Tag: niche publishing

What Hearst’s AI Playbook Can Teach Smaller Newsrooms

I first came across this in the BoSacks newsletter. The original article — Hearst Newspapers leverages AI for a human-centred strategy by Paula Felps at INMA — lays out how Hearst is rolling out AI across its network.

Now, you might be thinking: “That’s great for a chain with San Francisco-based innovation teams and a dozen staffers dedicated to new tools… but what about us smaller or niche outlets that don’t have a DevHub?”

That’s exactly why this is worth paying attention to. Hearst’s approach isn’t just about expensive tech — it’s about structure, guardrails, and culture. Those translate no matter the newsroom size.

Hearst’s AI Guiding Principles

✅ What We Do

  • Embrace generative AI responsibly.
  • Stay aligned with Legal and leadership.
  • Involve newsrooms and journalists across the organization.
  • Create scalable tools that help journalists.
  • Keep humans deeply involved.

🚫 What We Don’t Do

  • Tarnish our brands for quick wins.
  • Mass-publish AI-generated slop.
  • Mislead our audience or avoid transparency.
  • Let bots run without oversight.
  • Do nothing out of fear of change.

Here’s the big picture:

  • Clear principles: They’ve drawn a hard line on what AI will and won’t do. It’s in writing. It’s shared. And everyone’s on the same page.
  • Human-first workflows: Every AI-assisted output gets human review. No shortcuts.
  • Small tools, big wins: Their AI isn’t all moonshots. Some of the biggest gains come from automating grunt work — things every newsroom wrestles with.

Why smaller newsrooms should take notes

  • You might not have a Slack-integrated bot like Hearst’s Producer-P, but you could set up a lightweight GPT workflow for headlines, SEO checks, or quick summaries.
  • You probably can’t scrape and transcribe every public meeting in the state, but you could start with one high-value local board or commission using free/cheap transcription paired with keyword alerts.
  • You might not launch a public-facing Chow Bot, but you could make a reader tool that solves one local pain point — from school board jargon busters to a property tax appeal explainer.

The secret here isn’t deep pockets — it’s intentional design. Hearst put thought into categories (digital production, news gathering, audience tools), built policies to match, and then trained their people. That part costs time, not millions.

As Tim O’Rourke of Hearst put it:

“We try to build around the expertise in our local newsrooms. That’s our value — not the tech.”

For smaller outlets, that’s the blueprint. Start with what you do best. Add AI where it can actually save time or uncover new reporting angles. Keep your humans in control. And make sure your audience always knows you value accuracy over speed.

Quick wins for small newsrooms

  • Write your own “What We Do / What We Don’t Do” AI policy in plain language.
  • Pick one workflow bottleneck and pilot an AI tool to tackle it.
  • Build an internal “AI tips” Slack channel or email chain to share wins and lessons.

You don’t need a DevHub to start. You just need a plan — and maybe the courage to experiment without losing sight of your values.

AI in the Newsroom: Why It Should Be Your Smartest Intern, Not Your Star Reporter

Practical AI tools and governance tips for small and niche newsrooms that want smarter reporting, not robot reporters.

If you’ve been anywhere near a journalism conference in the past year, you’ve probably heard the AI hype: “It’s going to replace reporters.” “It’s the future of investigative journalism.” “It’s going to write all our stories for us.”

But here’s the reality check, courtesy of journalist-technologist Jaemark Tordecilla — someone who’s actually been in the trenches building AI for newsrooms. In a recent INMA piece, Tordecilla put it plainly: AI is a terrible journalist. It doesn’t chase leads, smell a rat, or spot the story between the lines. What it does do exceptionally well is the grunt work — the sifting, sorting, and summarizing that lets you get to the important stuff faster.

And that’s the mental shift small and niche news organizations need to make: stop asking AI to be the reporter, and start asking it to make your reporters’ jobs easier.

Tools That Complement, Not Replace, Human Skill

If you’re running a small newsroom with limited staff, think of AI as your hyper-efficient intern — one that doesn’t sleep, doesn’t take lunch breaks, and doesn’t mind doing the boring bits.

Here are a few practical tools you could build or adopt:

  • Data Sifters
    AI models that can ingest giant PDF reports, meeting transcripts, or spreadsheets and spit out bullet-point summaries or proposed headlines. Your reporter glances at the output and decides if it’s worth a deeper dive.
  • Budget Chatbots
    Exactly like Tordecilla’s tool for “chatting” with the Philippines’ 700,000-line national budget. For local publishers, this could mean feeding your city or county budget into an AI tool and asking questions like: How much did we spend on police overtime last year? or Which departments’ budgets increased the most?
  • Pattern Spotters
    Tools that flag anomalies or trends in datasets — e.g., tracking how often a government department awards contracts to the same vendor, or how property sales spike in certain neighborhoods.
  • Fast-Format Converters
    AI-assisted workflows that can take a long-form investigative article and quickly produce a podcast script, social video captions, or illustrated explainers. The key: these formats should be reviewed and fine-tuned by humans before publishing.

The Governance Question: Who’s Driving This Thing?

If AI is going to become part of your newsroom’s workflow, you need rules of the road. For small and niche publishers, governance doesn’t have to be a 40-page corporate policy, but it does need to answer some core questions:

  • Transparency: Will you disclose when AI is used in research, production, or content creation? How?
  • Attribution: Who “owns” AI-generated outputs in your newsroom — and how do you credit sources if AI pulls from third-party data?
  • Bias Checks: How will you review AI-generated summaries or insights for skew, especially when dealing with politically sensitive topics?
  • Ethical Boundaries: Where will you not use AI? (For example, generating deepfake-like images of people, or creating composite quotes.)
  • Review Protocol: Who signs off on AI-assisted work before it goes public? Even small teams should have a second set of eyes on anything AI touches.

A lightweight governance structure might be as simple as a one-page “AI Use Policy” taped to the newsroom wall. The important part is that everyone knows the rules — and follows them.

Why This Matters for Small Newsrooms

Big national outlets can afford to burn cycles experimenting with AI. You probably can’t. That’s why your AI playbook should focus on high-leverage tasks: the work that’s essential but time-consuming, where AI can give you a multiplier effect without compromising your credibility.

The payoff? More time for your reporters to be out in the community, making calls, filing FOIA requests, and doing the human work AI can’t touch.

Memorable Takeaway:
“AI is good at finding patterns in data; humans are good at finding meaning in those patterns. Keep it that way.”

Crisis Mode: Why Small Publishers Should See Opportunity in the Chaos

Every now and then, I read something from a media veteran that feels like it’s aimed right at the big players — but still lands squarely in the lap of small and niche publishers. That’s exactly what happened with Chris Duncan’s upcoming keynote at the FIPP World Media Congress.

Duncan’s career is full of steering through storms — launching The Times on the iPad (when that was brand new territory), leading through COVID, and now advising on the AI tidal wave that’s hitting every corner of publishing. His core message? Publishing thrives in crisis.

Now, “thrives” might feel like a stretch if you’re running a three-person operation and trying to keep the lights on. But here’s where the small guys might actually have an edge: when the ground shifts under everyone, agility beats scale.

What small publishers should take away

1. AI isn’t just a newsroom curiosity — it’s a traffic problem.
Yes, AI tools can help you cut costs and automate grunt work. But Duncan’s warning is clear: generative AI could cut off more referral traffic than Google already has. For small publishers, that means you can’t afford to be a “search-dependent” business. Your audience has to remember you and seek you out.

2. Innovation isn’t optional.
He’s blunt: mobile journalism hasn’t seen much truly new since about 2012. That’s both sobering and exciting. If you’re a niche publisher, you don’t need to outspend The New York Times — you need to outthink them in your lane. That might mean interactive features, audio companions to your stories, or even an “insider’s app” for your core audience.

3. The platform era is shifting — be ready.
Duncan thinks we’re past the peak of Google and Meta’s dominance. That’s a rare window to build distribution without depending entirely on them. When big platforms are distracted by regulators and market shifts, you can make a move to deepen your direct audience connections.

Where to put your focus next

Here are three action items I think every small or niche publisher should put on their whiteboard after reading Duncan’s comments:

  1. Build direct audience pipelines.
    Start or double down on newsletters, podcasts, private communities, or events. Make sure your readers’ path to your content doesn’t depend on an algorithm.
  2. Test one “genuinely new” product feature in the next year.
    Could be a micro-app, an interactive archive, or a new storytelling format. The goal is to prove you can innovate without waiting for the industry to hand you a playbook.
  3. Scenario-plan for a search traffic cliff.
    If your Google referrals dropped 50% tomorrow, how would you adapt? Do that planning now while you have the luxury of time.

Duncan’s not saying this will be easy — far from it. But he is saying that urgency forces experimentation, and experimentation is where breakthroughs happen. For small publishers, the trick is to use your speed, focus, and audience intimacy as weapons in this fight.

You may not have a “war room” of strategists, but you do have something the giants often lack: a direct line to a loyal audience that cares deeply about your coverage. That’s your moat. Guard it, grow it, and use this crisis moment to get a little scrappy.

If you want the full keynote preview, it’s worth a read: Publishers work best in some form of crisis.

Takeaway for the fridge:
Crisis is coming. The question is — will you let it happen to you, or will you make it work for you?

What Small Publishers Can Learn from the Big Four’s AI-Defying Quarter

If you’ve been following the headlines, you might think AI is poised to hollow out the news business — stealing traffic, scraping archives, and churning out synthetic stories that compete with the real thing. And yet, four of America’s largest news organizations — Thomson Reuters, News Corp, People Inc (formerly Dotdash Meredith), and The New York Times — just turned in a combined \$5 billion in quarterly revenue and nearly \$1.2 billion in profit.

I first came across this coverage in the BoSacks newsletter, which linked to Press Gazette’s original report. The piece details how these companies aren’t just surviving in the AI era; they’re quietly reshaping their models to make it work for them. From AI-powered professional tools to content licensing deals with OpenAI, Amazon, and Meta, they’re finding ways to monetize their content and expand audience engagement — even as Google’s AI-driven search starts serving answers instead of links.

For smaller, niche publishers, the temptation is to shrug this off. “Sure, it’s easy when you have a billion-dollar brand and a legal department the size of my entire staff.” But there’s a lot here that is portable — if you focus on the right pieces.

Lesson 1: Own Your Audience Before AI Owns Your Traffic

One of the clearest takeaways from the big four is how much they’re investing in direct audience relationships. The New York Times hit 11.88 million subscribers, People Inc launched a dedicated app, and even News Corp’s Dow Jones division keeps climbing on digital subscriptions.

For small publishers, this means stop over-relying on algorithmic referrals. If you’re still counting on Facebook, Google, or Apple News as your main discovery channels, you’re building on borrowed land.

Action:

  • Launch a low-friction email newsletter that delivers high-value, niche-specific updates.
  • Incentivize sign-ups with premium extras — e-books, data sheets, or early access content.
  • Build community spaces (Discord, Slack, or forums) where your most engaged readers gather off-platform.

Lesson 2: Package Your Expertise as a Product, Not Just a Publication

Thomson Reuters isn’t just “doing news.” They’re integrating AI into products like CoCounsel, which bakes their proprietary legal and tax content into Microsoft 365 workflows. It’s sticky, high-margin, and hard for competitors to replicate.

Smaller publishers may not have the dev team to roll out enterprise-level AI tools, but the underlying idea applies: turn your content into something your audience uses, not just reads.

Action:

  • Convert your most-requested guides or reports into downloadable templates, toolkits, or training modules.
  • Create a searchable knowledge base for subscribers, updated with new insights monthly.
  • Partner with a lightweight AI platform to offer custom alerts or summaries in your niche.

Turn insights into income.

Don’t just read about what’s possible — start building it now. I’ve put together a free, printable 90-Day Growth Plan for Small Publishers with simple, actionable steps you can follow today to grow your audience and revenue.

Lesson 3: Monetize Your Archives and Protect Your IP

Both the NYT and News Corp are in legal battles over AI scraping, but they’re also cutting deals to license their content. The message is clear: your back catalog is an asset — treat it like one.

For small publishers, this could mean licensing niche datasets, syndicating evergreen content to allied outlets, or even creating curated “best of” packages for corporate training or education markets.

Action:

  • Audit your archive for evergreen, high-demand topics.
  • Explore licensing or syndication deals with industry associations, trade schools, or niche platforms.
  • Add clear terms of use and copyright notices to protect your content from unauthorized scraping.

Lesson 4: Diversify Revenue Beyond Ads

People Inc is replacing declining print dollars with more profitable digital and e-commerce revenue. The Times is making real money from games, cooking, and even video spin-offs of podcasts.

Smaller publishers don’t need a NYT-sized portfolio to diversify. You just need a second or third income stream that aligns with your audience’s interests.

Action:

  • Launch a paid resource library with niche-specific data, tools, or premium reports.
  • Run virtual events, webinars, or training sessions for a fee.
  • Sell targeted sponsorships or native content in newsletters instead of relying solely on display ads.

The Bottom Line

AI disruption is real — and it’s already changing how readers find and consume news. But the big players are showing that with strong brands, direct audience relationships, and smart product diversification, you can turn the threat into an advantage.

For smaller publishers, the scale is different but the playbook is the same:

  • Control your audience pipeline.
  • Turn your expertise into products.
  • Protect and monetize your archives.
  • Don’t bet your survival on one revenue stream.

It’s not about matching the NYT’s resources; it’s about matching their mindset. In the AI era, the publishers who think like product companies — and treat their audience like customers instead of traffic — will be the ones still standing when the algorithms shift again.

Memorable takeaway: In the AI age, resilience isn’t about the size of your newsroom — it’s about the strength of your audience ties and the creativity of your monetization.

Ready to grow? Grab the free, printable 90-Day Growth Plan for Small Publishers and start building your audience and revenue today.