Craig Silverman, Poynter Institute, Intro Fact-Checking, 11 June
Brian Timpone, Local Labs, 11 June
2. LocalLabs Fast Facts
● Founded in 2006
● 25 employees and 100+ contractors on four
continents
● Chicago-based, but largely virtual
● Formerly known as Journatic
● Tribune bought approx. 30 percent of
business in 2012
3. LocalLabs is in the local information business
● We produce original local content
○ News briefs, editorial features, event listings/capsules, advertorials,
web copy, press releases, customer testimonials
○ Clients: Local media companies, small businesses
● We gather/process/productize large local datasets
○ We’re building the largest local database of people-places-
organizations in North America
○ Uses: Licensing, news development
● We power it all via a proprietary tech/labor platform
○ Platform includes data management systems, human content
production workflow (“assembly line”), algorithm development, low-
cost/distributed labor
4. “Modern manufacturing techniques”
for editorial production
1. Current editorial production models are archaic and
single-handedly dooming the prospects of legacy media
companies.
2. News story production is important- but it isn’t a special
case. It isn’t different than production of anything else in
the world. Yet, it is produced very differently.
3. Long-term, this is more about management control than
cost-cutting. Legacy media CEOs cannot direct their
own products.