The media landscape is changing at pace – and keeping up with the latest developments and moves will give every comms expert an advantage over their rivals. Every week take a look at the media business from mainstream and ‘legacy’ media to cutting edge tech and the latest trends and developments – and how you can use that know-how.
The hard reality of the takeover at the Telegraph and its new owner’s plans to transform the group into a “global, AI-powered” business came last week: 100 job redundancies.
Staff were told the publisher would “reinvent the reader experience” using AI, data and technology - along with the inevitable reorganisation and money saving of course. It will mean some very good journalists are at threat of losing their jobs.
Journalists are concerned about how AI and other technology is going to affect their job – and indeed their chances of having a job. Research by the Reuters Institute showed almost two-thirds of UK journalists see AI as a “large” or “very large” threat to journalism. More than half were “extremely concerned” about the potential negative impact of AI on public trust in journalism, on the value of accuracy, and on journalistic originality.
There are two thoughts. One is that an overwhelming move to using more AI is inevitable. Those who suggest otherwise feel a bit Luddite.
Second, a growing number of examples show how AI can be used to create excellent content.
And the more comms experts learn what AI can do and how it can lead to stories, the more they can set the agenda and get their clients and causes in the public eye in new and very engaging ways.
As I have said before, if you – or a journalist – are just using AI for re-writing and editing, you’re wasting the technology. Yes, transparency is important and human creativity is at a premium. But using the tech available is important to keep up.
This is the first of a series of AI deep dives I’m planning in the coming weeks. And I’ll start here with four AI superskills that can transform your work and the work you offer to journos (and shout out to computer scientist and data journalist Jacopo Ottaviani who inspired this with his work here.
Ideas: Chatbots such as Claude and Fable have developed their ability to assess and develop ideas from an initial request. A user who puts forward an idea or thesis or project can use AI to be a sparring partners to interrogate its viability. It can highlight distinctions and subtleties, make comparisons, challenge assumptions and flag questions which may not have been considered. And because of the loop commands chatbots have they will continue to refine and develop ideas as new information comes in and circumstances change.