Do You Believe There’s Still a Job for Human Journalists to Do?

As publisher of The Tyee, it’s my job to scan the horizon of independent journalism. To look out for looming threats. Every day I’m seeing the transformational effect AI usage is having across the industry.

We know journalistic coverage that has been painstakingly reported, researched, verified and written up is being scraped, chopped up and delivered to users, oftentimes with no attribution to the original author.

I’ll admit it. I’m shaken a bit as I read warnings of a coming “Google Zero” — the tipping point where the number of people searching the web to visit actual sites to get any information falls off a cliff. That would mean the collapse of most digital news models. Even The Tyee, which reaches 80,000 people via free e-newsletters straight to their inboxes, would have to scramble to adapt.

Meanwhile, over and over again, we’re learning about reckless use of AI causing havoc. Like news outlets forced to come clean about handing over huge roles to AI without checking the output or disclosing its use to readers — and then sheepishly admitting they got it wrong.

The Tyee doesn’t permit that kind of AI in our journalism. Our guidelines are clear and strict. But it begs a crucial question:

What is the future of journalism done by actual thinking and caring humans?

Because that is the bedrock of The Tyee’s mission. Living, breathing, non-hallucinating journalists. Telling what’s real to real readers. Who rely on us to deliver regular, factual updates on political and social realities.

Well, the good news I can share with you is that thousands of people support The Tyee’s mission by reading and, most importantly, contributing what they can to help us pay fair wages to our 26-person team.

In return, these good souls receive a charitable tax receipt and the satisfaction of supporting independent media in perilous times.

In fact, more people are reading The Tyee now than at any point in our 23-year history (yes, even when we filter out the bots, which we’ve had to step up lately).

So far this year, nearly three million people have visited The Tyee, viewing well over a million pages per month. We’ve launched new initiatives (which I’ll tell you about in a minute).

And just about 10,000 highly sentient, fully human folks pay so that we can continue to exist.

True, that’s a small fraction of the people who read us. But they make all the difference. The largest single source of revenue for our non-profit news organization comes from these members, whom we call Builders. Please consider joining their ranks!

“Builders” is an apt name because not only are these the people who help us pay our bills — they are precisely the reason we can grow while so many other newsrooms shrink.

Which is why I’m here today to make this pitch. Check your pulse. Are you an actual human being? Are you also a regular reader of The Tyee? If you value the way our journalists use their highly trained brain cells to cut through the AI slop and toxic misinformation seeping through the internet, please sign up to be a Tyee Builder at whatever level of support you wish.

Take a stand with us on the side of humans helping other humans become better informed. Because in our democracy, citizens (so far) are real people who need independent journalism to make informed decisions. To reach for solutions. And to hold power to account.

We’ve set a goal I am asking you to help us achieve.

We aim to add 650 new or upgraded recurring members (that’s monthly or annual) by June 15. You choose the amount, and you can cancel any time. As I mentioned above, you’ll get a tax receipt for your contribution, as The Tyee is now a registered journalism organization.

And back by popular demand — the Tyee hat! Until our campaign deadline, sign up to contribute at least $15 per month or $180 per year and get a piece of custom Tyee headgear. Plus, some other great perks like a members-only newsletter and early discounted tickets to our events.

Since we last asked for your support at the end of last year...

• We launched the Tyee Reality Check project. So far we’ve produced over a dozen stories exposing extremist disinformers and held two well-attended events on informing and empowering citizens.
• We established a new biodiversity beat led by ace reporter Sarah Cox. She’s come roaring out of the gate, keeping readers informed about how policy affects our ecosystems.
• We’re poised to unwrap our new flagship podcast later this week (watch for that on Friday).
• We’re finalists for a slew of national journalism awards, and so far have taken home two.

And that’s just the new stuff. Every day we publish five or more stories on everything from politics to labour to health to forestry, with stepped-up coverage of smaller communities in B.C. and over the Rockies into Alberta.

We’re doing all this at a moment when Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook and Instagram continue to block Canadian news. And when his posse of AI billionaires rip off journalists’ hard work to further enrich themselves.

Let me share an experience that shows, for me, what we are up against and how The Tyee and its community of readers are meeting the moment. On Thursday Tyee journalists Jen St. Denis and Harrison Mooney joined Montreal-based investigative reporter and regular Tyee contributor Rachel Gilmore and Tyee political commentator Mo Amir onstage at a Vancouver event we called Tyee Reality Check LIVE.

The audience was large and engaged. The discussion went straight to the heart of how actual human journalists are working to expose and counter right-wing extremist disinformation circulating on the web, often at great personal risk. As Rachel Gilmore put it in her typical blunt way: “Exposing Nazis.”

It was a refreshing reminder that so many of us are feeling weary of suddenly having to become full-time disinformation and AI detectives — but that collectively we can band together to keep bright and clear the boundaries of reality.

Please help us prove it every day at The Tyee. If we achieve our goal of 650 new or upgraded recurring Builders, we can hire more journalists and provide more coverage by amazing (real) people.

And we can keep making our articles open access for all to read, no paywall. That’s what our Tyee Builders make possible.

When I scan the horizon of independent journalism, here is what I see. The tougher it gets for journalism, the more I am determined to prove The Tyee is built to last.

The old models are broken, but ours works — with your support.

If you are looking for a way to say yes to keeping journalism alive, I invite you to become a Tyee Builder and help us hit our goal of 650 new or upgraded recurring members by midnight on June 15.