AI Guide for Local News Editorial Teams
American Journalism Project’s Product & AI Studio launched a living resource: Field Guide: AI for Local Reporting. This quarterly-updated guide will help local news outlets navigate AI tools for local reporting, detailing what each tool does, how it’s used, who’s using it, and what makes it unique.
Why this field guide matters for local news
Local journalists have long sought to utilize data and technology to uncover important stories and surface community concerns. This guide offers information on tools that are lowering the barrier to entry, starting with public meeting transcription, summarization, and pattern recognition.
For some organizations in our portfolio, AI is opening doors to coverage that would have been impossible otherwise. Take Chalkbeat, for example. With just two reporters covering one of the largest school systems in the country, they faced an impossible task: more than 40 school board meetings a week in New York City alone. Using Local Lens, an AI-powered public meeting database that we feature in our guide, Chalkbeat reporters could analyze transcripts, track keywords and cover parent concerns that might have been missed.
What you’ll find in the guide
Local news leaders have many of the same questions with AI tools they have about other technologies: Should we build or buy an AI tool? Which vendors are actually delivering value? Where is it worth investing in tools for our journalists to use?
Generative AI, however, is different. Unlike earlier technologies that primarily expanded distribution, AI adapts in real time and performs cognitive tasks. It has the potential to shift newsroom work away from tedious manual processes toward higher-level editorial and strategic functions. That’s why we recommend experimenting widely with these tools and being very clear with your news organization about the principles guiding your work — because only you can determine which align with your organization’s current and future needs and overall mission, policies and values. Rather than making specific recommendations, we’re approaching this guide the way a news organization would for readers: to share what we’ve learned so far so you can make informed decisions.
This first set of reviews is a combination of human research, phone and email interviews, analyzing website language, product trials and AJP portfolio members’ observations and feedback. We shared our findings with colleagues and experts from The Lenfest Institute, Big Local News and Microsoft, including in workshops, presentations and other forums.
The result is an aggregated collection of AI vendors that meet a range of highly specific needs, while others promise long-term and regular use within local newsrooms. Each vendor profile includes a high-level summary of its service, recommended use cases, pros and cons, and what makes it different from other tools.
Importantly, we are providing this information based on available public and submitted information to support independent newsroom evaluation. Nothing included here should be considered an endorsement.