Among the major problems with today’s news reporting is sourcing. Writers generate stories from Instagrams or TikToks. They take Reddit posts and treat them as gospel (praise, Jesus!). They second- or third-source from blogs, X-posts, or other news sites. Instead, reporters should source firsthand.
If you don’t directly engage someone, you don’t know what’s true. Hearsay isn’t admissible in court and surely shouldn’t be permissible in journalism. I understand that time is a problem when employers impose quotas in an attempt to pay homage to the Great Google God of search. But that’s no excuse for poor sourcing.
Perhaps there is an unexpected opportunity to reform newsroom culture and get reporters out of the office, off social media, and where they can engage real people. Artificial Intelligence is the linchpin. Industry buzz is all about AI eliminating journalist jobs, making them redundant; let AIs gather news (from online sources, mostly), and write the stories. Who needs cranky, costly writers? But this application of the technology is shortsighted.
Go ahead, let AIs write the news stories and concisely summarize all the main points in the first three paragraphs—dryly adopting a prescribed formula that answers: Who? What? Where? Why? Subjectivity can be removed from the writing, too, with a return to focus on facts. But don’t replace the journalists with the technology. Letting AIs report and write is a bad idea, when the major cumulative source to be culled is the Internet.
Put journalists in the field to report. They gather quotes and all other information, which is filed for the AI to turn into a news story. The reporter, or editor, reviews the copy for clarity, accuracy, and readability. As the AI learns, accuracy and writing style should improve. Meanwhile, reporters tap sources while chasing down the story.
Plenty of tools are already available to facilitate mixed machine/human workflow. Google Gemini leverages robust algorithmic and informational capabilities. Microsoft offers Copilot with Window 11 and integrates the AI deeply into its Office productivity products. ChatGPT is considered the big kahuna by many techies. My developer buddy swears by Perplexity AI. These are but a few options available. All rapidly mature, and some are better for generating the written word than others.
To recap: I suggest that news organizations hire more journalists. Let AIs write, while reporters gather the news, relying on reliable sources. So, rather than eliminate journalist jobs, Artificial Intelligence creates more opportunity to utilize the human element, which would improve news gathering and potentially boost accuracy.
I was at a loss how to illustrate this post, so I punted. The stone, reading child sits outside a daycare/preschool in my San Diego neighborhood of University Heights. The Featured Image comes from Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra on Dec. 16, 2024. Vitals: f/3.4, ISO 32, 1/800 sec, 115mm (film equivalent); 12:31 p.m. PST.