McClatchy abandons common sense on AI

THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST  — Companies everywhere are rushing to join the AI bandwagon. But what happens when a respected media company is willing to abandon its journalism ethics along the way?

We, the union members of the Idaho Statesman, The Olympian, The Tacoma News Tribune, Tri-City Herald and Bellingham Herald, refuse to remain silent any longer about the unethical AI practices and plans of our employer, McClatchy Media. After more than six months of contract negotiations, McClatchy still refuses to agree to proposed common-sense AI protections.

McClatchy is pushing to set a new, dystopian standard for local news.

The company insists that it should have the ability to:

• Publish AI news stories and images without clearly labeling them as AI.

• Publish AI articles that weren’t reviewed by a human.

• Create AI impersonations of reporters for podcasts and videos without their consent — even if they quit or die.

• Publish deepfake images.

• Force reporters to use AI in their reporting.

• Publish AI content that breaks the company’s own ethical standards.

McClatchy Media operates newspapers in 30 markets with 65 million monthly readers and boasts more than 50 Pulitzer Prizes. Other McClatchy newsrooms facing a similar lack of AI protections include the Miami Herald, Kansas City Star, Sacramento Bee and Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

We’ve already begun to see the failings of the company’s AI push, from misinformation to outright errors. In one instance, an AI-generated article in the Idaho Statesman falsely stated that a brewery had closed. It wasn’t fixed until a reader contacted an editor.

“We are living in a time when it is more important than ever for people to have factual media sources they trust,” Eric Rosane, Tri-City Herald civic accountability reporter and Washington State NewsGuild Secretary, said. “McClatchy is trying to give that trust away and hopes no one will notice – or worse, care.”