News Media Help Desk

People are asking AI who to vote for. Hacks/Hackers is launching a pilot that lets AI chatbots quote newsroom voter guides in their own words, name the newsroom and link back. | via @hackshackers.com

Google's “AI contribution pilot” aims to pay select publishers for content that meaningfully contributes to its AI. But the program is unpredictable, with reportedly small payouts. Here's what newsrooms need to know about the program:

The number of newsroom AI projects grew rapidly across the past few years, yet they do not add up to a fundamental transformation in how journalism is produced, distributed or funded. | via the Cronkite School at ASU

I’m here at #NPASummit in the RJI coworking space ✨ Room 422 ✨ Stop by and say hello to me and Sriya! We can answer your questions about @innovationrji.bsky.social and @newsmediahelpdesk.org. Also, we brought lots of swag. So, come grab some while the good pens are still available 👀

How can small newsrooms provide timely, verified information during crises to the people who need it most? It requires a nimble strategy built around live updates, multiplatform distribution, community input and partnerships. | via @innovationrji.bsky.social

First-party data is quickly becoming one of the most strategically important assets a newsroom can build. For her @rjionline.bsky.social fellowship, Nikita Roy worked with newsrooms to turn their first-party data into a coherent view of their audience that can inform editorial strategy.

Five takeaways from the Future of Media Technology Conference: - Publishers are rethinking audience engagement in light of Google Zero - News organizations are training their own in-house creators - Clicks from AI search are starting to become an important metric and more via @niemanlab.org:

@vox.com partnered with News Creator Corps to experiment with its first creator partnership. One takeaway? Successful creator-newsroom collaborations require more than handing off a story. The creator and newsroom need to build it together.

ICYMI: @newsmediahelpdesk.org, which provides free educational resources and fractional support to news organizations, this week launched a new live chat feature. News professionals can now ask questions while browsing the resource, which is a partnership between RJI and the Local Media Consortium.

Nieman Fellowships provide U.S. and international journalists with a paid opportunity to study at Harvard University for an academic year. Learn more about our October newsletter sponsor's fellowship by attending this Q&A on Zoom 👇

The News Media Help Desk, which provides free educational resources and fractional support to news orgs, today launched a new live chat feature. News professionals can now instantly ask questions while browsing the Help Desk, which is a partnership between RJI and the @localmediaco.bsky.social.

Two years ago, Meta shuttered CrowdTangle, a tool used to track how content spread across Facebook and Instagram. Now, new AI-powered tools are trying to fill the void. | via @niemanlab.org https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/09/two-years-ago-meta-killed-crowdtangle-can-a-new-ai-tool-fill-the-void/

Through the Library Newsroom Project’s first pilot, a group of community members in Brooklyn has published more than a dozen editions of a free, print monthly bulletin. | via @niemanlab.org https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/09/the-library-newsroom-project-could-be-coming-to-a-library-near-you/

Building a local voter guide takes more than publishing candidate questionnaires. VoterGuideOS brings research, candidate outreach, publishing and audience engagement into one workflow, helping newsrooms grab voter interest.

Minnesota Public Radio’s voter guide does more than help Minnesotans find their candidates. Using VoterGuideOS, the newsroom personalized ballots, streamlined candidate research and outreach, and added thousands of email addresses during the 2026 primary.

I've been a big fan of @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social for years! Excited that we were able to cover their smart, sustainable approach to launching a nonprofit news organization in @newsmediahelpdesk.org. Read this case study to learn why Little Green Light CRM is their centerpiece software.

The feedback inboxes at Lookout’s two newsrooms see dozens of emails each week. They create a dashboard that lets the newsrooms’ national support team evaluate, gauge and respond to feedback in a consistent way. | via @newsproduct.org 

Emergency Mode for News has checklists and other tools to help journalists respond to disasters before, during, and after they happen. | via @niemanlab.org https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/09/when-disaster-strikes-newsrooms-scramble-a-new-website-aims-to-help-tame-the-chaos/ 

Little Green Light’s strong donor tracking capabilities — with features that encourage relationship-building and event management — make it an ideal “centerpiece” system for @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social.

The Civic Action Toolbox helps readers take action by sharing information on public meetings, comment periods and the officials who make decisions. | via @rjionline.bsky.social https://rjionline.org/resources/toolkits/journalism-tells-people-whats-happening-this-tool-helps-them-take-action/ 

Product innovation learns more from what doesn't work than from what does. Sometimes that means putting something half-baked in the wild to find out what audiences respond to. | via @hackshackers.com https://www.hackshackers.com/how-newsrooms-can-learn-from-failure-without-failing-in-public/

The third annual survey by @localnewsini.bsky.social found that respondents are deeply skeptical of AI in news for anything more than helping to check spelling or grammar. https://localnewsinitiative.northwestern.edu/posts/2026/09/15/chicago-area-news-consumption-survey-2026/index.html

As a newsroom product, transcription app Good Tape places high importance on data security and does not train its AI models on users’ transcripts.

@pressgazette.co.uk launched a new tool that checks whether content is AI-generated or manipulated before publishing. The tool can review text, images, video and audio in four languages. https://pressgazette.co.uk/news/press-gazette-launches-newsroom-tool-to-stop-ai-fakes-before-publication/ 

Google has been quietly scaling a pay-per-value AI licensing scheme for publishers. But critics say the program looks less like a meaningful payout and more like a legal fig leaf. | via Digiday https://digiday.com/media/google-rolls-out-pay-value-ai-licensing-program-to-publishers/ 

@Muckrock.com is adding four free services for verified newsrooms. These tools can help watch a webpage for changes, monitor sources alongside an AI agent, search public records and geotag stories. https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2026/sep/09/four-new-ecosystem-services-available/

The Maine Trust for Local News wanted to build a consistent presence on Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. These are the seven key takeaways from their experiments with social video: https://www.newsmediahelpdesk.org/maine-trust-local-news-press-herald-social-video-strategy/

Google Ad Grants gives qualifying nonprofits funds for search ads. Is it the right program for your newsroom? Read practical tips for making the most of the program, via @innovationrji.bsky.social: https://www.newsmediahelpdesk.org/nonprofit-newsroom-google-ad-grants-advice

ICYMI: @mobusinessalert.bsky.social's director of marketing wrote about how the newsroom experimented with reaching audiences on Nextdoor's platform.

Backstory, an experimental tool from Google’s AI research lab, is helping one of India’s largest news organizations sort through a stream of slop, scams and disinformation. via @niemanlab.org

Four examples of news publishers building relationships with readers using comments 💬

ICYMI: About a year and a half into @axios.com's partnership with OpenAI, here’s an inside look at how it’s going.