Newswires can be essential resources for outlets racing to keep up with the 24/7 news cycle. 

But for small news publishers and startups with low revenue, subscribing to even one newswire may be too costly, leaving them at a further disadvantage in the competitive media landscape.  

Some newswires are attempting to level the playing field through open-licensed content.  

One such service is Open Newswire, an open license news article aggregator created by journalist Zac Crellin. 

Launched in 2021, Open Newswire pulls content from more than 700 news website RSS feeds worldwide, allowing users to browse and republish articles published under Creative Commons licenses or similar terms. 

“The idea came to me because I saw that there are a bunch of news outlets – for example, The Conversation or ProPublica – that allow and even encourage others to republish their stories,” Crellin says. 

“And when I started coming across more and more of these, I realised that when you combine them all into a whole, it creates something very comprehensive, approaching something like a newswire.” 

Mutual benefit 

Crellin tells PIJI the goal is not to make money – Open Newswire is a not-for-profit – but to promote producers of the open license articles by getting more eyes on their work, while simultaneously giving small publishers some “breathing room” through free content. 

As even major publishers can lack the staff numbers, reach or time to cover every story of the day, the use of content produced by the likes of Australian Associated Press (AAP), Agence France-Presse, Associated Press and Reuters is standard practice across the industry.

Crellin says small publishers with less resources typically do not have that luxury. 

“If you’re a small newsroom with only a handful of writers, being able to republish a story that’s relevant to your readers, even once a week or every day or so … that significantly improves your product offering,” he says. 

“There’s all this excellent reporting out there that’s already waiting to be republished that would benefit readers and that would benefit small publications who could really use this.  

“Why not help connect both sides of the equation?” 

The goal of supporting overstretched newsrooms is shared by Andrew Jaspan, editor and executive director of newswire 360info. 

Jaspan tells PIJI one of the best ways to help Australia’s increasingly “hollowed out” newsrooms is by providing existing news publishers “extra content capacity”. 

He says while traditional newswires focus more on breaking news, 360info complements those offerings through a focus on producing news features, including explainers, deep dives and special reports – in short, the work “most newsrooms just don’t have time to do”. 

“Because we work with university researchers, we also have a focus on not just explaining a problem, but how that problem could be addressed,” Jaspan says. 

“Some people call that constructive journalism, or solutions journalism – we call it ‘what’s next’ journalism.” 

Budgets under strain 

Unlike Open Newswire, which aggregates content produced by news publishers around the world, Jaspan says 360info’s articles are typically written by full-time staff – something that can be a large expense for a not-for-profit. 

Jaspan hoped to find some relief under the long-awaited News MAP funding packages. 

But shortly after speaking with PIJI, he found out newswires were not eligible to apply for the first round of funding launched in November, labelled the Journalism Assistance Fund. 

“Everything is just very tough right now. It’s tough in every possible way,” he says. 

“I mean, nobody’s got any money. Everybody is kind of struggling right now.” 

Despite being among the oldest media institutions to survive the evolution of media production over the past few decades, newswires are not immune to the pressures of social media, technological advances or the increasing concentration of media ownership. 

In Australia, AAP was narrowly saved from demise in 2020, having reportedly made just $929,000 profit on a $65.67 million revenue in 2019, which followed a $10 million loss in 2018. 

Before a last-minute rescue by a philanthropic investment consortium, then-Opposition leader Anthony Albanese described the loss of AAP as a “tragedy” for Australian democracy. 

Today, AAP appears to be in a much more comfortable position, posting a $3.2 million profit in the year to June 2024.  

And although newswires are ineligible for the Journalism Assistance Fund, the government promised AAP funding of $33 million over three years under News MAP.

‘Lack of awareness’ around free resource 

The news media industry still clearly has an appetite for newswires. 

In a 2021 submission to a Senate Inquiry into media diversity in Australia, AAP revealed its content was used by over 400 outlets across metropolitan and regional Australia.  

Jaspan says about 350 Australian newsrooms are registered to 360info, along with a further 1400 across the Asia-Pacific region.  

Crellin tells PIJI although Open Newswire has “users around the world”, he feels there is a “lack of awareness” in Australia around how easy it is to find and republish open license articles outside of well-known services like The Conversation and 360info. 

Crellin also sees a lack of diversity in Australian open license news production, in contrast to international newsrooms he says are “embracing” Creative Commons licenses. 

“The US is one [where Creative Commons licenses are prevalent]; there are many, many outlets in almost every state,” he says. 

“Also, Brazil has a really, really strong culture of Creative Commons-license news, [as well as] India, Spain, Lebanon, South Africa.  

“So, in all corners of the world, there are countries that are leading the way in this.” 

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