Local journalism AI leaders to follow

As newsrooms continue to grapple with rapidly emerging new technologies and a continuously shifting business landscape,  AI is even more critical for local journalism, where there are fewer resources and new technologies can potentially make a big difference. Changes are happening fast, so Hacks/Hackers is building a list of leaders in local journalism + AI – thinkers, innovators and builders who are thoughtfully navigating AI's impact on newsrooms.

We've added our first group of local journalism leaders every newsroom should follow to the list, with more to come, and sent out brief surveys to our first esteemed group to get their insights on AI. (We will definitely be adding more people to this list, so if there is a local journalism leader you think should be on it – or if you have insight to share – please let us know!)

Looking through their replies, we identified several common themes about how new technologies are being woven into the daily work of informing communities.

The innovators working across the U.S. agree AI can be used to streamline labor-intensive tasks including scanning archives, monitoring government meetings and organizing information, which then frees journalists to focus on their core work: storytelling and community engagement. 

Artificial intelligence is also a game-changer especially for smaller news outlets, boosting efficiency and enabling lean teams to produce more content and maintain wider coverage. At the same time, transparency and trust remain critical: newsroom leaders stress the need to clearly explain AI use, uphold ethical standards and highlight the human elements of journalism — relationships, accountability, and community focus — as essential to sustaining credibility and impact.

AI as a tool for enhancing, not replacing, journalism

Nearly every journalist we interviewed emphasized that AI augments rather than replaces core journalistic work. Darla Cameron, chief product officer of the Texas Tribune, stated that "AI will not replace and has not replaced our journalists" who, Cameron said, do the essential work of community engagement and reporting that makes the Tribune relevant to its audience. 

 “AI tools can unlock value for local news organizations in ways we've been thinking about for years, but were too expensive to implement before widespread availability of LLM technologies,” said Matt Boggie, the Philadelphia Inquirer’s chief technology and product officer. Boggie said, thanks to AI, labor-intensive tasks such as scanning a paper's archive for historical facts, monitoring local government meetings for newsworthy events or building better interfaces for readers to find what they need have all become more achievable. 

“Local journalists are sense-makers who help their neighbors better understand the events and people around them,” Boggie said. “Using AI in support of that mission not only aligns with what AI is particularly good at, but also aligns with the institutional mission of informing and inspiring a community.”

Increasing efficiency, and scaling newsroom capacity

“Gone are the days where the newsrooms with the biggest budgets and innumerable technical resources are the only ones allowed to compete,” said Vania André, publisher and editor-in-chief of The Haitian Times. “AI has the power to level the playing field, reduce gatekeeping and allow us to get back to what truly matters, which is telling a great story.”

Other interviewees were also enthusiastic about AI's ability to help small teams accomplish more. Mark Talkington, a long-time news product innovator in the local journalism space and, most recently, founder of Satchel, a suite of AI tools for journalists, said his team at the Palm Springs Post and Indio uses AI to produce "10 times the amount of content in 10 percent of the time.” 

Echoing Cameron at the Texas Tribune, Talkington also notes that while AI can process information faster, it’s journalists who will still excel at "building relationships with sources, fact-checking and crafting compelling narratives,” rather than AI.

Meanwhile, Simon Galperin and his team the Jersey Bee are experimenting with how AI can increase newsroom capacity. They have built Harvest, a new patent-pending system for gathering and distributing local information to produce daily local news feeds for 12 communities the publication serves throughout New Jersey. “In 2024, we published 4,900 news briefs, 2,200 daily newsletters and hundreds of social media posts with a team of one and a half editorial staff using Harvest,” said Galperin.

Several interviewees reported feeling enthusiastic about AI's ability to process large amounts of information — from government meetings to community data – empowering newsrooms to maintain broader coverage and identify stories they might otherwise miss due to staffing limitations.

Alex Rosen, founder and executive director of See Gov, a platform that uses AI to help civic creators and journalists select and share video highlights from local government meetings, said he’s excited about journalism-specific AI evaluations that can identify newsworthy events by leveraging context about a community. 

“The next step is just as critical: using infrastructure like MCP servers to distribute vetted civic information to various AI frontends,” Rosen said. “This will allow for personalizing the experience for diverse audiences, directly supporting our mission to expand participation in democracy.”

“We’ve been using AI to help us classify content by type and by user need and then analyzing that data to find opportunities to tailor our coverage,” said Emma Patti, managing editor of the Baltimore Banner. “AI can help local journalism organizations be smarter about how we serve our audiences.”

The importance of transparency, trust and human connection

Multiple leaders stressed the need for clear communication about AI use, where transparency and community focus remain at journalism’s core.

“Transparency is important, now more than ever, and with eroding trust in media, it’s essential we continue to talk about ethical uses of AI in local media,” said Patti. 

It’s important to “be transparent with your audience about how you are using (AI), and about the guiding principles and guardrails you are instituting,” Patti said. “Accountability reporting, multimedia storytelling and community listening are skills that AI can not replicate but we must integrate it responsibly to progress.”

André at The Haitian Times also stressed that, in an era of AI adoption in journalism, reporters, editors and newsroom leadership must "lean into everything that makes us human and elevate that in our reporting and coverage. This will be the main barometer of an exceptional publication in the future.”

Ultimately, said André, "our humanity and all of the ways it shows up in our everyday lives is going to be that much more valuable as AI becomes more integrated in our society.”

Local journalism AI leaders who responded to our Q&A:

• Alex Rosen, founder and Executive Director of See Gov
• Darla Cameron, chief product officer of The Texas Tribune
• Emma Patti, managing editor of The Baltimore Banner
• Matt Boggie, chief technology and product officer of The Philadelphia Inquirer
• Mark Talkington, publisher and founder of The Palm Springs Post and Indio Post, and co-founder of Satchel
• Simon Galperin, founder and executive editor of The Jersey Bee
• Vania André, publisher and editor-in-chief of The Haitian Times