Embracing AI’s strengths can become a force multiplier for today’s journalists. Algorithms can help reporters quickly detect trends, track down possible scoops, and buttress stories with data from multiple sources.
The fear that AI could replace some journalistic functions is real but working with AI techniques undoubtedly helps journalists do their jobs better.
Maria Teresa Ronderos explains why journalists should work with AI in this story from Global Investigative Journalism Network:
Intelligent machines can turbo-power journalists’ reporting, creativity and ability to engage audiences. Following predictable data patterns and programmed to “learn” variations in these patterns over time, an algorithm can help reporters arrange, sort and produce content at a speed never thought possible. It can systematize data to find a missing link in an investigative story. It can identify trends and spot the outlier among millions of data points that could be the beginnings of a great scoop. For example, nowadays, a media outlet can continuously feed public procurement data into an algorithm which has the ability to cross-reference this data against companies sharing the same address. Perfecting this system could give reporters many clues as to where corruption may be happening in a given country.
Not only can intelligent computers analyze huge amounts of data to aid timely investigations, they can also help source and fact-check stories from the crowd to see if contributions are reliable. According to a 2017 Tow Centre Report, several media outlets in the United States are already using AI to fact-check. Reuters, for example, is using News Tracer to track breaking news on social media and verify the integrity of tweets. Serenata de Amor, a group of technology enthusiasts and journalists from Brazil, uses a robot named Rosie to track every reimbursement claimed by the country’s members of Congress and highlights the reasons that make some of the expenditures suspicious.
There are many other ways in which algorithms are helping journalists, from making rough cuts of videos, to recognizing voice patterns and identifying faces in a crowd. They can be programmed to chat with readers (chatbots) and answer queries. The tricky part is that this process cannot happen without a human journalist present who, with a goal in mind, asks relevant questions about the data. Reporters and editors need to learn fast how these systems operate and how they can use them to enhance their journalism.
