Three newspapers told LJR how they are developing policies, training programs and oversight mechanisms to integrate AI strategically into their workflows.
Just over two years ago, editors at Listín Diario, one of the Dominican Republic's oldest newspapers, began noticing that their reporters' writing style was changing.
Rumors circulated that some journalists had begun using generative artificial intelligence (AI) to edit their stories, but no one spoke about it openly.
"It was like an open secret in the newsroom," Yadimir Crespo, coordinator of the outlet's investigative unit, told LatAm Journalism Review (LJR). "People seemed embarrassed to admit whether they were using it or not."
In early January 2026, Listín Diario announced to readers that it was implementing AI guidelines for its journalists. (Photo: Courtesy Listín Diario)
At a time when generative AI models were just beginning to gain popularity, Crespo and other editors knew the technology's arrival in newsrooms was inevitable. But instead of trying to stop it, they decided to approach it strategically.
They conducted an anonymous newsroom survey to learn who was using AI, which tools they were using and for what purposes — not to ban the technology, but to adopt it in a controlled way, Crespo said.
The survey confirmed that a large share of Listín Diario employees were already using some form of AI. Based on those findings, and drawing on AI policies from The New York Times, the Financial Times and The Washington Post, the Dominican newspaper set out to develop its own guidelines.
Rather than trying to curb the use of AI, some traditional Latin American news organizations are developing AI governance policies. Internal guidelines, staff training and experimentation are part of the broader strategies to integrate these tools into newsrooms without sacrificing transparency, editorial rigor or journalists' accountability.
AI is already part of the daily work of many newsrooms around the world. But while its use is expanding — primarily for tasks such as transcription, editing and product development, according to a recent report by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism — the adoption of formal internal policies governing its use remains limited and uneven, according to data from the Center for News, Technology & Innovation (CNTI).
"Legacy media, which perhaps employ more people even though there are fewer of them, generally have more guidance and more developed policies on the issue," Matías Cervilla, secretary for professional affairs at the Buenos Aires Press Union (SiPreBA) in Argentina, told LJR.
Cervilla is one of the authors of the report "Notes Toward Regulating Artificial Intelligence in the Media," published in May 2026 and produced by SiPreBA, the Argentine Federation of Press Workers and the Heinrich Böll Foundation. The report found that seven out of 10 Argentine journalists who use AI at work believe their news organizations lack clear policies governing the technology's use.
In November 2025, Bogotá-based newspaper El Espectador issued a public apology to its readers after it was discovered that an intern had used AI for months to generate content, fabricate quotes and invent sources. The newspaper acknowledged its responsibility for allowing the content to pass its editorial quality controls and removed it from its website.
The incident underscored the risks of operating without clear AI policies, editorial oversight and verification protocols in the newsroom.
When Santo Domingo-based Listín Diario introduced its AI guidelines in January, the newspaper made clear that the document established "red lines" defining the acceptable uses of the technology. Crespo said editors' main concern was that reporters might delegate their work to AI at the expense of the editorial quality that the newspaper has sought to uphold since its founding in 1889.
"Our number one rule, and one we will not compromise on, is that no article can be created entirely with artificial intelligence," Crespo said. "Another is that no AI tool should make decisions for us. Everything must be based on human judgment."
Similar "red lines" are also included in the policies of Lima-based newspaper El Comercio, which implemented a nearly 10-page AI guide in early 2026. The document defines AI implementation as an integrated, multidisciplinary effort and clearly establishes principles of accountability for its use, said Lorena Obregón, coordinator of the newspaper's Media Lab.
One example of El Comercio’s AI strategy is a series of interactive projects the newspaper developed for Peru’s 2026 elections. (Photo: Screenshot from El Comercio)
"AI doesn't doesn't get a byline, it doesn't exercise judgment and it won't bear legal or ethical responsibility," Obregón told LJR. "Journalists must remain ultimately responsible for every word, fact and image that is published. If AI makes a mistake or hallucinates, our protocol requires a correction and public transparency."
The policies adopted by Listín Diario and El Comercio both require transparency through clear labeling of AI-generated content and disclosure whenever AI is used in any process.
"Transparency doesn't undermine credibility. On the contrary, I think it strengthens credibility when you can explain how something was done," Obregón said.
Protecting information is another key component of AI policies. El Comercio's guidelines prohibit journalists from feeding AI tools with confidential or sensitive information or material protected by intellectual property rights, Obregón said.
"We shouldn't indiscriminately hand over that kind of information to train third-party algorithms without agreements that provide at least some mutual benefit," Obregón said.
El Comercio also chose to integrate AI into its newsroom in an ethical and structured way rather than restrict its use. To do so, it developed policies that initially aimed to prevent errors and maintain journalistic rigor. Six months after their implementation, those policies have become a model of how to integrate governance into the newsroom’s workflow, Obregón said.
"There has been a transition from having an ethical framework to achieving technological maturity in how we use [AI]," Obregón said. "Moving away from strict oversight and saying, 'you shouldn't use this', toward recommending and creating safe, formal spaces to test tools."
The newspaper achieved this by transforming El Comercio’s Media Lab into a kind of AI "hub," Obregón said. In this hub, representatives from different areas of the organization experiment with AI tools and evaluate, using journalistic criteria, whether they should be incorporated into workflows.
Obregón said one example of this strategy is the interactive projects that El Comercio developed for Peru’s presidential and congressional elections, published between December 2025 and January 2026. These projects were made possible through the use of AI and automated workflows.
"That is how we can truly integrate AI across the entire organization." Obregón said. "To ensure that AI uses do not remain isolated, everything needs to operate under the same umbrella."
The SiPreBA report revealed an urgent demand in Argentine newsrooms for specialized training on the use of AI tools. Ninety percent of the press workers that SiPreBA surveyed said their news organizations have a training gap when it comes to AI.
Executives at El Cronista, a Buenos Aires newspaper specializing in economics, finance and business, recognized that AI training would make a strategic difference. They set out to understand how their reporters and editors were using AI and then began training editorial, commercial and data analysis teams with the help of external consultants.
Journalist Alejandro Di Russo said training is one of the main pillars of ensuring the ethical use of AI in El Cronista’s newsroom. (Photo: Alejandro Di Russo on LinkedIn)
"I think the main challenge in the newsroom when it comes to new knowledge is knowing how to use it, what to use it for, how to use it and how to do it correctly," said Alejandro Di Russo, editor of El Cronista's member audience area. "This started to be taken into account about two years ago, and in the past year it has been done intensively, with training sessions, courses and other initiatives."
Although El Cronista does not have a formal AI usage guidelines manual, the news outlet's management has established directives that each team leader is responsible for implementing, Di Russo said.
Under those directives, training is one of the main pillars for ensuring the ethical use of the technology, Di Russo said. Moving from experimental use to a more professional approach has had a positive impact on productivity and on making better use of time, he added.
"That time is used to think about other strategies, to improve headlines, to produce more and better stories," Di Russo said. "Obviously, the number of stories increases because it is much easier to finish them."
Meanwhile, El Comercio has formed strategic partnerships with technology companies such as Perplexity and Google, which have provided training on their respective generative AI tools. The Google News Initiative has provided similar training to members of more than 20 other newsrooms, including Listín Diario.
Crespo said that both training and the establishment of ethical AI usage policies have helped provide journalists with greater certainty, as many had felt uncertain about adopting the technology in their work.
"They feel more confident having [a manual] available to consult and make sure they are complying ethically — not only with the news organization, but also with the audience they serve," Crespo said.
This article was translated with AI assistance and reviewed by Alejandro Martínez-Cabrera
