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Gannett’s April 24, 2024, draft contract language would have allowed AI to generate news content without the earlier draft’s express limit that it be supplementary to local reporting, not a replacement. Rochester journalists objected and sought a written job-protection safeguard. After a 19-day strike, the union ratified a June 2024 agreement that included the supplementary/not-a-replacement commitment. That agreement’s wording is not verified as the wording of any successor contract in force in 2026.
How the AI clause changed between drafts
The dispute was about proposed contract language, not a report that Gannett had already used the clause to publish unrestricted AI-generated local reporting. Digiday reported the two versions on May 14, 2024.
| Draft | What it said about AI-generated news | Express protection against replacement | AI policy changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 11, 2024 | AI “may be used to generate news content that is supplementary to local news reporting and is not a replacement for it.” | Yes: generated content was to supplement, not replace, local reporting. | The April 11 wording described in Digiday did not include the later change allowing Gannett’s AI policy to be modified “from time to time.” |
| April 24, 2024 | “Artificial intelligence (AI) may be used to generate news content.” | No equivalent supplementary/not-a-replacement limit appeared in this draft. | The revised language also said Gannett’s AI policy could be modified “from time to time.” |
Digiday’s account of the draft language describes the April 24 version as a proposal, not the final contract.
Why Rochester journalists objected
The union’s concern was that the revised clause left AI’s role in generating news without a written limit protecting journalists’ work. Digiday reported that the Rochester unit had been bargaining for about two years and that members said they had received no explicit notice of the change.
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Justin Murphy, an education reporter and Newspaper Guild of Rochester member, told Digiday, “It was shocking and frustrating and disappointing.” He described the union’s aim as getting written acknowledgment that Gannett might use AI as it developed, but that AI would not replace journalists’ work or the journalists themselves.
The reported headcounts refer to different dates and groups, so they should not be treated as a reconciled total. Digiday counted 25 Democrat & Chronicle newsroom members in its May report; the NewsGuild’s June announcement referred to 24 journalists in the Rochester and Canandaigua bargaining group. Digiday also reported that the NewsGuild represented more than 1,000 Gannett employees across more than 50 bargaining units.
What the NLRB filing does—and does not—show
The union filed an unfair-labor-practice charge on April 24, 2024, alleging regressive proposals. The National Labor Relations Board’s case page records a charge filed April 25 against Gannett’s Democrat & Chronicle operation. The filing is a procedural fact and an allegation; it does not, by itself, establish that Gannett committed an unfair labor practice. See the NLRB case page, 03-CA-340792.
What the June 2024 agreement ultimately said
After a 19-day strike, journalists at the Democrat & Chronicle and Canandaigua Daily Messenger unanimously ratified a two-year collective bargaining agreement on June 17, 2024, according to the NewsGuild-CWA. The union and WXXI News reported the agreement’s AI commitment: AI was “supplementary to local news reporting and is not a replacement for it.”
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That negotiated term restored the central protection absent from the April 24 draft: AI could supplement local reporting, not replace it. It is the outcome of the 2024 agreement, not evidence of the text in a later successor contract.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What this means for readers asking whether Gannett can use AI to write local news
The April 24 draft proposed permission to use AI to generate news content, without the earlier draft’s express non-replacement limit. The June 2024 agreement instead included the supplementary/not-a-replacement commitment. Neither draft alone establishes what Gannett actually published, and the 2024 agreement’s two-year term does not establish the wording of a successor contract in 2026.
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For context on why unions focused on written safeguards, the NewsGuild-CWA’s November 2023 member survey found that 90% of responding members said unions had a strong responsibility to enforce ethical and responsible AI use. This is a result among survey respondents, not an estimate of all journalists or the public. Read the NewsGuild-CWA survey report.
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