Navigating AI in newsrooms

Kabo Ramasia | Monday May 12, 2025 14:20

This year the WPFD commemoration was held under the theme: ‘Reporting in the Brave New World: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Press Freedom and the Media.’

The theme could not have come as a surprise. Undoubtedly, the last two decades have seen a great shift in the news industry. At the turn of the century, only a few journalists imagined how the advent of technological advancements would result in the Internet-born on January 1, 1983 altering news production.

Beyond that, the rise of social networks like Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, WhatsApp, Tik Tok, Telegram equally shifted the communications space, globally. Worth noting is that all those social sites became more popular after the turn of the century.

Due to the continuing evolution of technology, today the world speaks of algorithms having taken centre stage. The era of AI is no longer anticipated to be in the future, it is a lived reality and for such a critical profession as journalism today algorithms tell stories that would ordinarily have been told by humans. For journalism and other professions, the debate on the future of the world of work has thus ensued.

AI in journalism cannot be ignored. The Global Investigative Journalism Network defined AI as “a collection of ideas, technologies, and techniques that relate to a computer system’s capacity to perform that normally require human intelligence.” By its nature, a machine is conceived and commanded or operated by human intelligence. That should be the basis of any argument regarding AI. That whether we like it or not, an algorithm is as smart or foolish as the one using it. It’s a fact that AI tools enhance journalistic work, yet it should not be forgotten that algorithm bias exist.

Similarly, AI should not give rise to a lazy workforce whether in media or any profession. The human touch would always remain handy, especially that machines did not make men, but men made machines.

To understand the practical impact of AI on journalism in the Global South, the Thompson Reuters Foundation (TRF) conducted a survey. Captured in a report titled: “Journalism in the AI era: opportunities and challenges in the Global South and emerging economies” the survey arrived at some very striking findings.

TRF found that there was widespread AI adoption with 81% of its alumnus saying they use AI for tasks including research, translation and content curation, over half of the respondents stated that they were self-taught pointing to a skills gap and only 13% of the respondents said their newsrooms had AI policies suggesting a lack of AI policies in media houses.

“The news industry is no exception. It now finds itself grappling with another technology-driven transformation – one that is already having a profound influence on how journalism is produced and consumed around the world. Undeniable opportunities have already emerged. AI can free up journalists’ time so they can focus more on their reporting and can also be used to make content more relevant for audiences, both of which are critical when the industry is fighting for sustainability and news avoidance is at record levels. At the same time, significant work remains to address ethical and cultural concerns and to ensure that trust – a key currency for journalism – is not undermined,” said TRF CEO Antonio Zappulla. Although much of the debate on AI in newsrooms over the years anchored around Western thinking, the TRF report sought to offer divergent views on what the Global South had to say.

Regarding the transformative impact of AI, 40% of those surveyed believed it impacted journalistic work to a larger extent, 12.4% believed it was great extent, 9.4 percent said it was too early to tell, 4.1 percent said not at all, 8.8 percent believed the impact was little, and those who said somewhat were 25.3%.

The report further noted that there were barriers to the absorption of AI such as lack of access to necessary technology, concerns about accuracy and reliability, insufficient training or support, AI models being primarily trained on English language data “western sources” among others.

In addition, Global South journalists feel there are shortcomings associated with the usage of AI. According to the TRF findings such are erosion of critical thinking skills (521.4%), loss of creativity and original reporting (54.3%) and increased misinformation with the number of respondents at 49%.

“Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already transforming the journalism industry and has the potential to dramatically change how news and information is consumed and created.

Driven by new generative AI technologies, we may be witnessing the start of a new era of efficiency, creativity, and innovation in newsrooms. However, for all these potential benefits, the AI-age also presents significant challenges for journalists, particularly in areas such as ethics, equity, and access to digital technology,” the report said.

As the media fraternity gathered in one roof at the mass media complex recently, it was such issues which were deliberated at great length. The extent to which AI impacts newsrooms is a phenomenon that which must be studied together with other pressing media discussions.

This, therefore, is a clarion call to all media researchers/academics, students, journalists and even aspiring journalisms to track data to the extent to which AI is adopted. Doing so will help shape discourse/ debates, help the media advance its course in policy reforms and generally provided a framework within which media can operate in the era of AI.

Clearly, the era of AI is now and as we live it journalism must brace itself for the good and the bad. However, unlike with the internet and social media which legacy media took long to adopt, the denial of the existence and impact of AI for anyone would be detrimental.

The sooner the acceptance, the better. Only empirical data will help newsrooms navigate the reality that is AI.Again, as I always say, my views are not cast in stone and can be challenged by anyone.

*Kabo Ramasia is MISA Botswana chapter Board member. He writes in his personal capacity.