AI reporters have arrived in Arkansas

Hello! Here’s what’s in this week’s issue:

→ Podcast: Dealing with burnout as a journalist

→ AI reporters have arrived in Arkansas

→ Billionaire takes big bet on Minnesota newspaper

→ How nonprofit news is using AI to save money

→ San Francisco is a hotbed for local news innovation

🎧 Podcast: Dealing with burnout as a journalist

This week on Small Press, Big Ideas, I spoke with Megan Roche, a senior multimedia journalist for Local Daily Media in Williamsburg, VA.

So far on the podcast I’ve interviewed founders, nonprofit leaders, independent operators, and consultants but I’ve yet to talk with a current, boots on the ground journalist at a local media publication.

Megan and I discuss how she fell in love with journalism, lessons she’s learned from years in the industry, and how she’s had to deal with some of the more challenging aspects of being a reporter at a daily publication such as burnout.

We also talked about her Path to Paris series that is an awesome example of focusing a local lens on a global story.

Listen here: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

📰 AI reporters have arrived in Arkansas

An AI generated local news site has launched in Northwest Arkansas, serving the Ozarks region including Bentonville and Fayetteville.

OkayNWA launched as an app last year and is now a full website with stories bylined by AI avatars such as “Benjamin Business” and “Techie Tom”.

The site claims that it has “embraced the cutting-edge potential of artificial intelligence to redefine how news is sourced, reported, and presented”. As of now, it seems to be more of a local events aggregator, with most stories promoting a recent or upcoming event, or spotlighting a local business.

Read more here.

📰 Billionaire takes big bet on Minnesota newspaper

Defying the wider trend in the local newspaper industry, The Star Tribune in Minneapolis is changing its name and expanding coverage.

The paper will now be called The Minnesota Star Tribune and will be covering larger parts of Minnesota thanks to an influx of cash from its billionaire owner Glen Taylor.

Taylor bought the paper out of bankruptcy filings in 2014 and has run it profitably every year since. This move is the first additional investment that he’s made into the publication, and it’s part of an ambitious effort to triple digital subscription revenue over the next five years.

The amount of the new investment has not been disclosed. Read more here.

📰 How nonprofit news is using AI to save money

According to the Institute for Nonprofit News, about a third of nonprofit newsrooms are currently using AI tools to save time, money, or both.

Nonprofits are using AI for a variety of tasks such as drafting fundraising emails, scraping databases, aggregating links, and more.

INN recommends that nonprofits define guidelines on using AI tools to maintain journalistic integrity.

Read more here.

📰 San Francisco is a hotbed for local news innovation

Many think of technological innovation when they think of San Francisco, but it may be on the forefront of local news innovation as well.

This piece by the New York Times highlights why the city by the bay is becoming a leader in the local news space.

Spoiler: one big reason is the wealth pumped into the city from big tech.