Local news, AI, and the fight for accountability

How veteran editor Rick Hirsch sees AI helping journalists do more with less, while protecting the trust that investigative reporting depends on.

This episode is sponsored by: Adobe Acrobat

What happens when artificial intelligence meets one of journalism's most important missions: holding power accountable?

In this episode of The Media Copilot podcast, host Pete Pachal speaks with Rick Hirsch, director of the Collier Prize for State Government Accountability at the University of Florida and former Managing Editor of the Miami Herald. After more than four decades in journalism, Hirsch has witnessed nearly every major transformation in the media industry, from the rise of the internet and social media to today's AI revolution.

Their conversation explores how AI is changing investigative and accountability journalism, not as a replacement for reporters, but as a powerful tool for uncovering stories, analyzing massive datasets, and helping newsrooms stretch increasingly limited resources.

"I think that's what motivates most people who do this work. We have the ability to highlight wrongs and give people the information to try to right them." — Rick Hirsch

Hirsch shares insights from a recent survey of journalists, discusses emerging AI-driven accountability tools being used by organizations like CalMatters, and explains why local government reporting may be one of the areas where AI can make the biggest positive impact.

At the same time, the conversation tackles difficult questions about trust, misinformation, newsroom economics, audience fragmentation, and whether journalism can sustain itself in an AI-mediated information ecosystem.

Why this matters

While much of the AI conversation in media focuses on content generation, traffic disruption, and business models, accountability journalism presents a different challenge.

Investigative reporting relies on verification, judgment, sourcing, and public trust. AI can accelerate research and surface patterns that humans might miss, but it cannot replace the reporting instincts, ethical decision-making, and community engagement that make journalism valuable.

As local newsrooms continue to shrink and public trust remains under pressure, the future of accountability reporting may depend on how effectively journalists learn to use AI without sacrificing the standards that define their work.