On Wednesday, California legislators announced a public-private, five-year $250 million partnership with Google to fund local news — days after POLITICO broke the story about the potential deal, which replaces the California Journalism Preservation Act. Not all the money is going toward newsrooms: $62.5 million will be for a new program focused on artificial intelligence, and the agreement creates a National AI Accelerator.

Its creation reflects a broader trend across news, with industry juggernauts largely embracing partnerships with OpenAI, which operates the virtual assistant ChatGPT. Last summer, the American Journalism Project entered an over $5 million partnership with Open AI. In the past year, several news outlets — from the Associated Press to Vox Media and this week, Condé Nast — have partnered with the company to share select licensed articles from their archives to ChatGPT.

The California draft proposal said the partnership will “strengthen democracy and the future of work in an Artificial Intelligence future.” But futures aren’t passively created. Instead of moving away from and pushing back against the use of generative AI, the industry — and state legislators — sends the message that workers shouldn’t have a say in where their labor goes. 

Leaders largely don’t consult rank-and-file reporters about these partnerships. In-language departments have been cut in favor of using AI to translate stories. And ChatGPT also contributes to the broader environmental destruction causing climate change.

The AI system emits 8.4 tons of carbon dioxide each year and has used hundreds of thousands of liters of water during its training.

Is it worth having information reach more audiences if it means fomenting further damage elsewhere and wrecking trust among already beleaguered staff? Union leaders at Media Guild of the West released a statement opposing the partnership and the opaque manner in which it was created: “The future of journalism should not be decided in backroom deals.” It's not too late for journalists to push back against this future.

As I wrote about last month, prioritizing investment in AI is often happening over funding ways to work with communities and the organizations that are reaching them. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.

But maybe it should be: Even ChatGPT says ChatGPT is racially biased. Newsrooms are still learning how to untangle systemic racism from their work; why add another obstacle — AI — whose implications are still not fully understood or grasped? It undercuts the promises newsrooms made to their communities and workers about pursuing a more equitable, just society in 2020. 

Related reading: 

—James Salanga

Reporters pay a price when telling Palestinian stories in newsrooms: For The Nation, Hoda Sherif spoke to a range of writers and reporters about their experiences fighting to have Palestinian stories reported the right way. Several left the industry due to the dehumanization of Palestinians and broader Islamophobia. And in The Objective, another example of journalistic malpractice: Arvind Dilawar recaps a published article being taken down due to his prior coverage of Israel’s genocide in Palestine. Read the stories in The Nation and The Objective. 

New outlet premised on everything’s inherent politics gears up for launch: Everything is Political (EIP) is a new outlet created by Slow Factory, an environmental and social justice nonprofit organization, aiming to “amplify independent research and ideas with a bias towards freedom & liberation for all.” “Our values are our bias,” the platform’s founders state. “So we all have to be honest, ethical and transparent about our biases.” EIP is currently looking for members ahead of its September print issue launch. Read more on the EIP site. 

Minnesota Star Tribune adopts new name, moves to cover whole state: Formerly known as the Minneapolis Tribune, the new shift reflects a shift to statewide coverage after editorial leadership did two state tours and heard from hundreds of Minnesotans. Leadership also writes that they’ve heard “an urgent desire for objective reporting that can lift up a common set of facts in our communities.” Read the newsroom’s announcement on the Strib.

After massive L.A. Times layoffs, newsroom reposts jobs — with a catch: Just over half a year after the newsroom laid off upwards of 100 staffers, it’s hiring for some of those positions again — as temporary gigs. Times vice president of communications Hillary Manning says the postings are consistent with the union’s collective bargaining agreement and are “opened up mostly to cover leaves of absence for existing employees or, in some cases, to meet a short-term need which is vital to serving our readers.” Read former reporter’s tweet on X and coverage of the most recent layoffs on The Objective. 

Over two-thirds of newest Newmark J-school class attending tuition-free: The school also waived its application fee and saw a 50% increase in applications. It surpassed its goal to provide a tuition-free education to half of the incoming class, as it is moving toward becoming tuition-free by late 2026. Last year, 90% of the incoming class had full or partial scholarship support for tuition. Read the announcement on the Craig Newmark School for Journalism website. 

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