Traveling back to Sweden from the Senior Leadership Conference in Colorado last month, we noted the positive energy at the conference. It was particularly uplifting to hear that groups like Hoffmann Media Group, Georges Media and Colorado Springs Gazette are expanding into new markets and see that local communities really want to engage with good, local journalism — and pay for it. The importance of providing unique local content was mentioned often during SLC, not least at the roundtable we hosted. It’s clear that from a reader’s point of view the value is in having access to a local news site that is the hub of local journalism and information that you can’t easily find anywhere else: the content that defines the community you live in.
A couple of years ago, Steven Waldman, president of Rebuild Local News, wrote a great opinion piece for The Poynter Institute titled “How high school sports can save democracy.” In it, he talks about how local journalism has a key mission in holding the powers-that-be accountable through its reporting. But he points out that, crucially, local media also have what he calls a community cohesion role: “Obituaries, high school sports, school board meetings, the new economic development plan, the amateur theater production, a couple’s 50th wedding anniversary — these types of stories teach neighbors about each other, provide basic information on community problems and create a sense of shared interest.”
Locals have a right to expect the big, investigative stories, but also all the small stories and local information that makes the community what it is. From a local publisher’s point of view, it’s about giving readers a reason to visit and revisit your site. Or rather, give them many reasons. Of course, the most important source of unique local content are local journalists, working out in the community and reporting on all the stories that affect its people.
However, with newsrooms increasingly under financial pressure, many cleverly supplement their human journalism with content and information pulled together using AI and automation, combined with local data. That last part is key — with local data, the content is still uniquely local, even though it’s produced automatically. This is what United Robots does for over 50 local newsrooms across the U.S.
This is not generative AI. United Robots builds robots using rule-based AI and quality data to create short editorial texts. The texts, which are delivered to publishers’ CMS systems with images and metadata tags, are ready for publication. Thanks to the quality data and predictable AI we use, the texts can go straight onto local news sites, saving time in the newsroom too.
One of our content services involves articles about Real Estate sales. These do particularly well with publishers who are looking to bring readers relevant content close to home; we can deliver down to ZIP code level. Below is an example screenshot of a single sale article — this is all delivered as a ready-to-publish draft to the CMS.
We also offer natural hazards content like Weather Warnings, published, for example, by The Los Angeles Daily News, and Wildfires, published, for example, by the Sacramento Bee, as well as Traffic, published by Kansas City Star. We are currently also resuscitating our data research into high school sports, hoping to be able to offer this in the new year.
If you want to learn more about how automated content could support your local journalism and business, visit our website or get in touch with cecilia.campbell@unitedrobots.se.
