The Philadelphia Inquirer built Scrape, an AI tool to surface hyperlocal news
What happened
The Philadelphia Inquirer created an AI tool called Scrape to help editors find local news stories for its hyperlocal newsletters. The tool was built around the Inquirer's existing manual workflow, using a curated list of community sources and daily tip sheets produced by an editor. Scrape runs daily over those sources, generates a tip sheet, and the editor annotates it to refine the prompts and improve relevance. The system incorporates editorial context such as newsletter audience, geography, and school districts to filter out irrelevant content. Over several months, the iterative feedback loop reduced noise and increased the signal of community news.
Why it matters
By automating the search for local stories, the Inquirer can cover more neighborhoods with less editorial time, potentially giving readers more timely and relevant local news. This approach shows how AI can support journalism without replacing human judgment.
Reality check
An automated, sceptical read of the sourceIncremental. The tool builds on existing editorial processes and uses standard prompt refinement, representing a modest improvement rather than a radical breakthrough.
Is this a big deal?
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