Lantrn.ai is an artificial intelligence platform founded by media and technology veterans (from left) Reggie Ellis, Paul Myers and Ryan Clark. The company is building AI-driven solutions they say can power sustainable, profitable revenue models, specifically for local and regional news outlets. Composite photo illustration by Cecilia Lopez

A new Visalia-based company believes technology can help support a local journalism industry that has been grappling with the loss of advertising revenue, thinning newsroom resources and a tough choice between financial survival and impactful reporting.

Lantrn.ai is an artificial intelligence platform founded by media and technology veterans Paul Myers, Reggie Ellis and Ryan Clark. The company is building AI-driven solutions that can power sustainable, profitable revenue models, specifically for local and regional news outlets.

The founders’ premise is straightforward: journalism’s core product is information, but for years news organizations have struggled to monetize that product in a digital economy dominated by clicks and scale.

“It’s when people don’t know who their city councilperson is, but they could name you all the Kardashians,” said Clark, adding that the three lantrn.ai founders realized there was a disconnect with the way news organizations were communicating with their readers, viewers or listeners.

The bet behind lantrn.ai is that better business infrastructure can help restore news publishers’ footing and give local reporting the stability it needs to endure and thrive in informing the people it serves.

Experience guiding lantrn.ai

The idea of using breakthrough advancements in AI to aid news organizations grew out of conversations between Myers, Ellis, and Clark after they restarted their podcast, “The Paper Trail,” in 2023, just as AI solutions like ChatGPT gained popularity.

Myers is the president and CEO of lantrn.ai, Ellis operates as its chief financial officer, and Clark is the vice president and chief technology officer.

Myers and Ellis, through Mineral King Publishing, have built and expanded their local news assets at a time when many independent outlets were contracting. Clark spent decades working in early internet and information-based companies during the rise of Silicon Valley’s digital economy, while remaining rooted in the Central Valley.

That contrast sharpened the founders’ thinking. Journalism, they concluded, was still operating with business assumptions that no longer matched how information moves, is consumed or creates value.

They believe journalism revenue is significantly tied to digital reach. In local news, that reach is capped to the communities that publications serve.

For example, the workings of the Visalia City Council are important to report, but that news doesn’t have enough reach for advertising revenue to fund the resources it takes to effectively cover it, Myers said.

“The rules for the internet are massive reach, and if we want to stay in the local news space, that’s never going to work for us,” Myers said. “If something changes, we’ll take advantage of that. But we have had to just keep grinding it out and lean on our revenue streams as best we can.”

So, how can local news make its reach more effective?

A new approach to AI in journalism

As large-scale AI tools and chat-based generative AI platforms continue to open up journalists to opportunities (and risks) in generating content and automating reporting, lantrn.ai’s approach is different.

The company operates behind the scenes, helping publishers better understand audience behavior, identify high-value information and develop revenue and editorial strategies that extend beyond traditional digital advertising.

If news can be targeted more effectively to the people who need it most in the ways they consume information, it could lead to greater trust and increased viewership of those impactful stories, Clark said.

This could look like a single story — reported and written just like a journalist would today — that is parsed or reformatted by AI into different forms of content so it’s visible to where and how readers consume information, all while maintaining the facts and integrity of the original reporting.

Improving how information is packaged and monetized can help publishers stabilize operations and reinvest in coverage, Myers said, particularly in local markets where reporters are often responsible for multiple beats across large geographic areas.

Addressing gaps in local coverage

California has experienced a significant contraction in local news over the past two decades, especially in mid-sized and rural communities like in the Central Valley.

Four out of every 10 newspapers in the state have shuttered since 2005, according to a 2025 State of Local News Report by the Northwestern Medill School of Journalism.

Nonprofit, philanthropy-backed journalism has emerged as one response, with publications like Fresnoland and the Merced Focus allowing their journalists to focus on the story rather than click counts.

Business-backed operations have also entered to fill the gap, such as GV Wire, founded by Fresno developer Granville Homes, Inc. in 2016.

The lantrn.ai founders hope that their AI-based models will empower new and existing news publishers at scale while addressing long-term sustainability challenges.

Looking ahead, the company is focused on refining its platform, expanding publisher partnerships, and demonstrating that journalism can be both mission-driven and financially viable.

While the company is still early in its rollout, the founders plan to start testing their products this year with Mineral King Publishing’s news media assets, which has recently expanded to include The Sun-Gazette, Mid Valley Times, The Kerman News, Firebaugh-Mendota Journal, and West Side Advance.