SODP Dispatch - 30 April 2026

Trust in news rises after years of decline in NZ. What’s behind the shift?

By Greg Treadwell

Public trust in news in has risen for the first time since records began in 2020.

According to the latest Trust in News in Aotearoa New Zealand report, 37% of respondents now trust the news generally, up from just 32% last year. In the context of recent trends, that’s a fairly sizeable jump.

The report also shows 50% now trust the news they personally consume, also up five percentage points from 45% in 2025.

These are the first positive results about the public’s trust in news since we began researching the subject at the AUT Research Centre for Journalism, Media and Democracy in 2020.

As we have every year, we asked New Zealanders if they felt they could “trust most of the news most of the time”. We also asked about their trust in the news they personally consume, their views on particular news brands, how much they avoid the news, and to what extent they pay for it.

Many of our questions match those asked in a global study by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, which allows us to make international comparisons.

The survey of more than 1,000 New Zealanders is weighted by age, gender, highest educational qualification, personal income, ethnicity and region. This means respondents accurately represent the adult population in these demographics.

📊 SODP San Francisco Study Tour 2026 – Publisher & Ad Media Leaders

We're bringing together 8–12 senior publisher and ad media leaders in San Francisco for a private, two-day programme on what actually drives signal and revenue in publishing today. Taking place in June 2026 across partner and publisher offices to be revealed, this is a closed-door, operator-led experience, not a conference or vendor pitch.

You'll get candid peer exchange on audience signal vs noise, AI-driven discovery, commerce media monetisation, first-party data strategies, and infrastructure as a revenue driver. Sessions are discussion-led with working roundtables, a private dinner (10–15 leaders, Chatham House rules), and an informal Mission District experience to deepen connections outside formal settings.

No panels. No presentations. Just real commercial insights on what's working and what's not as AI reshapes discovery, attribution, and publisher economics.

This programme is being hosted in collaboration with Ezoic. Seats are limited.

Reply to [email protected] to register interest.

🎯 Google Discover Content Audit

Most publishers are guessing why their content doesn't appear in Google Discover. They're optimizing blindly without understanding the actual pipeline their articles need to pass through. This free audit tool from State of Digital Publishing tackles that gap by mapping your content against the 6-stage Google Discover pipeline: ingestion and entity extraction, OG tag configuration, content classification (evergreen vs breaking), quality signals and E-E-A-T assessment, predicted click-through rate modeling, and user topic matching. It shows you exactly where your content is failing to qualify, whether it's poor image optimization, missing entity signals, clickbait patterns being flagged, or weak topical authority, the same diagnostic framework that determines which articles actually surface in users' feeds. If your team is publishing content hoping it reaches Discover without understanding the pipeline, give it a try. We built this to help publishers see what Google actually evaluates. We'd love your feedback.

Run the audit ▸

By Vahe Arabian

🌿 The Evergreen Playbook: 7 Tips to Create Content That Keeps Paying Off

Creating evergreen content is a strategic imperative for every digital publisher. It's the type of content that continues to drive website traffic for years with minimal upkeep, offering ongoing value and relevance to your audience. However, the process of creating and leveraging evergreen content can be challenging.
Here are seven practical tips to help you master the art of evergreen content creation and maximise its potential:

1. Focus on Evergreen Formats: Start with proven evergreen content formats such as listicles, product reviews, ultimate guides, and how-to guides. These formats have a track record of delivering long-term value and remaining relevant over time.

2. Go In-depth: Dive deep into your chosen topic to provide comprehensive and valuable information to your audience. Invest time and effort in research, and aim to create content that addresses all aspects of the subject matter.

3. Use SEO Best Practices: Enhance the discoverability of your evergreen content by leveraging proven Google News SEO strategies. Conduct thorough keyword research, implement strategic internal linking, and cultivate a reputable backlink profile. Adhering to these tailored SEO practices will elevate your content's visibility and ranking, aligning it with the rigorous standards of news SEO.

4. Trends, Avoid Fads: While tracking trends can be beneficial, focus on creating content that transcends temporary fads. Instead, tackle broader topics that have long-term relevance and appeal to your target audience.

5. Use Multimedia: Incorporate various forms of media, such as images, videos, and infographics, to create engaging and visually appealing content. Multimedia not only enhances user experience but also increases the likelihood of social sharing and engagement.

6. Remember to Update: Regularly monitor and update your evergreen content to ensure its accuracy and relevance. Refreshing your content helps maintain its visibility in search results and keeps readers returning for more. As list-based articles are updated, they must continue to build authority and gain traction in the SERP.

7. Think of The Audience: Consider your audience throughout the content creation process. Avoid overly technical language, format your content for readability, and strive to provide value to your readers. By catering to your audience's needs and preferences, you can increase engagement and build brand recognition.

Incorporating these tips into your content strategy can help you create high-value, evergreen content that drives sustainable traffic and revenue. Remember to promote your evergreen content across various channels, repurpose it into different formats, and consistently follow best practices to maximise its impact.

News publishers have engagement but lack infrastructure to prove it | INMA

The metrics that once sustained digital media — pageviews, impressions, click-throughs — are losing their currency with advertisers. INMA’s recent Advertising Measurement and Effectiveness Master Class confirmed what many in the industry already sense: Buyers want evidence of genuine audience attention, not just proof of delivery. The publishers who can provide that evidence will set their own rates. The rest will sell on volume and hope for the best.

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Why unions are struggling to protect journalists’ rights in the age of AI | NiemanLab

Will AI come for my job? This is the question at the heart of AI anxieties across many industries right now. For journalists, this question is constantly being re-pondered and re-examined as more companies are incorporating AI into their workflows. AI can help with research and background. It can do transcriptions and translations, generate illustrations, and produce podcasts with non-human hosts. It can now even write and edit pieces itself.

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Rewriting the Rules of Ad Tech: From Black Boxes to AI Operating Systems | Exchangewire

The rules of ad tech in 2026 are not just being revised; they are being entirely rewritten. For years, the industry thrived on a precarious balance of identity-based tracking and opaque supply chains. Today, that model has been fractured by privacy-first constraints, media fragmentation across CTV and retail networks, and a cultural awakening to the true cost of our digital ecosystems. In its place, a new paradigm is emerging—one defined by the shift from raw identity to intelligent signals.

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Google Says Prompt Injection Moving From Theory Into Real Abuse | Search Engine World

Google’s latest security release should be required reading for technical SEOs working on AI search visibility, crawler access, structured content, and large-scale content systems. The post, published April 23, 2026, looks at indirect prompt injection on the public web and shows that this is no longer just a lab problem. Site owners are already placing instructions inside web pages in an attempt to influence AI systems that crawl, summarize, or act on page content.

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Behind the A.I. Boom, a Boring Business Is Soaring With Better Ads | The New York Times

For years, DribbleUp, a sports equipment company, spent its own time and resources figuring out whom it should advertise its basketballs and soccer balls to on Facebook. But for the last two years, it has placed those ads entirely through Facebook’s artificial intelligence tools. Since then, DribbleUp’s sales have outpaced its marketing expenses. It has also started spending more money on Facebook. The company’s experience speaks to how A.I. is reshaping the digital ad industry.

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Searchers just want you to be helpful | Search Engine Land

The March 2026 core update brought what Google describes as a design “to better surface relevant, satisfying content for searchers from all types of sites.” This confirms the simplest truth in search: people use Google to get answers. Whether it’s solving a problem, learning something new, or making a decision, searchers want content that is genuinely helpful in their busy, on-the-go lives. If your content does that, it succeeds. If it doesn’t, no amount of SEO tricks, hacks, or magic bullets will get your content to show up on page one, let alone in AI Overviews.

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