By ROBERT JUMPER
Tutiyi (Snowbird) and Clyde, N.C.
Early on, the Cherokee One Feather decided to restrict the use of Artificial Intelligence to write news articles for our community’s newspaper. In fact, One Feather decided that we would not use any material that we are responsible for generating that had elements of AI in it. This was a stand that we took on principle.
Ethically, we felt and feel an obligation to the institution of journalism to hold to the tradition of news gathering and writing by qualified, preferably local, reporters invested in the community and to provide the community with quality reporting and writing, not something that comes from a digital can. We believe that AI encourages laziness in journalism. Good writing is an art form and, in my opinion, irreplaceable in that AI prose has not yet gotten so good as to be written with human feeling when compared to an actual journalist.
So far, news sources like the Associated Press agree, explicitly prohibiting the use of generative AI to write publishable news content, a prohibition that extends to news photography, videos, and audio (www.ap.org).
But…
Slashdot, a tech news media and social website, published the following article on Feb. 18, 2026:
“Cleveland.com, the digital arm of Ohio’s Plain Dealer newspaper, has removed writing from the workloads of certain reporters and handed that job to what editor Chris Quinn calls an ‘AI rewrite specialist’ who turns reporter-gathered material into article drafts. The reporters on these beats, covering Lorain, Lake, Geauga, and most recently Medina County, are assigned entirely to reporting, spending their time on in-person interviews and meeting sources for coffee. Editors review the AI-produced drafts and reporters get the final say before publication. Quinn says the arrangement has effectively freed up an entire workday per week for each reporter. The newsroom adopted this model last year to expand local coverage into counties it could no longer staff with full teams, and Quinn described the setup in a February 14 letter after a college journalism student withdrew from a reporting role over the newsroom’s use of AI. Quinn blamed journalism schools for the student’s reaction, saying professors have repeatedly told students that AI is bad.”
And this from Maryland Today in an Oct. 28, 2025, article titled “Report: AI use in newspapers is widespread, uneven and rarely disclosed.” (today.umd.edu): “More than 9 percent of all news in U.S. newspapers contains at least some text created by AI, according to new research led by University of Maryland computer scientists. The study, based on analysis using a tool developed by Pangram Labs, also found that AI use in published articles is rarely disclosed, and that usage is much higher in smaller local outlets than nationally circulated newspapers. ‘As a reader, you generally don’t have a way to know if the news or the opinions are coming from a human or from AI,’ said Mohit Iyyer, an associate professor of computer science and the study’s senior author. ‘It makes it hard to trust the factuality of the content,’ he said, both because generative AI chatbots frequently get facts wrong and often engage in ‘hallucination,’ or fabrication.” Daniel Trielli, assistant professor of media and democracy at UMD’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism, called the study a fascinating look at how journalism is changing, and not for the better. ‘What’s most jarring is how many newsrooms are actually using this technology without saying they’re using it,’ said Trielli. ‘What we teach students at Merrill College is that part of the deal we as journalists make with the public is we’re going to be as transparent with them as we can be’.”
Even the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists chimed in. Reporter Susan D’Agostino wrote on July 14, 2025 (titled “AI is polluting truth in journalism. Here’s how to disrupt the misinformation feedback loop”) “Misinformation is hardly a modern invention, but with AI as an amplifier, it now spreads faster, adapts smarter, and arguably hits harder than before. This surge comes as independent journalism, the traditional counterweight to falsehood, faces economic decline, shrinking newsrooms, and eroding public trust.”
Our industry has created credibility issues because we, as an industry, practice several versions and philosophies, some attempting to redefine what journalism is, resulting in many outlets representing media opinion as legitimate factual news pieces. In recent years, more of the population has distrust of media reporting than in previous decades. Stacked on top of that is government reluctance to share information with the media, and it is no wonder that we are routinely dazed and confused when it comes to who and what to believe. Then along comes AI to further complicate our challenges to find truth and transparency.
The One Feather made the conscious choice to leave AI out of our reporting and writing. We do our very best, with the access, resources, and staff available, to bring the community the very best in journalistic excellence. Our public records laws are limited in the information we can mandate under the Cherokee Code to be released to us. And while we confront ordinance language, even create legislation, to help our community have more access, we also ask our government for true transparency as the opportunity arises.
I refer to the collective “us”; not just the Cherokee One Feather, but the community of the membership of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. When government crafts law, you are likely to see the word “may” a bit more than you see the word “shall”. “Shall” binds an action. It communicates that this must be done. “May” does not mandate. It simply gives the government the option to either do it or not do it at its discretion. And while we know that there are legitimate reasons for some information to remain confidential, we have also been dealt the response of “Since we are not required to provide the information, we won’t”, indicating that the withholding of that information was a matter of personal preference and not a matter of public interest or protection.
I urge every tribal member to read Cherokee Code 132-Public Records. Every member of our Tribe should be familiar with the Cherokee Code. It contains all the ordinances that govern our people and our land. There is also law made by resolution that does not have a public outlet unless you know what to look for and where. Then there are the overarching federal laws that apply to us.
And in the information landscape described above, AI is being used by both good and bad actors to sway your opinions on issues, legislation, candidates, and elections. AI is only going to become more powerful as time goes by. And time is going by quickly. Even with good intentions, AI manipulation is a creature built in the image of Frankenstein’s monster. It feeds off parts of information it finds on the internet, real or fantasy, to create a social beast that subtly manipulates you and me. It is truly a frightening prospect to see newspapers and other media lean so heavily into letting AI replace writers.
In the words of Dr. Frankenstein, as the lightning struck his patchwork monster, “It’s alive!” While they may be saving time and money, I must wonder what we are sacrificing in the process.
