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Spokesman-Review Banned AI in Opinion Submissions

The Spokane publication now requires human authorship for all reader-submitted content.

Updated on Oct. 1, 2026 in Artificial Intelligence

Bold flat-color editorial illustration featuring a steel writing nib on paper, representing a commitment to human-authored opinion content.
The Spokesman-Review has instituted a strict ban on AI-generated content for opinion submissions to ensure all published commentary originates from local human authors. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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The Spokesman-Review has implemented a strict policy banning artificial intelligence from its Letters to the Editor and Guest Opinions. The newspaper also plans to reduce the frequency of its opinion page publication to focus on local perspectives.

Why it matters

The change follows the discovery of multiple guest opinions generated by artificial intelligence tools. The newspaper aims to ensure that published opinions authentically represent the voices of the local community.

The newspaper has integrated a mandatory AI-use attestation field into its online submission portal. Suspicious content is now subject to evaluation by AI detector tools to confirm human authorship.

The players

The Spokesman-Review

This is a daily newspaper based in Spokane that serves the Pacific Northwest region.

The details

Submitters must now certify that their work was not produced by artificial intelligence to be considered for publication. Submissions found to contain AI-generated text will be rejected or returned to the author for mandatory rewrites.

Timeline

  1. September 30, 2026: The policy change was officially announced.

  2. October 27, 2026: The final day for publishing election-related letters.

  3. Coming weeks: The publication will release a newsroom-wide AI policy.

The Tech Race

This move marks a shift in how legacy media houses are responding to the proliferation of synthetic text. The newspaper is effectively positioning itself against the automation of public discourse to prioritize human-led regional dialogue.

Readers in the Pacific Northwest who submit letters must now manually attest that they have not used AI tools. Those failing to comply with the new verification process will see their content rejected or forced through a rewrite cycle.

The takeaway

Maintaining human authorship is becoming a new standard for local editorial pages to ensure transparency and accountability. Readers should prepare for changes in publication schedules as the outlet moves toward a Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday opinion format.

Further reading

For more on how local outlets are navigating automated content, visit the Artificial Intelligence section.

Source note: This article includes information reported by The Spokesman Review.

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Should newspapers require human-only authorship for all reader-submitted opinion columns?