Hoodline
US local news site owned by Impress3 Media, using AI-assisted stories
Hoodline is a US local news website with city sections across the country. Nextdoor bought it in 2019 and sold it to Impress3 Media, which also owns SFist, in October 2020. Wikipedia's Nextdoor article describes Hoodline as a local news aggregator considered pink-slime journalism.Sources:2Wikipedia: Nextdoor, Wikipedia (source, opens in a new tab)3Hoodline: Hoodline acquired by Impress3 Media from Nextdoor, Hoodline (source, opens in a new tab)
In an April 2024 letter, publisher Zack Chen of Impress3 said Hoodline had used AI-assisted news “since at least 2018”, that AI-assisted stories run under pen names with an AI-assisted badge, and that each article is edited by at least two people. Who owns Impress3 itself is not documented in the sources we found.Sources:4Hoodline: Letter From The Publisher: Hoodline's Transition To Hybrid Content, Hoodline (source, opens in a new tab)
Who it favours
Our reading of 1 article by Hoodline on stories with competing sides. A story counts only when two signals point the same way; balanced coverage counts too. How we decide.
Balanced in every story we analysed.
Who controls it
Whoever owns an outlet, provides most of its money or directs it controls it. Our rule.
No government, party or politician is documented as its owner, main funder or director.
Owners, funders and directors
- OwnerImpress3 MediaBought Hoodline from Nextdoor in October 2020; its own owners are not disclosed Sources:3Hoodline: Hoodline acquired by Impress3 Media from Nextdoor, Hoodline (source, opens in a new tab)4Hoodline: Letter From The Publisher: Hoodline's Transition To Hybrid Content, Hoodline (source, opens in a new tab)
As documented, nearest first. Each note says what the source supports.
How we use it
1 story cites Hoodline directly.
October 2026
- Texas sues OpenAI and Sam Altman, seeking to bar minors from ChatGPT in the stateTexas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, alleging ChatGPT was marketed as safe while harming Texans; OpenAI says AI rules should cover the whole industry.
Outside left–right raters
For comparison only. Western raters place outlets on a left–right line, which says nothing about whom they favour in a given story or who funds them; our own tally is above.
No outside rater covers this outlet.
Sources
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