Thomson Reuters announces layoffs, Yahoo launches auto hub, newspapers take on AI giants: Media News Recap for July

Catch up on the media news making headlines in July.

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Jul 31, 2026 - 11:56
Thomson Reuters announces layoffs, Yahoo launches auto hub, newspapers take on AI giants: Media News Recap for July

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

July highlighted an industry continuing to adapt to rapid change. Thomson Reuters announced job cuts, while Yahoo Finance expanded its coverage with a new automotive news hub. People Inc. is once again exploring a sale of The Daily Beast. Newspapers are intensifying their legal fight against AI companies over the use of copyrighted content, warning of the long-term impact on local journalism. And new research points to a subtle but significant shift in how Americans view local news.

Here’s everything you need to know:

Thomson Reuters is cutting jobs

Thomson Reuters  said it is cutting “a small number of roles” in engineering, as the ‌Canadian content and technology company aggressively deploys artificial intelligence across ‌its businesses.

The layoffs affect the global staff and were announced during a technology staff ​meeting earlier in the day, an employee who attended the meeting said. The employee requested anonymity as the meeting was not public.

The company plans to eliminate up to 500 jobs, which accounts for about ⁠1.8% of its overall workforce of about 27,100. The layoffs account for about 5.2% of the 9,400 employees in the company’s operations and technology unit. (Talking Biz News)

Other layoffs announced in July:

Yahoo Finance launches hub for auto news

Yahoo Finance is partnering with InsideEVs, WardsAuto, Just Auto, and The Drive to launch a dedicated hub for reporting and analysis about the automotive and EV industry.

The destination will cover car buying trends, battery advancements and supply chain, and autonomous driving technology.  The hub features free coverage from these partners, as well as original journalism from Yahoo Finance. (Talking Biz News)

Yahoo Finance is also launching a dedicated hub for coverage of the food and drink industry in partnership with Nation’s Restaurant News, QSR Magazine and FSR Magazine, Franchise Times, Restaurant Dive and Just Drinks. (Editor & Publisher)

More launches announced in July:

People Incorporate explores sale of The Daily Beast again

People Incorporated, formerly known as IAC, is exploring a possible sale of The Daily Beast as it looks to focus its portfolio around People Inc. and MGM, sources told Axios.

The company was looking to sell the outlet several years ago, but instead installed new leadership to try to turn the business around. Now that the site is profitable, it’s taking the venture back to the market.

People Incorporated has been vocal about shedding non-core assets to focus on its lifestyle publishing and experiences businesses. In March, it announced a deal to sell Care.com to a private investment group. In June, it offered to buy out the remaining stake in MGM Resorts International that it doesn’t already own. (Axios)

More deals that took places in July:

  • European Technology Network raises $1.6M, plan expansion (Talking Biz News)
  • Lumine Group buys Imagine Communications (TV News Check)
  • Comcast’s Sky to buy ITV’s media and entertainment unit for up to $2.14 billion (Wall Street Journal)
  • Yahoo Sports teams up with Inside Lacrosse to elevate lacrosse coverage (Editor & Publisher)
  • Rocky Mountain Public Media expands its radio footprint (Inside Radio)
  • The Daily Wire sells Jeremy’s Razors to media company’s former CEO (Semafor)
  • Georgia Trust for Local News partners with local supporters to acquire two historic newspapers (GTLN)
  • Local group buying Chattanooga Times Free Press from Arkansas owners (com)

Newspapers take on AI giants in court, warn of ‘death knell for local journalism’

OpenAI and Microsoft are facing a federal lawsuit from hundreds of newspaper publishers who allege the tech giants unlawfully used their copyrighted content without permission or payment.

Former New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin is representing the coalition in the case filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The lawsuit alleges OpenAI and Microsoft scraped publishers’ content to develop and commercialize artificial intelligence products, including ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot.

The lawsuit argues that unless these companies “are held accountable for stealing, stripping, and misusing the publishers’ content, the AI boom Defendants orchestrated and benefit from will be a death knell for local journalism—which remains the most trusted news sources in America.”

The publishers, including Amnews Corporation, Richner Communications, Newspapers of New England, Straus Newspapers and others, own and operate nearly 400 newspapers in the U.S. (NJ.com)

More AI-related news making headlines in July:

  • OpenAI, Anthropic ask U.S. government to consider slowing down AI (Wall Street Journal)
  • Adtech startup Velocity raises $27M to monetize AI (Axios)
  • OpenAI releases new voice models for more natural live conversations (TechCrunch)
  • Study finds AI voices equal humans on sound, not trust (InsideRadio)
  • How Reuters is using AI to help its reporting (Talking Biz News)
  • Senate Democrat’s new bills would restrict AI-powered ads and paid influencers (Semafor)
  • Newsmax and Meta enter AI content partnership (Editor & Publisher)

A quiet shift in how Americans perceive local news

Even as trust in national news organizations eroded over the past decade and partisan divides over the media widened, local news largely held its ground — majorities of both Republicans and Democrats continued to rate their local news media favorably.

New data from the Pew-Knight Initiative shows that may be starting to change.

Whereas 82% of U.S. adults said they trusted information from local news organizations when we first asked this question in 2016, 70% now say the same. Recent data also points to shifts in how Americans view the value of local news in society. The share of Americans who say local news outlets are extremely or very important to the well-being of their community has dropped 10 points in the past year — from 44% to 34% — with an especially steep decline among Republicans.

These changes suggest a possible erosion of what seemed to make local news exceptional: its relative immunity to the forces that fractured trust in the national news media. (NiemanLab)

In case you missed it:

  • “60 Minutes” adds new correspondents and contributors after key departures (The Guardian)
  • NBCUniversal and YouTube ink deal to embed Peacock in the video platform for premium subscribers (CNBC)
  • San Francisco Public Press workers form union, seek voice in the workplace (NewsGuild)
  • Union files another complaint against Reuters (Talking Biz News)

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