Program

AI isn’t a journalist! Its limits are a fundraising and engagement opportunity

A free workshop from the Lenfest News Philanthropy Network

July 28, 2026

Date: Wednesday, August 26

Time: 2 p.m. ET/ 1 p.m. CT / 12 p.m. MT / 11 a.m. PT

Presenter: Lynn Walsh, Trusting News

As AI tools rapidly reshape how people search for and consume information, journalism faces a big problem: these systems rely on the work of newsrooms, yet they routinely fail to direct audiences back to the original reporting they depend on. Research shows generative search tools struggle with real-time information, fabricate citations and links, misattribute reporting and often present confidently incorrect answers instead of acknowledging gaps. AI can summarize journalism, but it cannot do journalism.

In this conversation hosted by the Lenfest News Philanthropy Network, we’ll discuss how this technological limitation may actually be one of the strongest fundraising and engagement opportunities currently available to local news. People increasingly ask and debate how journalism will remain relevant in an AI-saturated information ecosystem. Could the answer be as simple as leaning into the human elements of reporting: building relationships, making ethical decisions, understanding communities and producing original reporting?

This session will explore how newsrooms and journalists can use the AI disruption as an opportunity to:

• deepen trust
• strengthen community connections
• build media literacy
• articulate the unique value of journalism
• raise money and increase subscriptions and reach

Let’s discuss and debate if the very limitations of AI highlight what journalism uniquely provides: ethical decision-making, accountability, local knowledge, relationship-building and the lived experiences required to produce original, trustworthy reporting.

Register here Register here

Presenter: Lynn Walsh, Trusting News

Lynn Walsh is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and the Assistant Director of Trusting News, where she leads industry efforts focused on AI literacy, transparency and community listening. She works directly with newsrooms to develop public-facing explainers, training resources and engagement strategies that help communities better understand how journalism and artificial intelligence shapes the information ecosystem. Read her research here.