AI, Trust, and the Human Connection

Warwick Sabin — president and CEO of Deep South Today, the nonprofit news network that includes the Pulitzer Prize-winning Mississippi Today, New Orleans' Verite News, and Lafayette's The Current — joins the Chuck Toddcast to discuss what may be the most promising model for saving local journalism in America. Sabin, a former three-term Arkansas state legislator and publisher of the Oxford American magazine, explains how he's building a network of nonprofit newsrooms across the Deep South from scratch, starting with Mississippi Today — the first nonprofit newsroom in Mississippi, now the largest in the state — and expanding into Louisiana and soon Arkansas. He describes the wholesale implosion of the old newspaper model, using the Jackson Clarion-Ledger's decline as a case study, and argues that the nonprofit approach has a critical advantage: starting fresh means avoiding the crushing legacy costs that buried traditional papers, and all revenue gets reinvested directly into the news product. They make the case that service journalism — covering schools, local government, youth sports — is what creates the trust and audience that makes the "sexy" investigative work possible, pointing to the fact that local journalists in his network helped exonerate a man on death row in Mississippi.

The conversation turns to what makes local journalism viable and essential in 2026 and beyond. Sabin argues that human connection to journalists will be the defining differentiator in the age of AI — people won't trust reporters who aren't part of their local community — while acknowledging that AI tools can make reporting dramatically more efficient. He discusses using local and youth sports as a community bonding agent in an era where it's one of the few areas where communities can avoid politics, notes that Mississippi produces terrific writers who need platforms, and emphasizes that having video and audio components is now critical for any news operation. They explore the potential for rebuilding a national network of nonprofit newspapers, discuss which communities are ripe for expansion and make the case that local journalism should be treated as a civic institution deserving of public-private partnership. Sabin's model is free to access, civic-minded, and designed to help citizens survive and thrive in their communities — exactly what Local News Day on April 9th is designed to champion.

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Timeline:

(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements)

00:00 Warwick Sabin joins the Chuck ToddCast

01:30 Creating the first nonprofit newsroom in Mississippi

04:30 What went wrong with the Jackson Clarion-Ledger?

06:30 There’s been a wholesale implosion of the old newspaper model

08:00 Potential for rebuilding a national network of newspapers?

09:15 In small markets, newspapers have to be hyper efficient

11:15 Service journalism is what creates the opportunity for “sexy” journalism

12:15 Local journalists exonerated a man on death row in Mississippi

13:15 Using local and youth sports as a community bond

15:00 Local sports is the one area where communities can avoid politics

16:30 Mississippi produces terrific writers

17:30 Having a video/audio component for reporting is critical

19:00 Human connection to journalists will be important in age of AI

21:00 People won’t trust journalists that aren’t part of their local community

22:45 AI tools can make reporting easier and more efficient

24:15 What does a community need to have to become part of your network?

25:30 Arkansas Democrat Gazette weathered the storm better than most

27:30 Arkansas is in need of a local news network 

28:45 Bill Clinton’s election kept Walmart’s headquarters in Arkansas

31:00 Northwest Arkansas produced some of America’s biggest companies

34:00 How much do you factor in local resources when launching a new paper?

36:00 What other places have you looked at to expand the network?

38:00 Model is doing civic minded journalism that is free to access

39:00 Starting from scratch, avoiding legacy costs is a huge boon

41:30 All the revenue they generate gets invested back into the news product

43:00 Newspapers & local journalism are a civic institution

45:00 Local journalism should be a public/private partnership

46:00 It is incredibly difficult to deliver straight news in smaller communities

46:45 What do you hope to get out of Local News Day?

49:30 Local journalism can help citizens survive and thrive in their communities

50:30 Is print dead, or is there a viable path for it?

52:15 What has the gutting of local & public radio meant for Mississippi?

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