This week, I dig into the massive layoffs at local newspaper conglomerate McClatchy Media — and its big pivot to artificial intelligence-generated articles. Plus, how the media framed a clash between Vice President JD Vance and a protester with a Mexican flag.
Media Mechanics
WTF is “nugget ice?” Honestly, I had no idea until newspaper giant McClatchy media gutted its publications from coast to coast.
As the publisher of major newspapers including the Miami Herald and the Sacramento Bee pivots away from human-written investigations that hold local politicians accountable to the communities they serve, the media chain has officially entered its AI slop era.
At least 90 journalists were laid off last week after the publisher of local newspapers determined that local news is not, in fact, a great way to make money. Greg Farmer, McClatchy’s head of local news, told staff that revenue from subscribers has declined 41% and that the “status quo” of employing reporters to cover their communities “no longer works.”
The layoffs, Farmer wrote, are part of a companywide effort to realign its efforts “with what our customers value.”
The McClatchy value proposition? AI-generated articles such as recent offerings that explain how nugget ice “has become the craze worth understanding,” how saunas have “reshaped social wellness” and “what your poop color, shape and frequency say about your gut health.”
While McClatchy is “hemorrhaging people,” one reporter at The Kansas City Star told me, the company is going all-in on AI-generated lifestyle articles about nutty health trends.
Those articles aren’t produced by reporters — but rather, “content strategists” paid as much as $90,000 to produce AI-generated articles about nugget ice and poop.
What even is nugget ice? Luckily, The Kansas City Star has the answers we need to be productive members of a democratic society.
“Nugget ice is a small, pellet-shaped ice that is soft enough to chew and porous enough to soak up whatever drink it sits in,” according to the article which, according to AI-detector GPTZero, was likely entirely AI-generated. “Which is a big part of why it has developed such a devoted following.”
That’s it for today. If you’ve got any insight into the chaos at McClatchy, I’m all ears: I’m at mkeierleber@san.com, mark.keierleber@protonmail.com or on Signal at Mark.Keierleber.01.
Miss Spotlights
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Left Media Miss
Stephen Maturen/Getty Images Congressional watchdog dismisses allegations against Ilhan Omar
7% left coverage61% right coverage
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The Office of Congressional Conduct cleared Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., of wrongdoing after she made an error in her financial disclosure forms. Omar filed a disclosure showing she and her husband had between $6 million and $30 million in assets. The increase from her 2024 filing sparked Republicans to call for an investigation. Omar then amended the filing, saying her accountant had made a mistake. That amended filing states the couple has between $18,004 and $95,000 in assets.
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Right Media Miss
AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson Pentagon searching medical records to identify transgender troops: Report
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The Pentagon is looking through protected medical records to find transgender military members who are still serving. Commanders reportedly got notices that members of their units are violating Pentagon policy, and to start the separation process. The military is using the Department of Defense’s electronic health records system to identify trans service members. An internal Air Force email shows the Office of the Secretary of Defense identified troops “who may have a current diagnosis or history of or exhibit symptoms consistent with gender dysphoria in their electronic healthcare record.”
Unbalanced Headlines
What happened:
Vice President JD Vance addressed a protester who interrupted him while waving the Mexican flag at the Republicans’ midterm convention.
🟦 LEFT HEADLINE:
Man Who Spread Racist Lies About Haitians Eating Your Pets Says That He’s “Tired Of Being Called Racist” — Reported by Joe. My. God. on Sept. 11, 2026.
🟥 RIGHT HEADLINE:
Foreign flag waving protester is no match for J.D. Vance — Reported by Bizpac Review on Sept. 11, 2026.
Competing narratives
Left-leaning media characterize Vance’s response to the protester as “idiotic” and “racist.”
Right-leaning media characterize Vance’s response as a patriotic pushback against the protester.
Essential Reads
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Reuters/Bhawika Chhabra/File Photo AI leaders back call to slow pace of frontier model development
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Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images Musk’s super PAC is flooding Facebook with political ads for a website that harvests its users’ data
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Straight Arrow Illustration/Getty Images Their documentary launched lingering conspiracy theories about 9/11. It’s a monster they can’t escape
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Straight Arrow Illustration/Bill Pugliano/Getty Images ‘They just own my name now?’ Ohio newspaper slaps reporter’s byline on AI-generated article
- AI leaders back call to slow pace of frontier model development
- Musk’s super PAC is flooding Facebook with political ads for a website that harvests its users’ data
- Their documentary launched lingering conspiracy theories about 9/11. It’s a monster they can’t escape
- ‘They just own my name now?’ Ohio newspaper slaps reporter’s byline on AI-generated article
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