Over the past two years, Reach has focused on integrating AI tools into its editorial processes, from content creation and editing to distribution and audience engagement, a note David Higgersonchief digital editor, at our Newsroom Summit in Zurich this week.
Navigating Income and Relevance Online
Unlike many publishers who are increasingly adopting subscription models, Reach remains committed to providing free access to its journalism. “We believe our journalism should be free to anyone who wants to read it; it’s the only way forward,” Higgerson said.
He pointed to Reuters data showing that only 9 per cent of Britons are willing to pay for news, which is one of the reasons their journalism is free. He also cited the BBC’s presence as a significant challenge in convincing readers to pay for content, since it is a state-funded service but otherwise freely and widely available.
However, the company shares some challenges with other publishers. Besides revenue pressures, it faces a long-standing relevance problem.
“We need to stay connected with our readers throughout the day and constantly reevaluate what being digital first really means,” Higgerson said.
“Currently, this involves making data-driven decisions and rebuilding the real-world connections that once defined their brand, with the goal of transcending platforms. »
Exploring the role of AI in free journalism
Reach has spent the last two years exploring how AI can support its commitment to free information.
They began by determining how AI could help its journalists without replacing them, by ensuring that journalists retained editorial control.
“As our newsrooms have contracted, we have worked to allow journalists to do what they do best: get stories,” Higgerson said.
So while the number of journalists has declined over the past four years, Reach now has more reporters on the street gathering original stories, supported by AI.
Initially worried about introducing AI, Higgerson discovered that journalists were already using various AI tools independently. Some were adopted company-wide, while others were abandoned for various reasons.
He emphasized that the build or buy decision regarding AI initiatives was crucial. While many teams often prefer to build tools in-house, the company also explores options with external partners and vendors.
“While much of the conversation has been around generative AI, some of Reach’s greatest successes have come from deploying other AI technologies,” Higgerson added.
Key AI tools to improve efficiency
AI tools also help the organization streamline the distribution and amplification of content, which had become fragmented.
Reach adopted a “fail fast” approach, quickly experimenting with its 3,000 employees across 15 hubs in the UK, Ireland and the US; Collaboration across departments has helped accelerate AI integration.
Two key tools have driven the company’s AI efforts:
The first, Gutenwas developed in collaboration with newsrooms, data scientists and product teams to streamline tasks that were slowing down their journalism.
The second, Mantislargely built by the sales team, is a brand safety and revenue generation tool for editorial use. Now offered as a SaaS product, it has attracted publishers around the world.
It streamlines editorial processes by transforming proprietary data sources, like public reviews, into easily producible online content. Although this automates much of the initial work, these items still require editorial review before publication, improving the traditionally slow and labor-intensive process for journalists.
Streamlining content production: from 9 minutes to 90 seconds
Guten played a crucial role in streamlining Reach’s content production. In response to editorial comments regarding processing time content from trusted sources, the publisher developed Guten to speed up this workflow.
With 42 million monthly readers in the UK, Reach relies on high article production to generate advertising revenue, producing around 4,500 articles per day with a team of 1,800 journalists.
Guten helps by processing content from trusted sources, such as the Press Association and other publishers, and converting it into internally formatted articles. These articles can then be quickly reviewed by editors and journalists for publication.
Guten in action.
Guten has contributed significantly to Reach’s production, generating an additional 1 billion pages on the network, and now supports approximately 25% of production.
Breaking news publishing speed improved significantly, from nine minutes to just 90 seconds with Guten following the shift to remote working post-pandemic.
The organization integrates AI into every step of its storytelling process: research, creation, editing, publishing, distribution, amplification, and evaluating the effectiveness of the story.
Sourcing, a crucial area, is where the company aims to maximize journalists’ time. To achieve this, Reach is exploring ways in which AI can improve sourcing efforts, allowing journalists to focus more on their core journalistic tasks.
Leveraging AI Partnerships to Gain Competitive Advantage
Since establishing its data journalism team in 2012, Reach has strengthened its data journalism by using AI to accelerate analysis, helping its team manage larger data sets and uncover impactful stories.
The publisher uses AI-powered solutions from brands like Data Miner and Futuri to improve article sourcing. Futuri, an American company specializing in data-driven trend forecasting. “This gives us a competitive advantage in the US market, where we are relatively new compared to other UK publishers. This partnership has already resulted in significant successes,” said Higgerson.
Reliable data and information is then entered into Guten to create reliable news content. “This process took time to refine, with efforts to incorporate local dialects into articles, which is a departure from traditional newspaper practices,” he said.
Additionally, Reach uses Trint, an AI transcription tool, which saves sports journalists time and improves story production.
One of the main goals of AI has been to improve the content editing process.
“As newsrooms have shrunk and management has been reduced, content editors have faced increasing pressure to handle more tasks, just as journalists do,” Higgerson said. “Guten has streamlined this process by processing articles that no longer require journalist involvement, but are still managed and approved by content editors, but much more quickly.”
Optimize content creation and distribution
Reach is also collaborating with United Robots to build community engagement on a hyper-local level, “which has been the most difficult area of local journalism to find a future for,” he said.
An experiment on the MyLondon website involves using property postcode data to highlight average house prices. All content produced with United Robots is reviewed before publication
Many content editors have benefited from improved editing and publishing support following the merger of these functions. Guten plays a central role in this improvement.
Higgerson said the newsrooms aim to stay relevant to their target audience, with Guten adapting a story into 15 versions for different local sites, avoiding duplication of effort.
“This approach attracts new visitors to the websites, who can then be directed to the local journalism we prioritize,” he said. “As a result, we have seen a massive reduction in content duplication, allowing journalists to produce more original articles. »
Another collaboration is with Echobox to integrate AI into story selection for Meta and X, with plans to extend it to newsletters as well.
While content recommendation isn’t new, Reach is improving its “next best action” tool by using AI to provide users with personalized content, rather than repetitive suggestions.
Higgerson said content amplification is crucial to reaching a wider audience across different titles and keeping users engaged. That’s why the organization partnered with Viafoura to use a more engaging and safer commenting community.
“In the evaluation process, Reach faces the challenge of sifting through an enormous amount of data, which often leads to focusing on data points rather than actionable insights. While Chartbeat highlights top news stories, the company aims to identify trends at the middle tier of its 4,500 daily articles, such as the popularity of online obituaries,” he said.
Using tools like Gemini and insights from Chartbeat and Google Analytics, Reach focuses on replicating successful mid-tier stories across its network.
Looking ahead, Higgerson said they are working to improve their patience in managing demands from new suppliers and observing competitors’ strategies, recognizing the need to focus on long-term improvements rather than on immediate trends.
In addition, newsrooms see significant potential in audio and video content, although they are currently taking cautious steps in this area.
“Younger audiences, especially on TikTok, are quick to criticize the misuse of AI, which provides us with an opportunity to improve our offerings. »
“We aim to strengthen hyper-local partnerships and establish ourselves as the go-to source for local news,” he said.
“A Continuous Journey”: Lessons Learned
In conclusion, Higgerson listed the key lessons they learned from integrating AI into the Reach newsroom:
- As journalists harness the potential of AI, the biggest risk lies in its hasty implementation. The “build or buy” decision is crucial, with a dedicated product team striving to find the right balance in partnerships.
- Transparency is vital; readers expect to be informed about the use of AI. “Reach is committed to ensuring that all content is approved by a human before publication, by clearly describing its AI practices on its websites,” it said.
- Despite the progress, Reach knows it is only at the beginning of its AI journey.
“We emphasize the need for adaptability in our operations, recognizing that the ability to adapt is crucial. This flexibility must align with our core mission of fostering informed communities while remaining true to our values,” he said.
