Scripps Bets on AI to Deliver $150 Million in EBITDA Growth

By Priya Raman

Scripps is rebuilding its entire journalism production process around AI in pursuit of $125–150 million in EBITDA growth over three years, a transformation CEO Adam Symson launched in February. The plan has already eliminated 432 positions and 126 open roles — roughly 12% of the workforce — in 2026.

In August, under new President of Media Dean Littleton, Scripps began shifting its newsrooms to a digital-first, 24-hour streaming model. The change includes AI-driven anchor-less newscasts at its Baltimore ABC affiliate WMAR, a format set to roll out at other stations. Littleton framed the move as "reallocating resources from the production of newscasts to the development of [original] journalism" and meeting consumers where they are, as local station revenue continues to decline.

Speaking at NAB Show NY this week, Littleton said the technology now touches everything between reporting and broadcast. "We have integrated AI into the entire production process, and by production, I don't necessarily mean the traditional definition. I'm talking about the production of journalism itself," he said. "Everything starts with a human act of journalism, and nothing leaves the building without a set of human eyes that looks at it to make sure that it meets our journalistic standards."

What does the restructuring change for reporters?

Littleton stressed that Scripps has "far more reporters now" in all markets than three years ago, when automation planning began. Each reporter covers a specific community and produces "modular" reporting — standalone packages that need no anchor intro or outro and can run on any video platform.

Reporters also work in the open. "When they walk out of the building, they record a piece of video that explains what they're working on that day. As the story progresses, they update that," Littleton said. "So all day long, the consumer is being brought along on the process of telling that story."

The 24-hour streaming operation runs on what Littleton called "a set of technology solutions":

• Stacker, an AI-powered production platform that builds and rebuilds the rundown every hour, so a viewer's experience at 3pm differs from 2pm.
• Newsdesk, a pre-publication tool that automates story planning and versions news for vertical distribution on social platforms.

Who drives the AI strategy — and what limits it?

Christina Hartman, VP of Emerging Technology Operations and former head of Scripps News, oversees the AI strategy. She said the roadmap came from reporters themselves: the time left for actual reporting, working sources and uncovering new ideas "had become" so small "that really became our roadmap."

Her biggest concern is "making sure that we're not buying software and calling it transformation." She argued that leaders must define outcomes and understand the people executing them before choosing technology, because deployment brings "a great deal of angst, of workflow change, of behavior change, and lack of attention to that will absolutely guarantee failure."

Hartman called judgment "the number one human skill in the newsroom, or in any industry, in the post-AI era," and noted that today's tools "are the worst they're ever going to be." Asked to predict AI's future in news, she answered: "What I don't predict is fully autonomous newsrooms."

For media operators weighing similar restructurings, Scripps offers a working template: automate the workflow, protect the journalism, and treat the human side of change as seriously as the software.