The Washington Local Journalism Summit kicked off its discussion around the state of journalism in Washington state with panelists Washington State University Edward R. Murrow College of Communication Dean Bruce Pinkleton; Microsoft Journalism Director Emily Brown; and Report for America CEO Rob Zeaske at the Microsoft campus in Redmond, May 18, 2026. New York Times Local Investigative Fellowship Lead Dean Baquet was the moderator.
Pinkleton described Washington’s local news landscape as “resilient, but also fragile” pointing to news deserts, closures and mergers that have produced uneven coverage statewide.
“In my mind, the threats to journalism truly are a threat to democracy,” Pinkleton said “When we’re able to produce strong local news, you contribute to strong local civic life. You really reinvigorate communities. So in my thinking, we really have an opportunity to invigorate local communities and to contribute to a stronger local news ecosystem. That’s something we’re very interested in doing.”
He said the state-funded WSU Murrow News Fellowship program, which places 16 reporters in rural and underserved communities throughout Washington state over the past few years have produced about 3,500 stories, including “some really strong local investigative journalism,” and available to any media outlet in the state.
Pinkleton said Washington can model a “thriving local news ecosystem” for the entire country and maybe for the world.
Brown said she sees a lot of optimism, curiosity and skepticism around AI usage in the media. She said Microsoft understands that big tech, such as Google and Meta, has “disrupted journalism” but believes Microsoft can be a part of the solution.
On AI, she described a program that uses AI engineers inside newsrooms, such as The Seattle Times, to build tools driven by the newsroom needs. “It’s not Microsoft saying you should build this type of AI tool,” she said.
Brown added these engineers share the AI coding and lessons across U.S. newsrooms and at conferences. “We need to start thinking five and 10 years out about what news really looks like in an AI era,” she said. “It’s not workflow efficiency, but how are we being truly innovative and creative, and how do we bridge the gap to get there? And I think honestly, right now we’re limited by our own creativity.”
Zeaske said that Report for America supports 200 members in newsrooms across the U.S. and has placed 800 people in 500 newsrooms. Even so, he had asked his colleagues who is thriving and said he wasn’t sure they could name anyone in “the thrive bucket.”
“We’ve been in the business of expanding journalism through investing typically in early-career journalists, and I think that’s hopeful,” Zeaske said. “I think there are a ton of innovations happening in platform and business models and new products that are driving engagement with audiences who may have never been well served.”
On state funding, he addressed some concerns about independence and said journalism needs clear “firewalls” whenever public or philanthropic money is involved.
“We have to be careful about what accountability looks like… to put a little bit of distance between a set of funding expectations and independent reporting,” Zeaske said.
Baquet asked about the role of philanthropic funding. Zeaske said philanthropy can help communities recognize journalism as a “public good,” similar to museums or a local opera. Such funding can be “catalytic” in building subscriptions and small-dollar, community-led support, he said.
For example, Zeaske said Reporting for America partnered with Murrow Fellowship to put a journalist in each of Washington’s 39 counties as a way to protect an entire journalism “ecosystem,” not just individual news outlets. He said the project aims at “systematically addressing news gaps” and asking “what has to be true to support an effective ecosystem.” Meanwhile, he acknowledged the reality that many organizations still have competing interests and their own survival challenges.
On AI, Zeaske said he hears “a lot of fear” among journalists, citing downsizing, ad revenue losses and the rise of misinformation and disinformation.
“I think some of that [fear] is warranted,” he said.
However, Zeaske thinks that small- to medium-sized newsrooms have a larger advantage than large news outlets in adopting AI because it helps with reducing 50% of productivity costs or double the impact with the same cost, such as transcribing text to another language.
“That’s something really important for [Report for America] to be considering,” he said.
Baquet asked what should not be shed in newsrooms.
“Ethics,” Brown said. “Just because the technology allows something doesn’t mean that we should do it.”
“The platform. The method of making sure we’re still delivering journalism,” Zeaske said.
“And quality journalism,” Pinkleton added.
“If you’re upset about the state of journalism, you need to go hang out on a college campus, visit some journalism classrooms,” Pinkleton said. “You’ll come away impressed and inspired. We’re attracting great students these days. They might not have looked like they did in my generation or Dean’s [Baquet] generation where you’re planning on a career in journalism [in a] straight line. Those days are gone. The basic skills that we teach are still the same but with much expanded help, thanks in part to the technological advances that we have.”
Part 2 and future parts will be added soon.
