All seven journalists at Pennsylvania newspaper unionize after AI byline dispute
Every journalist at the Centre Daily Times in State College, Pa. signed a union card last month after their owner, McClatchy, began placing their names on stories written by artificial intelligence.
The newsroom asked McClatchy to voluntarily recognize their union with The NewsGuild of Greater Philadelphia in late April. McClatchy agreed to have an independent party verify the union cards against staff lists.
McClatchy rolled out an AI system called the Content Scaling Agent earlier this year. The tool uses Anthropic's Claude to repackage stories at different lengths and for different audiences.
The Centre Daily Times was an early test site for the system. Posts initially carried a generic AI staff byline, but that changed in February when McClatchy started attaching real reporters' names to AI-generated content.
The decision to unionize came after reporters learned that journalists at other McClatchy newsrooms were refusing to have their names attached to AI-summarized posts.
What reporters say the union will do
Josh Moyer, a reporter at the Centre Daily Times, said unionization gives journalists leverage to shape company policy. "A union is a way to say what we want and to put it in a contract," he said.
Moyer framed the effort as benefiting readers. "A healthier newspaper leads to a healthier community," he said.
Trebor Maitin, another reporter, emphasized that McClatchy needs to maintain trust with its newsroom so the newsroom can maintain trust with readers. "Trust is the soul of journalism and if we lose that we lose everything," Maitin said.
The broader pattern at McClatchy
This is the sixth McClatchy newsroom to unionize in as many years. Each previous unionization was voluntarily recognized by the company.
High-profile journalists have already resisted the practice. Julie K. Brown, an investigative reporter at the Miami Herald who was recognized by the Pulitzer Prizes this year for reporting on Jeffrey Epstein, refused to allow McClatchy to attach her name to AI-summarized posts.
McClatchy promotes the Content Scaling Agent as a time-saver. In practice, reporters and editors spend time fixing errors the system introduces, absorbing rather than reducing workload.
The Centre Daily Times, founded in 1898, serves State College and the surrounding area, including Pennsylvania State University.
For writers navigating AI for writers and generative AI and LLM issues in professional settings, understanding how newsrooms are addressing byline attribution and AI-generated content is increasingly relevant to contract negotiations and editorial standards.
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