Syed Kamrul Hasan :
Abstract
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the world’s media landscape by redefining the way news is reported, made, and shared.
As AI increases efficiency, precision, and audience interaction, it also generates intricate ethical and professional issues related to creativity, employment substitution, and editorial honesty.
This article discusses the role of AI in print media, both possibilities and threats, and analyzes the status of AI implementation in Bangladeshi print media.
It also discusses the essential role that journalism education has in equipping the next-generation reporters with the technical and ethical skills to deal with this new landscape.
The article believes that viable journalism in the AI era depends on balancing human creativity and machine intelligence so that technology is a friend, and not an enemy, of journalistic ethics.
Introduction
Artificial intelligence (AI) has caused major changes in every industry, and journalism, especially print journalism, is no exception. AI is both a potent tool and a possible source of ethical worry for editors, journalists, and teachers.
The more important question is no longer whether artificial intelligence will be embraced but rather how it can be applied ethically while preserving basic principles of journalism that encompass editorial ethics, justice, and responsibility.
Opportunities and challenges provided by artificial intelligence to change the newsroom without sacrificing the human aspect of storytelling abound in Bangladesh, where print media is under evermore strain from digital rivals.
AI as a strong friend in current newsrooms where Journalists are increasingly aided in fact-checking information, data analysis, and reporting by artificial intelligence tools.
Financial, athletic, and weather news first drafts are produced, and patterns are found by automated systems capable of handling enormous volumes of data.
Western print media has yielded several advantages in terms of efficiency, accuracy, and reader engagement by using AI tools.
The Washington Post’s Heliograf system generates live election updates, sports results, and local news updates without human involvement.
This allows journalists ample space to focus on investigative reporting and long-form storytelling-domains requiring human insight and emotional intelligence.
Similarly, data journalism too has also achieved better output with the help of AI.
Renowned Media outlets like The Guardian, Reuters, and The New York Times employ AI to filter through big data, identify faint patterns, and uncover corruption or social scandals that may be difficult to find otherwise. Fact-checking and identifying fake news are also facilitated by AI tools.
Platforms like Reuters News Tracer and Full Fact utilize machine learning to verify claims being spread online so that reporting becomes quicker and more accurate.
In addition, AI facilitates content individualization. Media outlets like The Financial Times and The New York Times use AI algorithms to recommend articles from their publications according to readers’ interests and browsing habits. Not only does this increase users’ level of satisfaction but also subscription levels as well.
AI can contribute immensely to transcription, translation, and archiving, making it possible for multilingual global audiences to access stories easily.
AI and its impact on journalism- critics’ views
The application of AI to journalism has generated debates over the profession’s choice and its stability.
Unemployment has appeared to be the biggest threat. Robotic newsrooms are starting to become capable of producing short pieces about sports, business, and elections, areas that previously were the practice-ground of novice reporters.
For instance, by using the AI software Associated Press is now producing thousands of quarterly earnings stories, which is greatly reducing human labor.
As a result, entry-level posts that once trained new reporters are disappearing, leading to de-skilling and fewer opportunities.
AI can undermine editorial integrity and ethical sense. A model that has been trained on biased or incomplete data can unconsciously reproduce discrimination or misinformation.
An AI system lacks an awareness of human nuances such as empathy, sensitivity to trauma, or cultural background, even personal style and creativity of a reporter-all problems at the core of responsible journalism. For example, automated crime reporting apps can reinforce racial or social prejudice if not properly checked by human oversights.
Homogenization of news content is another disturbing byproduct. As AI platforms maximize engagement, they tend to be drawn toward sensational and entertainment-based story lines at the expense of investigative and civic journalism.
This could lead to a less informed public and there would be no democratic discussion. Additionally, the deployment of AI-generated news without disclosing it transparently can undermine trust in the audience.
Readers may not know if they are reading reliable, human-edited news coverage or algorithmically generated content and thereby discrediting the media as a social institution.
Lastly, when readers are repeatedly shown articles that confirm their prevailing opinions, it creates “filter bubbles” and polarization, further fragmenting public debate.
The consequences of ignoring AI in journalism
Ignoring AI could be disastrous for a media house now-a-days as regards to danger of its inefficiency and lower competitiveness.
Introducing AI tools can bring new opportunities for data literacy, digital invention, and more inclusive journalism. These enable the new skills like rapid content creation, personalisation, and targeted audience engagement-the skills required to remain current in an information-overloaded environment.
Failure of its adaption in print media may lose readership and advertising, which would be a strategic mistake in failing to adapt to changing audience needs.
Finding balance between Human Intelligence and Machine Pace The most sustainable journalism model is the union of human emotion with machine precision. AI has to be an accompaniment and not a replacement for journalists.
While it can excel at boring or information-intensive jobs, human editors must remain in charge of narrative, ethics, and context.
To achieve this equilibrium, media houses must establish moral standards and invest in ongoing training. Journalists must be taught to critically examine the tools’ biases and shortcomings.
A balanced collaboration between human imagination and machine intellect must be ensured to prove that technology will complement journalistic ethics and not undermine it.
The Status of AI Adoption in Bangladeshi Print Media
AI implementation in print media is still waiting to be implemented in Bangladesh.
Only 2-3 leading newspapers of the country have only begun implementing AI for content optimization and audience measurement, if at all, largely on their online versions.
But local or smaller media outlets lack the financial and technical knowhow necessary to implement AI tools effectively.
However, journalists in Bangladesh generally express optimism regarding AI’s benefits. They Media owners and publishers can play a significant role by doing institutional investment, setting technical infrastructure, and professional training for their employees. Partnerships between media organisations, universities, and technology firms could also be useful.
The Media Education Role in Bangladesh
Educating tomorrow’s journalists to combat the challenges of an AI-driven media environment requires a rigorous revision of existing journalism education.
Our universities conduct workshops and seminars, offer courses on digitalisation, AI ethics, and social media content analysis with the assistance of international organisations like UNESCO or DW Akademie. But those are sporadic and occasional. Faculty-led research occasionally touches on automation, algorithmic bias, or technology’s role in news production.
Nevertheless, a systematic curriculum on AI-based journalism, involving hands-on application of AI tools-is still lacking to a great extent. Consequently, journalism students mostly graduate without the technical or analytical competencies required to cope with an AI-based media landscape.
A number of central activities can fill this gap:
1. Reform Curriculum To prepare journalism students for the future more effectively, universities must revise and reform their Curriculum.
They must incorporate specialised courses like AI and Data Journalism, Algorithmic Media, and Automation in Newsrooms, with technical skills balanced by ethical considerations.
2. Organize Skill-Based Training
Organize hands-on training courses on AI tools for transcription, fact-checking, translation, and data visualization, with provisions for applied learning through media collaborations.
3. Set up Research and Innovation Labs
Establish AI and Media Innovation Labs that create interdepartmental collaboration between computer science and journalism schools to develop Bangla-language AI applications such as automated translation and sentiment analysis systems.
4. Ethics and Media Literacy
Curriculum includes new sessions and introduces debates and dialogues regarding AI ethics, data privacy, deepfake detection, and misinformation management to instill critical consciousness among future journalists.
5. Global Collaboration
Establish partnerships with international schools of journalism and research institutes to exchange best practices regarding updated editions and jointly establish best practices for integrating AI in media education.
These initiatives will enable Bangladeshi institutions to bring up a new generation of journalists who are tech-literate and ethically responsible, able to lead accountable innovation in the newsroom.
Conclusion
AI is as much a transformatory potential as a disrupting menace to journalism. Its careless use can shrink job market, erode ethics, and reduce public trust.
Big data sets can be processed through machines, large texts can be organized within a few seconds but is there any guarantee that they include human factor of empathy, imagination, and moral judgment in an appropriate proportion ? Therefore, to make journalism more accurate, more efficient, and more accessible, AI must be used responsibly-with proper human oversight.
This is a time for the Bangladeshi print media, to respond to the vital need fulfilling the demand of time. Academic and media schools have a key responsibility to train the next generation of journalists who are trained in using AI but also well-aware in ethics and critical thinking.
By incorporating AI studies in journalism education today, we can ensure that future journalists are not displaced by technology but emerge as its most creative and ethical adopters in our media ecosystem.
