Gannett is doing everything it can to convince me leaving years ago was the right call.

To say that mixing automated journalism with SEO-targeted lottery articles that generate revenue when readers become gamblers themselves is pushing the limits of editorial ethics is putting it mildly, especially given the muddiness of the template attributions.

When we contacted Gannett for comment, the company confirmed through a spokesperson that it uses a “natural language generation” tool to produce the articles.

Regarding the similarities between articles across regions, the spokesperson said that a singular Gannett journalist drafted an original template and distributed it across markets, where market editors edited the draft as they saw fit. The spokesperson also denied that bylining the automated articles with the names of editorial staffers might be misleading to readers, arguing that including the editorial bylines encourages transparency, and stated that all of the automated posts are double-checked by humans before publishing.

Gannett also maintained that the articles are editorial — and not advertorial, as the links to Jackpocket might suggest. The spokesperson claimed that the lottery provider wasn’t involved in the creation of any of the content we found, and affiliate links were only added in states where Jackpocket, which isn’t available in all 50 states, legally operates.