23 Dec 2019

LEDE AI Showcased in “Great Local News Idea In 2019”

Medium.com is all about highlighting local news platforms, publishers and journalists working to change and improve the game, coming up with innovations that climb towards sustainability.

In Mark Glaser’s latest article, “9 Great Local News Business Ideas in 2019,” companies working toward that self-sufficiency were highlighted.

Lede AI made the list because the program gives publishers and newsrooms the ability to cover more areas while sending reporters out on other assignments.

“By partnering with Scorestream, which provides high school sports results, Lede AI is able to generate stories nearly right after the game ends. And the cost to publishers can be just $4 for each story,” Glaser wrote.

One of the first things people wonder about is if the technology will end up replacing the journalist themselves. The answer is no, as you will be able to expand your newsroom powers while still having your reporters cover more stories and with more depth of coverage.

“In a test last summer of Lede AI, Richland Source had an increase of 123% in sports section pageviews, and even out-of-market stories with no art or human intervention accounted for 39% of all football-story traffic that week,” Glaser wrote.

A big reason for Lede AI’s rise in popularity is because newsrooms have been hit hard over the last two decades trying to cover their area entirely, while readership on traditional platforms has continued to dwindle. Lede AI allows coverage to be expanded while growing a reader base.

“2019 has been a big year for local journalism, and it hasn’t always been good. Consistently though, the good news is coming from the ground up. Local news entrepreneurs are taking matters into their own hands and finding a way to make it work. We’re glad to be part of that work,” said Jay Allred of Lede AI.