newsroom-ai-policy

Newsroom AI Policy

What This Skill Does

Generates a complete, publication-ready AI usage policy document tailored to the newsroom's specific context — covering permitted uses, prohibited uses, disclosure requirements, quality gates, training, accountability, and review cadence.

When To Use This Skill

• Your newsroom has no AI policy and reporters are already experimenting with AI tools — you need clear rules before ad hoc habits calcify into unwritten norms
• Your existing AI policy is a one-paragraph statement ("use AI responsibly") and you need specific, enforceable guidance that reporters can actually follow
• You're launching a new publication or digital desk and want AI rules baked in from day one
• Your editor-in-chief or legal team has asked for a formal policy document they can circulate to all staff and freelancers
• You've had an incident — a factual error traced to AI-generated text, a source who discovered AI was used to process their interview, a reader who noticed AI-sounding prose in a bylined column — and you need a policy response fast
• You manage a publication that relies on freelancers and contributors, and you need a policy that extends to people who are not on staff but publish under your masthead
• Your newsroom is part of a larger media group and you need a local policy that fits within corporate guidelines but addresses your specific editorial context
• A journalism school, press association, or industry group has asked you to draft a model AI policy that others can adapt

What You Need To Provide

Required: A description of the newsroom — size (number of editorial staff), beats covered, publication type (daily newspaper, weekly magazine, digital-only, broadcast, etc.), and the editorial values or principles the publication already follows (even informally).

Optional inputs that improve the output:

• Specific AI tools already in use or under consideration (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Otter.ai, Descript, Midjourney, etc.)
• Any incidents or concerns that motivated the policy request — the more specific, the more targeted the policy
• The newsroom's stance on transparency with readers (do you have a public trust statement, a reader advisory board, a corrections policy?)
• Existing style guide or ethics code to align with (SPJ Code of Ethics, AP style, internal house rules)
• Whether the policy needs to address freelancers, stringers, contributors, interns, or only full-time staff
• Any regulatory or union constraints (collective bargaining agreements, GDPR, state privacy laws, industry codes)
• The name and title of the person who will own the policy
• Whether the publication uses AI-adjacent tools already (automated CMS tagging, SEO suggestion tools, audience analytics dashboards) and whether those should be in scope
• The publication's stance on AI-generated images, audio, and video — not just text
• Whether the newsroom has a formal editorial workflow (story budgets, assignment trackers, CMS with tagging) or works informally