Major newspaper chain replaces reporters with AI after massive layoffs
McClatchy media is expanding an AI operation designed to produce and scale more content after cutting journalists at some of its biggest California newspapers. The media giant, which owns various papers, including The Miami Herald and The Sacramento Bee, laid off dozens of journalists across the country last week, including reporters, photographers, and videographers at several California newsrooms. Around the same time, McClatchy added three editors to its AI-focused Content Innovation Lab.
This comes after CEO Tony Hunter, during a virtual town hall in May, hinted at a plan to “agentify the entire enterprise.” Now, the company is developing tools that can take stories written by humans and repackage them into different lengths and formats for different audiences while keeping the original reporters’ bylines.
California newsrooms have taken a serious hit
The AI strategy has affected multiple staffers at McClatchy’s local newspapers. More than 90 journalists across the country were reportedly affected in the layoffs that hit everything from government and education coverage to accountability reporting and sports.
At least 13 newspapers across eight states lost staff, with reporters, photographers, and videographers among those affected. The Fresno Bee lost seven reporters, while The Sacramento Bee lost at least 10 journalists. The Modesto Bee was also hit, with reporters, photographers, and videographers among those affected.
The cuts by McClatchy, which is owned by private investment firm Chatham Asset Management, have drawn sharp criticism from journalists' unions. The Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild, which represents McClatchy journalists in Idaho and Washington, accused the company of putting short-term profits ahead of the communities its newspapers serve, calling that model “destined to fail.”
Kathleen Quinn, a civics and democracy reporter at The Modesto Bee, announced that she had been laid off after two years with the company. Calling the cuts devastating, she urged other employers to hire the journalists who lost their jobs. Sacramento Bee investigative reporter Ariane Lange also described the layoffs as “the bloodiest round of layoffs in quite some time at McClatchy.”
AI is part of the newspaper chain’s future
McClatchy has described the Content Innovation Lab as a “big experiment” aimed at figuring out how AI can help the company produce more content, reach new audiences and increase productivity. Its own job listing is even more direct. According to the listing, the company’s future depends on embracing AI, describing the lab as a “next-generation approach to content.”
The idea is not necessarily that AI will replace every journalist. Instead, McClatchy appears to want to combine a smaller number of journalists with AI tools to produce and distribute news content.
Sources: New York Post, Poynter
