prepare publishers for the next chapter of local news.
During a recent episode of E&P Reports, Danielle Coffey, president and CEO of the News/Media Alliance, and Dean Ridings, president and CEO of America’s Newspapers, explained why the timing is right and why they believe a united industry voice has never been more important.
One industry, one voice
The idea to coordinate the events grew naturally from ongoing conversations between the two organizations as both were planning separate meetings in Washington.
Ridings said the decision reflected the close working relationship already shared between the organizations. “We have worked with News/Media Alliance on other smaller projects, and we had a great relationship with them,” he said, explaining that as both organizations were planning Washington events, they simply asked, “Why don’t we put these meetings together?” While acknowledging there were logistical challenges, Ridings said both groups were willing to make adjustments “for the good of the industry, for the good of our mutual members and our independent members.”
For Coffey, the collaboration represents something larger than scheduling convenience. She believes the industry’s effectiveness depends on presenting a unified front. “I think it’s imperative,” Coffey said. “When you have a united voice and you speak with one voice, you have a higher chance of success, of being heard, of being able to get the attention that’s needed in a very crowded information space.” She added that while legal victories and marketplace negotiations remain important, “we also need to be heard here in D.C.,” emphasizing that the industry “will only be successful if we do it together and if we are united.”
Advocacy takes center stage
Bringing the Senior Leadership Conference to Washington places publishers where many of today’s most consequential decisions affecting journalism are being made.
Ridings said publishers themselves remain the industry’s strongest advocates because of their existing relationships with elected officials back home. “Our members have relationships with their legislators,” he said. “They know them back in their hometowns and in their communities.” But he added that there is unique value in bringing publishers directly to Capitol Hill. “There’s real value in being able to walk the halls of Congress and go there to make your presence known and to raise the issues that are so important to our industry.”
Protecting publishers’ journalism remains one of those top priorities. “We want to see changes, particularly as it relates to protecting our content and making sure our members are paid for it,” Ridings said. “Having our members there in D.C. just made total sense.”
Coffey noted that newspaper publishers historically kept their distance from Washington because the industry operated with relatively little direct government oversight. Today, she said, that has changed dramatically. “There is so much governance of our industry that impacts our bottom lines,” she explained. “People have seen the very real impact of what the government does on their bottom line. And that compels people to then get involved.”
Preparing publishers for the AI era
Artificial intelligence will also play a major role during the conference, but Coffey emphasized that publishers are now moving beyond simply trying to understand AI toward learning how to protect and monetize their journalism. “It’s just been a tidal wave of, ‘What do we do with this thing?’” Coffey said. “These machines are crawling our websites. This is not what we do. We create journalism.”
She explained that the News/Media Alliance has expanded beyond advocacy into education by helping members understand copyright registration, licensing opportunities and practical strategies for responding to AI companies. “We need to have these venues so that our members know how they need to be preparing,” she said. “They need to know what to do and how to monetize their content with these new technologies.”
One growing concern involves unauthorized scraping of publishers’ content through what Coffey described as “bad bots.” “They’re hurting our websites because our users can’t even load their articles,” she said. “There are more of these bots than there are humans.” She added that Congress is now considering legislation designed to address the problem because “the industry needs government to step in where the market cannot fix the problem.”
Looking ahead with confidence
Beyond policy discussions and educational sessions, both leaders believe the conference ultimately serves a larger purpose: reinforcing the essential role local journalism continues to play in American communities.
For Coffey, success begins with keeping journalism itself at the center of every conversation. “The content is the mission and what we do and what we contribute to society and to people’s everyday lives,” she said. “That should remain our focus and our North Star.” She expressed confidence that the industry can build a sustainable future, adding, “I believe we can get there. I see the pathway, and I’m confident we will. We just all need to stick together.”
Ridings agreed that publishers should never lose sight of why their work matters. “What we do is important,” he said. “What they are doing is so important to their communities, to our country, to our very democracy, to our republic.” While acknowledging the operational challenges facing local media, he concluded that perspective remains essential. “At the end of the day, what we do is so important to the future of our world.”
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