AI is being implemented in newsrooms around the globe. In fact, a recent survey by AP showed 70% of journalists and newsroom leaders use Gen AI in some capacity. However, rather than replacing journalists, AI can help them focus on what matters most - interacting with their audiences, telling impactful stories, building trust, and engaging with new communities.
Journalists' primary motivation for adopting AI technologies is to automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks. Implementing AI can speed up workflows, increase productivity, save time and money, and increase content capabilities. By automating repetitive tasks such as text replacement, social media management, and proofreading, AI-powered tools allow journalists to spend more time focusing on the work that matters to their audience.
In this blog post, we'll explore how journalists use AI, its benefits, and use cases.
Focus on Storytelling
Journalists often spend a lot of time on repetitive tasks—take an interview, for example. Finding the interviewee, scheduling, and sourcing quotes takes time. Transcribing the interview can take hours, and journalists must fact-check the content to ensure accuracy.
However, by using AI to speed up mundane and repetitive tasks, reporters can spend more time creating compelling stories that keep audiences engaged and coming back for more.
AI-powered tools like our AI Smart Assist can generate text based on keywords, and provide suggestions for optimizing content within live blogs. For example, it can create live blog synopses, proofread the content, and correct any spelling and grammar mistakes. This enables journalists to focus on content quality, research, and in-depth reporting - all the work that makes great storytelling.
Reach New Audiences
Our AI Smart Assist tool can translate articles into different languages, helping global publications reach new audiences and demographics quickly. It can also adapt a story's tone, making it more positive, serious, or easier to read and understand for specific demographics, such as children. By implementing AI, newsrooms can explore new markets and better serve diverse and international audiences.
Connect Better with Communities
While AI handles routine and tedious tasks, it allows journalists to do the work that technology cannot — interacting with their audience. It gives reporters more time to engage with their local communities, seek and conduct interviews, deepen relationships, and build rapport and trust through quality journalism.
Manage Social Media and SEO Optimization
In smaller, regional newsrooms, reporters often need to take on multiple roles - including promoting their stories on social media and ensuring articles are SEO-optimized. Our AI Smart Assist can generate text descriptions for supporting media, improving search engine optimization and increasing visibility.
The tool can also craft social media posts and suggest relevant hashtags to help reporters promote their stories. Newsrooms can gain greater visibility and reach more audiences quickly - all without compromising on quality content.
Our AI Smart Assist is being used in newsrooms around the globe. The benefits include:
- Text Generation: Newsrooms don't have to spend time adding the same information to their articles. Our AI Smart Assist can create a tag that filters words and replaces them with different text within a live blog.
- Proofreading Capabilities: Proofreading content takes time, especially when journalists create multiple stories a day. AI-powered tools can correct grammar and spelling mistakes, highlight errors, and make corrections so reporters don't have to.
- Social Media Management: This tool helps journalists engage with audiences on social media quicker and more effectively by automatically generating tweets and suggesting hashtags.
- Translate: Content can be translated into five different languages, making it easier for journalists and newsrooms to serve international audiences.
- Tone of Voice: AI can adjust an article's tone, making the content suitable for different demographics or target audiences.
- Image Descriptions: Generate interesting descriptions and summaries of images with a click of a button.
The good news is that using AI aligns with reader preferences. According to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, audiences are generally comfortable with AI assisting behind the scenes, provided it's done under human supervision and with transparency.
As we have seen, AI can transform newsrooms by automating repetitive and mundane tasks. This frees up time for journalists to focus on what they do best - storytelling, community engagement, and connecting with audiences. Rather than replacing journalists, AI can enhance their work, allowing them to operate more efficiently and better serve the needs of their diverse audiences.
