The future of news could go either way in the United States.
That’s according to Leonard Downie Jr., founder of Investigative Reporters and Editors, who shared how the future of news is in question when it comes to artificial intelligence.
As AI becomes more integrated into the workplace and daily life, journalists and media experts questioned journalism’s future and the addition of AI in news at Arizona State University on Oct. 9.
“It’s a very important time for everybody to be thinking about how they can make their contributions to the future of local news,” Downie said.
Three panelists spoke at the event, with Julia Wallace, the launch director of the Knight Center, moderating inside the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
The question on many people’s minds is whether these future differences in news reporting and research will support journalists or threaten their job positions.
Amy Mitchell, the executive director for News Technology and Innovation, has been in the journalistic and research field for years, and as she watched AI become increasingly common, she felt curiosity.
She shared that she feels her job as a researcher is to provide understanding to those sharing what AI can do to help and support journalists.
“Technology can be seen as a threat, but now it has to be embraced,” Mitchell said. “You can use that technology to empower you and your relationship with the public.”
AI has proven itself to be helpful in the investigative journalism field, providing writers with help in finding research for articles, saving them hours of time.
Emily Mosier, an investigative journalism graduate student, shared that she believes it is important for journalists to adapt to the changes AI is bringing to the world of reporting.
“Investigative journalism takes in a lot of information, a lot of numbers, a lot of data to sort through,” Mosier said. “That’s something that in the past takes journalists months and months to go through.”
Wallace explained that news is always changing, and reporters need to be ready to evolve with it. Each of the panelists put a large emphasis on the importance of being ready to change and adapt with technology and how that is the key to journalism’s future.
“None of us can predict the future,” Wallace said. “But we can plan for it, we can think about it, we can prepare for it.”
Paul Cheung, a strategic adviser for Hacks/Hackers, was very straightforward when it came to the importance of journalists adapting to technology in their job. He said that if journalists want to have a future in 2025 and beyond, they need to be able to understand how business journalism works and how technology works inside of it.
“The future is already here,” Cheung said. “And the question that you need to ask yourself is, are you ready for that future?”
Edited by Shi Bradley
