This week, I dig into McClatchy Media’s new artificial intelligence-powered “content innovation lab.” Plus, an inside look at the partisan headlines about the Kennedy Center’s possible destruction.
Media Mechanics
I’ve been paying close attention to the sweeping layoffs at the newspaper chain McClatchy Media, and you should be, too.
Newspaper layoffs are nothing new, and McClatchy Media — the publisher of leading local newspapers like the Miami Herald and The Kansas City Star — is no stranger to financial turmoil. Facing bankruptcy, a hedge fund acquired the company at a bargain-bin price tag in 2020 and has carried out aggressive cost-cutting measures ever since.
What comes next carries major implications for news consumers — and government accountability — from coast to coast.
The company is now going all-in on AI-generated content. Say goodbye to news coverage of Miami City Hall, and hello to AI-generated, influencer-led “content” about “travel, food, outdoor recreation, sports and even crime.”
That’s according to a job posting for positions with the company’s new “Content Innovation Lab,” which will use AI to flood the internet with lifestyle articles.
The internet is already flooded with AI slop, from LinkedIn “professional updates” to pink slime sites that masquerade as local news. But the AI pivot at McClatchy publications is, perhaps, the most alarming of them all.
From the Sacramento Bee in California to the Charlotte Observer in North Carolina, McClatchy-owned outlets have long published Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism that informs readers about the biggest news in their communities. Among McClatchy staffers, for example, is Miami Herald investigative journalist Julie K. Brown, whose groundbreaking reporting led to the arrest of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
At stake, here, are future investments in hard-hitting journalism as McClatchy pivots toward AI-generated slop. Is that what readers crave?
“Raise your hand if you want to subscribe to a newspaper with AI generated content,” Brown wrote on X, “instead of following real journalists who actually uncover real news and tell stories by physically interviewing people, reviewing documents and gaining the trust of whistleblowers to get to the truth.”
(If you aren’t seeing this week’s poll, you can take it here.)
Last week, we asked if you would trust reporting written by AI. Here’s what you said:
We also asked if it’s important to you that news articles you read are written by humans and not AI, and 78% of you said, “Yes, I would rather read news written by humans.”
Miss Spotlights
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Left Media Miss
AP Photos, both by J. Scott Applewhite Bill to create AI kill switch dies in Senate
15% left coverage61% right coverage
Powered by Ground News™
A bill that would require so-called “kill switches” in advanced artificial intelligence models failed to pass the Senate Wednesday. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., offered the bill by unanimous consent, so all 100 senators had to agree to it. Kennedy said the bill requires developers to create their own safety mechanisms, not the government. GOP Sen. Rand Paul objected to the bill, though. He said he wants to make sure lawmakers have “as many facts as possible before we dictate rules for the whole economy.”
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Right Media Miss
Kevin Carter/Getty Images Trump administration plans to put signs outside Smithsonian
65% left coverage17% right coverage
Powered by Ground News™
The Department of the Interior told two lawmakers it’s planning to put a dozen signs outside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History as part of an executive order issued by President Donald Trump. These signs are estimated to cost around $7,000 each. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the signs will be temporary and haven’t been finalized. Burgum said the signs will give visitors information about museum curators’ viewpoints, adding that the curators turned the museum into a place for “personal, radical ideologies.” Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, one of the senators notified, criticized the move.
Unbalanced Headlines
What happened:
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ordered Kennedy Center officials to give more than 30 days’ notice before any major changes, including demolition, after Rep. Joyce Beatty pointed to photos of Trump viewing a document that appeared to reference the center being demolished.
🟦 LEFT HEADLINE:
Trump Busted Plotting Kennedy Center Revenge on Air Force One — Reported by The Daily Beast on Sept. 17, 2026.
🟥 RIGHT HEADLINE:
Zoomed-In Photo of Trump Reading Document on Air Force One Ignites Speculation About Future of Kennedy Center — Reported by Western Journal on Sept. 17, 2026.
Competing narratives
Left-leaning media view the photo as a sign that the center’s closure is not temporary, and the possible demolition as retaliation.
Right-leaning media view the photo as possible plans for the center, given its need for repairs.
Both agree Trump was seen looking at a printout about the Kennedy Center.
Essential Reads
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Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images How AI’s threats are uniting Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon in a populist crusade against Big Tech
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Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images This company’s newspapers are ‘optimized for profit’ — for its hedge fund owner
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Reuters/Bhawika Chhabra/File Photo AI leaders back call to slow pace of frontier model development
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Getty Images/ Xiia Yuan Are we all going to die? Inside the push to control AI regulation
- How AI’s threats are uniting Bernie Sanders, Steve Bannon in populist crusade against Big Tech
- This company’s newspapers are ‘optimized for profit’ — for its hedge fund owner
- AI leaders back call to slow pace of frontier model development
- Are we all going to die? Inside the push to control AI regulation
To read past editions of the Media Miss Newsletter, click here.
