American Public Media acquires LocalLens AI tool to empower journalists nationwide
Beta Platform Enables Newsrooms to Monitor Public Meetings, Discover Hyper-Local Stories, and Strengthen Community Trust
ST. PAUL, Minn., Nov. 26, 2025 — American Public Media (APM) announces its acquisition of LocalLens, an artificial intelligence tool that gives journalists searchable access to transcripts, summaries, and insights from public meetings including school boards, city councils, planning commissions, and other municipal gatherings. The platform, currently in beta, is already helping newsrooms across the country uncover and monitor emerging local issues that might otherwise go unreported.
LocalLens addresses a critical gap in local journalism by automating the time-intensive work of monitoring public meetings. Journalists can now search across multiple meeting transcripts, identify trends, track developing issues, and discover stories with real community impact—deep public service journalism that is often impossible given today's constrained newsroom resources.
"This acquisition reflects American Public Media's evolution from a radio content distributor to a collaborative service provider meeting the diverse needs of public media organizations," said Chandra Kavati, President of American Public Media. "LocalLens embodies our commitment to equipping local public media stations with innovative tools that strengthen their ability to serve their communities.”
“When journalists can cover the stories that matter most to local residents—the decisions happening in school board rooms and city council chambers—they build the trust that research shows public media is uniquely able to provide,” said Duchesne Drew, president of Minnesota Public Radio, one of the local public radio stations operated under the same parent company as APM and an early adopter of LocalLens beta.
"A tool like LocalLens only bolsters our reporters' abilities to engage in community in meaningful ways, which is the type of service and engagement that sets us apart as public media," Drew said.
How LocalLens Works
LocalLens uses AI to:
Transcribe and index public meeting audio and video
Generate summaries highlighting key decisions, votes, and discussion points
Enable searchable databases across multiple meetings and jurisdictions
Identify patterns and trends in public policy discussions
Alert journalists to developing stories and follow-up opportunities
Newsrooms using LocalLens in beta share that they can now:
Monitor meetings they lack staff to attend
Quickly identify stories with broad community impact
Track issues across multiple jurisdictions to find regional trends
Provide more comprehensive accountability coverage
Respond faster when residents ask about local government decisions
Availability
LocalLens is available to select public media organizations and qualified newsrooms. For information, contact Mark Evans at American Public Media.
###
About American Public Media
American Public Media (APM) is one of the nation's largest producers and distributors of public radio programming, reaching audiences through stations across the United States. APM is committed to providing innovative tools and services that help public media organizations better serve their communities.