Say goodbye to print newspapers, and hello to the rise of AI news chatbots
Premium content: This is from our forthcoming subscriber-exclusive Media Miss newsletter, where we will take you inside the algorithms and agendas shaping what you see.
As the news industry faces major financial headwinds and dwindling trust among readers, I dig into the battle of chatbot vs. chatbot. And in this week’s Media Miss Spotlight, we highlight research claiming a “deliberate, coordinated” effort by the White House to erode progress for Black Americans.
Media Mechanics
From graduation speeches to political ads to the courtroom, artificial intelligence can now be found just about everywhere.
And although leading chatbots have made a habit of spewing false AI slop disconnected from reality, it hasn’t stopped people from turning to the tools for information about current events. At the same time, newspapers and other legacy publishers have increasingly found themselves at war with the technology behemoths that scrape their content and pass it off to consumers as their own.
The news industry’s answer to chatbots decimating their business models? Chatbots.
This week, I dig into the rise of newsroom-specific chatbots, specifically those rolled out at The Washington Post and USA Today. In the coming months, the odds are pretty high a chatbot will make its way to the homepage of your local news outlet, too.
Frontier models like ChatGPT rely on disparate sources from across the web to generate responses, including “random stuff from Reddit and things that may not be true,” said Joey Marburger, the vice president of content intelligence at Arc XP, The Washington Post’s tech arm. But the newspaper’s chatbot, Ask The Post, is different. It pulls exclusively from information found in The Post’s archive, and is quick to admit when it doesn’t have an answer.
Are chatbots trained on news articles the answer to AI-enabled misinformation? In some ways, Marburger told me, news outlets’ embrace of AI isn’t just about innovation. It may also be the best option legacy publishers have left.
“It’s evolving so fast right now,” Marburger told me. “If you’re not trying and living along the wave of AI, it could just completely crash on you one day.”
Thanks for reading Media Miss — let us know what you think. Please send me your feedback and story ideas to mkeierleber@san.com. I’m also on Signal at MarkKeierleber.01.
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Miss Spotlights
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Left Media MissSpencer Platt/Getty Images
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani addresses slavery reparations in interview
6% left coverage73% right coverage
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he stood by a statement he wrote when running for mayor that said the city participated actively in the slave trade, and should reconcile and repair this legacy. NYC’s Commission on Racial Equity is looking into the topic of reparations and preparing a report on them. When asked whether he would support cash reparations if the commission suggested them, Mamdani said he wouldn’t give an answer in advance of the report being published. However, he added the matter is “critically important because this is also what it looks like to acknowledge what history truly was.”
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Right Media MissRonaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Report declares ‘state of emergency’ for Black Americans under Trump
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In a report published last week, the National Urban League detailed what it said is a “deliberate, coordinated campaign to reverse decades of progress for Black Americans” at the direction of the White House. The report said the Trump administration has hindered the goals of the Civil Rights movement, and talked about efforts to “dismantle civil rights protections, suppress voting access, and strip away diversity initiatives.” The report also addressed changes made at the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division under President Donald Trump, saying it has been “hollowed out and repurposed.”
Unbalanced Headlines
What happened:
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche formally rescinded President Trump’s proposed $1.8 billion “Anti-weaponization fund,” following negotiations with Republican Sens. Thom Tillis and John Cornyn, who had refused to advance Blanche’s nomination over concerns about the funds.
LEFT HEADLINE:
Trump’s stranglehold slips: Secret deal proves Republicans are revolting — Reported Aug. 3, 2026, by AlterNet
RIGHT HEADLINE:
Todd Blanche just nuked John Cornyn’s favorite excuse for blocking him — Reported Aug. 3, 2026, by RedState
Competing narratives
Left-leaning coverage portrays the decision as a political setback to suggest Blanche folded under pressure.
Right-leaning coverage frames the decision as a pragmatic compromise, moving Blanche closer to compromise.
Essential Reads
Round out your reading
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- High school teacher arrested at city meeting after clapping for anti-data center speech.
- Off Script: Everyone’s watching Michigan. Our reporter explains why the race just changed.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
