Union Journalists Dub Newsroom AI “Absolute sh*t”
Harold Phillips | Published on 3/28/2026
“Incredibly dumb.” “Honestly insane.” “Absolute sh*t.” That’s just some of the overwhelmingly negative feedback found in a Reddit thread discussing an entirely AI-generated story in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, a neat summation of community sentiment about using artificial intelligence to write local news. Despite the cutesy name management slapped on the tech, “guest columnist” Bo Zangeles was not a hit with local readers.
Readers’ sentiments are shared by the union (and human) journalists of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Along with their compatriots at the Skagit Valley Herald, Anacortes American, Stanwood Camano News and Wyoming Tribune Eagle, they are currently bargaining a new contract with publisher Adams MultiMedia. These newsroom workers — like counterparts in dozens of local newspapers and national outlets — are fighting management proposals to entrench AI use in the production of news media without any editorial oversight.
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