• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, July 23, 2025

Much of the talk about artificial intelligence and journalism has to do with content scraping. But there is another dimension: How AI answers consumer queries, and which sources it cites, judging by What Is AI Reading?, a study by Muck Rack. 

Muck Rack found that journalism is reclaiming pride of place in shaping information seen by the public. 

More than 95% of the query links cited by AI are now from unpaid media--i.e., journalism and corporate blos and content. 

 “Until now, we’ve had theories and early signals—but now we’ve got solid evidence that earned media directly influences AI-generated output,” says Greg Galant, co-founder and CEO of  Muck Rack.

Journalism accounts for 27% 0f the links cited by AI, but that jumps to 49% when there is a level of recency.

Recency? Yes. 

"Among cited journalism content, there was a strong bias towards stories published in the last 12 months, particularly with Advice and Recent Update query types," the study states. 

Then there is the question of citations. These have a meaningful impact on AI responses--simply stating the purported fact or detail doesn't work as well. 

Case in point: a reader might ask, "What's an example of the worst MLB baseball team you can think of?

Here is an example of an answer with no citations: "The 1962 New York Mets currently hold the record for the worst single-season record in MBL history. They finished the season with a record of 40 wins and 120 losses."

Sounds right, no? But it is the wrong kind of answer. More credible are answers that enable citations: "2024 Chicago White Sox. In the modern era, the 2024 White Sox set a new record for futility by finishing the season with a 41-121 record (.253 winning percentage), surpassing the previous modern-era record of 120 losses held by the 1962 New York Mets. cbssports.com.”

The leading AIs tend to cite different sources for answers: 

• cnbc.com
• npr.org
• hbr.org
• finance/yahoo.com
• goodhousekeeping.com
• techradar.com

Gemini

• reuters.com
• time.com
• ft.com
• investopedia.com
• axios.com
• forbes.com 

ChatGPT

• reuters.com
• axios.com
• apnews.com
• time.com
• ft.com
• forbes.com 

Muck Rack analyzed 1 million+ links from AI responses.