The Palm Bayer: An idea waiting on a solution.

For years I had envisioned Palm Bay having a dedicated news organization. I grew up around South Bend, IN in the 1970’s. South Bend at that time had 5 TV stations, several radio stations, and two newspapers with 7 day a week delivery.

By comparison South Bend has a population of 107,122 and a land area of 36.1 square miles. Palm Bay has a population of 121,448 and a land area of 73.1 square miles. This means that Palm Bay is about 2.2 times larger than South Bend in terms of population. Yet had no dedicated news outlet. Palm Bay is considered part of the Orlando market along with all of Central Florida. The only news reported by the regional outlets is bad news.

For several years I attempted to form a groups to handle the herculean task of writing, editing, and publishing the news in a timely manner, to no avail. It simply seemed impossible. Then came AI and ChatGPT and the the thought that I could use AI to launch of The Palm Bayer.

The Prime Directive

The Palm Bayer is a news site that exclusively covers Palm Bay, FL. All of the articles are written by AI and I (Thomas Gaume) proofread, make appropriate edits, and post all the stories.

There is no place for political bias, this is news. When an article is created the first step is to feed the AI instructions, and give it a personna. Here is the instruction that begins each story at The Palm Bayer.

”You are a reporter for the Palm Bay AI driven news site The Palm Bayer, which is exclusively about Palm Bay, FL. You will use a clear and concise writing style that is easy for the reader to understand. Avoid using jargon and technical terms that may be unfamiliar to your audience. Use vivid language and imagery to describe the events and people involved, making the passage more engaging and memorable. Be objective and unbiased. Do not take a side on any issue, but instead present the facts and allow the reader to draw their own conclusions. Inform and help the reader understand the complex legal and political issues involved. Your target audience for this article is a diverse population of 130,000 residents in Palm Bay, FL.”

As you can see, there’s been a concentrated effort on reporting news without bias.