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ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (October 16, 2026) —The Poynter Institute today announced the first cohort ofLeading AI in the Newsroom, a new leadership program created for journalists guiding artificial intelligence adoption in small and medium-sized news organizations.
For its first cohort, the program brings together 33 journalists and newsroom leaders who have become the people their organizations turn to for questions about AI while navigating this evolving technology themselves.
Combining two of Poynter’s core areas of expertise, leadership development and AI training, the program goes beyond teaching participants how to use new tools. It prepares them to lead their newsrooms through technological change, build trust among skeptical colleagues, navigate resistance to change, and communicate across organizational silos. Through group discussions with experts, the cohort will tackle concerns about editorial integrity, job security and how to implement AI ethically in their newsrooms.
Participants will begin with a two-day, in-person workshop in Los Angeles at the end of October, followed by four live virtual sessions through early December. Poynter faculty Alex Mahadevan and Tony Elkins, along with Poynter senior leaders Kelly McBride and Sitara Nieves, will lead the cohort through examining case studies, developing AI strategies in collaborative workshops and dissecting them in peer discussions. The goal is introducing AI responsibly while maintaining trust, transparency and editorial integrity. Poynter’sAI Ethics Guidebookwill serve as a foundation to evaluate risks and opportunities, while developing meaningful benchmarks for measuring the impact of AI initiatives.
During the virtual portion, Benjamin Toff, associate professor at the University of Minnesota, will share research on audience perceptions of AI in journalism, including transparency, disclosure and audience feedback. Christine DiGangi, vice president of AI editorial operations at People Inc., will offer insights into evaluating AI experiments and deciding which initiatives to continue or discontinue. Experts from the American Press Institute will also present research on newsroom leaders’ expectations and approaches to AI adoption. At the end of the program, each participant will leave the program with a practical AI implementation plan tailored to their newsroom.
Members of the first 2026 Leading AI in the Newsroom cohort include:
Christopher Ayers, news director, 90.5 WESA
Tyler Bassett, director of digital media, Bonneville Phoenix
Drew Bennett, executive producer, Spectrum News 1
Tyson Bird, editorial product manager, American City Business Journals
Kate Bradshaw, assistant features editor, Bay Area News Group
Christina Chkarboul, staff reporter, Los Angeles Business Journal
Dawn Clapperton, vice president of news, NBC6 South Florida / NBCUniversal Local
Glenn Cook, executive editor and senior vice president of news, Las Vegas Review-Journal
Ryan Ellison, digital director, Central Florida Public Media
Annie Feidt, managing editor, broadcast, Alaska Public Media
Susan Gonzalez, editor, social and platforms, Chalkbeat
Izzy Gould, senior director of content, AL.com | Alabama Media Group
Alex Helmick, managing editor, WABE News
Yvonne Krumrey, reporter, KTOO
George LeVines, editor, Gun Violence Data Hub, The Trace
Denise Lockwood, CEO, Racine County Eye
Jonathan Martin, editor-in-chief, Cascadia Daily News
Candice Mays, project director, Black Voice News
Charles Minshew, senior editor of data journalism, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Michael Olson, deputy managing editor, MPR
Michelle Quinn, executive editor, EdSource
Clara Ramirez, senior digital producer, NBC and Telemundo Los Angeles
Fahmida Rashid, managing editor, technology & features, Dark Reading, Informa TechTarget
Matheus Sanchez, digital director, WLRN
Andrea “Andy” Sanchez-Villafana, managing editor, Voice of San Diego
Sky Schaudt, senior digital editor, KJZZ 91.5 FM
Tom Scheck, investigations editor, The Minnesota Star Tribune
Akash Sinha, managing editor, Charlottesville Tomorrow
Violeta Trevizo, director of streaming & digital innovation, Arizona’s Family / Gray Media
Carlos Virgen, senior editor, The Modesto Bee
Joshua Wilson, managing editor, Appen Media Group
Ashley Yeager, deputy multimedia editor, Science News
Michelle Zenarosa, deputy political editor, COURIER News
This program is made possible by the Knight-API Endowment Fund. Poynter thanks the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the American Press Institute for the support, as well as Arizona State University Center for Media & Communities for hosting the in-person portion of the program.
Leading AI in the Newsroom is part of Poynter’sbroader work developing guidelinesto help journalists and news organizations navigate AI while upholding journalistic values. The initiative will build on and expand these guidelines, with the resulting insights and re across the journalism industry
Jennifer Orsi
Vice President, Publishing and Local News Initiatives
Poynter Institute
jorsi@poynter.org
About the Poynter Institute
The Poynter Institute is a global nonprofit working to address society’s most pressing issues by teaching journalists and journalism, covering the media and the complexities facing the industry, convening and community building, improving the capacity and sustainability of news organizations and fostering trust and reliability of information. The Institute is the gold standard in journalistic excellence and dedicated to the preservation and advancement of press freedom in democracies worldwide. Through Poynter, journalists, newsrooms, businesses, big tech corporations and citizens convene to find solutions that promote trust and transparency in news and stoke meaningful public discourse. The world’s top journalists and emerging media leaders rely on the Institute to learn new skills, adopt best practices, better serve audiences, scale operations and improve the quality of the universally shared information ecosystem.
The Newmark Ethics Center, the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), MediaWise and PolitiFact are all members of the Poynter organization.
Support for Poynter and our entities upholds the integrity of the free press and the U.S. First Amendment and builds public confidence in journalism and media — an essential for healthy democracies. Learn more atpoynter.org.
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Poynter announces first cohort for Leading AI in the Newsroom
33 journalists and newsroom leaders selected for Poynter’s new program on responsible AI adoption, leadership and organizational change
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