The Nieman Lab at Harvard University invites people in the global news and media field every year to release forecasts about the trend of journalism in the coming year.
In this article, Tencent Media Research Institute made excerpts of many predictions around the four themes of artificial intelligence, podcasts, RSS subscriptions, and digital platforms. It is hoped that these discoveries and reflections can also provide reference and inspiration for domestic news media.
In this year’s report, ChatGPT and generative artificial intelligence have unsurprisingly become the focus of everyone’s attention. The consensus is that generative AI will inevitably find its way into newsrooms.
The good news is that most in the industry see it as a helper rather than a threat. By 2023, the human role of journalists will become even more important as they produce high-quality and trustworthy news stories that are different from AI-generated content. The following are some predictions for Al by industry insiders:
Nicholas Diakopoulos:
Right now, we’re in the early days of the AI hype, but I expect that within the next year, the press will be seriously discussing how these new tools can be more productive. They save time in a variety of news production tasks. Journalists need to test the possibilities and boundaries of AI technology and explore how these tools can be applied to their actual work. This will require extensive experimentation with writing prompts to get the most benefit from the AI. In addition, serious ethical consideration is needed to consider when and how such technology can be used responsibly.
At present, these AI tools can already help journalists do a lot of things. For example, they can rewrite text to suit different audiences; outline documents; write headlines; and conceive angles or potential directions for stories. In terms of data journalism, they can be used to classify documents or extract data (with varying degrees of success), or to generate short text snippets based on structured data with descriptive information, etc.
Sam Guzik:
Teams of computer scientists around the world have developed artificial intelligence systems designed to detect manipulated media, misinformation or fake news. For example, a team at Drexel University recently unveiled a new system for detecting fake videos. The system combines forensic analysis with deep learning to detect fake videos that would otherwise be missed by human reviewers or existing systems.
The teams building these tools do so with good intentions, but their work risks becoming a high-tech “Maginot Line,” unable to predict or respond to the next evolution in counterfeiting technology.
But if we use this coming year to take action—by tracking the technologies shaping our industry, forming collaborative partnerships to help our organizations grow, and assessing the skills newsrooms need—we can make a difference in the future. as.
Jennifer Brandel:
In September, Mattia Peretti, manager of JournalismAI, emphasized that AI “is not going to take your job,” a consolation for stressed journalists.
But with the stunning release of AI tools like ChatGPT and DALL-E, not only writers, but even artists feel their jobs are in jeopardy.
So how should a person devoted to the art and craft of journalism prepare for the rainy day and secure his career? I want people to devote more energy to what artificial intelligence can’t do: “caring”.
Activist, scholar, and poet Maya Angelou once said, “I’ve found that people forget what you said and things you did, but people never forget how you made them feel.”
It’s easy for journalists and other newsroom workers to overlook interactions with the public—sponsors, readers, subscribers, commenters, and more—every interaction is an opportunity to influence how others feel.
I hope that in 2023, journalists will start asking themselves questions like:
Are you aware that you have power in certain situations, based on the identities you have or are thought to have?
Are you making a conscious effort to ensure that the people you interview feel truly heard and understood? Or is it a cutscene for time reasons?
Do the people you cover feel like you’re doing a good job? how do you know
Julia Beizer:
Journalism on social media platforms has been bleak lately, with company closures and mass layoffs. At one time, these platforms seemed to be where journalism thrived.
In the early days of social media, we easily reached unimaginable audiences. Our news travels around the world, allowing for a real-time conversation with our readers. However, audience numbers don’t always translate into engagement or revenue. Now, we have the opportunity to build something even better.
Despite the many shocks we face, there are many industry forces moving us forward today. Consumers are more receptive to data visualization. Audio journalism has also found new ways to engage listeners and is booming. Video as an explanatory medium has reached its peak in both short and long-form videos. These products give us a more reliable way to become part of our users’ daily habits and provide a great way for us to connect with our customers.
Both news fatigue and subscription fatigue are very real, but they point to an obvious path forward: We need to focus on the value we provide to our users every day, in every department.
We have to understand as much as possible who our users are and what they need. Then we help them understand the world through news. We deliver this news to users through the medium of their choice (email, SMS, video, push) and provide a fast-loading, clutter-free, and straight-to-the-point product experience.
Once we do a good job of serving users, our business model can be implemented. If we can drive this kind of value every day, it will be easier for us to convert and retain subscribers. This growth may not be as exciting as the growth of the past decade in the social media era. But it’s real. Showing up and putting in the effort every day is in keeping with our original mission in this industry. Let 2023 be the year we start again.