Culture
McClatchy Cut Its Newsroom, Then Automated What Was Left
The Content Scaling Agent can produce up to eight bylined pieces from one reporter's story, three fixed formats plus up to five audience rewrites, at no additional pay for the reporter. Chatham Asset Management, which bought the chain for $312 million in 2020, captures all the incremental ad revenue.
McClatchy launched a Claude-powered rewrite tool in March 2026 and told reporters their names stay on every derivative it produces.
The Content Scaling Agent, built on Claude, produces three named formats: a "What to Know" bullet summary, a video script, and a 400- to 800-word Google-optimized explainer. Editors can then commission up to five audience-targeted rewrites of the same source material. Each version carries the reporter's byline and its own ad inventory.
Eric Nelson, McClatchy's VP of local news, confirmed the byline policy: reporters without removal rights in their contracts keep their names on all AI-generated output. The tool runs across 30 McClatchy newspapers. Reporters receive no additional pay for any derivative.
31 of 35 Sacramento Bee union members sent a protest letter on March 27. More than 65 Miami Herald and Bradenton Herald staffers followed. Unions at the Miami Herald, Sacramento Bee, and Kansas City Star filed formal grievances citing a provision requiring advance notice of "major technological changes" before deployment.
Chatham Asset Management bought McClatchy out of bankruptcy for $312 million in August 2020 and eliminated the chain's national breaking-news desk in November 2025. The Content Scaling Agent launched four months later. Each AI derivative is new ad inventory at near-zero marginal cost; the proceeds accrue to Chatham.
The Byline Clause
The Sacramento Bee's February 2026 contract grants reporters full byline-removal rights for AI output, a provision no other McClatchy agreement contains. Management must also give advance notice before any "major technological change" is deployed.
Once an arbitrator rules on those two clauses, the "no notice required" defense closes off for every McClatchy masthead with comparable language. Chatham's ability to extract derivative revenue without renegotiating contracts depends on how many of the chain's 30 papers did not sign them.
The Kansas City Star ratified a three-year contract in January 2023; that deal expired in early 2026. If its renewal does not include Sacramento Bee-style AI language, Chatham holds the derivative ad inventory at the Star without a contractual floor under any of it.