Gannett plans to hire an “AI Sports Editor” and “AI-Assisted Sports Reporter” as America’s largest newspaper chain doubles-down on artificial intelligence in its newsrooms. The new job postings come amid ongoing union tension between employee journalists and Gannett, which owns the USA Today Network and has had multiple AI media controversies since 2023.
The AI Sports Editor job posting for Gannett’s USA Today Network carries a $80,000 to $140,300 salary range for an editor who will “lead a cutting-age digital news team that blends human reporting with AI technical expertise to storify data, automate content and create new reader experiences.” The editor will “lead a team of AI sports reporters” and “gather information to enrich AI-generated and automated content,” according to the job posting.
“AI has been a major issue at Guild bargaining tables, especially at Gannett where the company has a history of using the technology and trying to pass it off as reporting by humans,” Susan DeCarava, president The News Guild of New York, told Awful Announcing in a statement. The union represents nearly 6,000 media workers, including five bargaining units at Gannett newspapers.
“Journalism is so much more than just compiling information for a story. Good journalism comes from human connections made through interviewing story subjects and developing sources; the logic and thinking behind what makes a good angle for a story; and the life experiences each journalist brings to the table,” added DeCarava. “There simply is no substitute for the skills of a human being. This is the fundamental reason why we seek – and have won – strong job protection language on AI for our Gannett members in their contracts.”
Gannett’s AI-Assisted Sports Reporter will “utilize AI tools and data to generate sports content that goes beyond the box score or traditional beats” across high school, college and pro sports coverage. The remote role carries a listed hourly range between $21.64 and $38.70. Gannett additionally has a non-sports specific AI-Assisted Reporter job opening as well as a Sports AI Technical Expert role for someone whose background blends journalism and data science expertise.
“By leveraging AI, we are able to expand coverage and enable our journalists to focus on more in-depth sports reporting,” a USA Today Network spokesperson said in a statement to Awful Announcing. “With human oversight at every step, AI-assisted reporting meets our high standards for quality and accuracy to provide our readers more valuable content which they’ve always associated with the USA TODAY Network.”
Gannett, which owns USA Today and more than 200 local news outlets, maintains a public ethical conduct policy regarding its own AI-generated and assisted content. In 2024, Gannett shut down its product review site Reviewed after the publication’s staff journalists publicly accused Gannett of covertly publishing AI-generated product reviews on the site.
Gannett previously paused its AI sports writing program in 2023 after it used AI-generated game recaps of high school football games in newspapers such as The Tennessean, The Columbus Dispatch, and The Indy Star. Some of the recaps were ridiculed on social media for their robotic tone, lack of player names, and use of strange phrases like a “close encounter of the athletic kind,” alongside other awkward verbiage.
LedeAI, a content automation company owned by the Ohio-based Source Brand Solutions, was the provider of Gannett’s AI-generated game recaps in 2023. It is unclear if LedeAI is still working with Gannett, or if the publisher is using another technology partner for its new AI-assisted sports push.
Journalists at three Gannett-owned New Jersey newspapers reportedly voted to organize a walkout if the media giant does not agree to new contract terms soon, according to an article published Feb. 25 by the New Jersey Globe. The AOO-MCJ Guild – representing the Asbury Park Press, the Courier-News, and the Home News Tribune – alleges that “Gannett is instituting artificial intelligence policies that are affecting the newspaper’s working conditions, and discriminating against employees because of their union activities,” reported the Globe, adding that Gannett has allegedly not given raises to a majority of its journalists in six years. (Update: An announcement of a labor deal came Monday afternoon between Gannett and the NewsGuild of New York.)
The NewsGuild of New York has also taken to Linkedin over the past week to support journalists fighting for wage increases at Gannett’s New Jersey newspapers. Gannett’s stock price is down roughly 25% over the past three months, while its most recent fourth quarter 2024 earnings report showed $621.3 million in total revenue, a year-over-year decline of 7.2%.
“Gannett is slashing and burning America’s local papers – including publications across North and Central Jersey – and shrinking vital local coverage, laying off local journalists who report on the information you need to stay safe and connected to your community,” reads an ActionNetwork.org post from The NewsGuild-CWA union. “It’s time to invest in local papers and bargain in good faith with its journalists and settle fair contracts now.”
Gannett is not the only major publisher to use artificial intelligence to cover sports. ESPN has partnered with Microsoft and Accenture to produce AI-generated games recaps for the Premier Lacrosse League and National Women’s Soccer League, and was criticized in September for initially failing to include mention of Alex Morgan in what was her final professional match. Sports Illustrated also faced a scandal in 2023 for publishing AI-generated articles from fake, AI-generated authors.
