Report on “Artificial Intelligence in the Newsroom: Challenges or Opportunities by TV 9”

On April 18th, 2023, the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication organized a Panel Discussion on the topic “Artificial Intelligence in the Newsroom: Opportunity or Challenge? At I block auditorium. The panel Discussion aimed at sensitizing the students and faculty on how AI is making inroads into the media industry and how it is redefining the media dynamics today.

The Panel Discussion had following experts from the media industry – Dr. Soumitra Bose, Content Head, FIFA, Mr. Shivendra, Senior journalist TV 9, Mr. Kunal Ranjan Media Professional and Mr. Harish Burnwal, Senior Journalist, Poet and Writer. The discussion was moderated by Mr Kunal Ranjan.

Introducing the discussion, Mr Harish Burnwal spoke about the use of AI in the day-to-day functioning of the newsroom. He also pointed out how the AI has facilitated the data collection process. “AI has revolutionized the news industry especially through tagging of micro-capsules, grading news, and recommending stories for commercial purposes,” he said. He also emphasized on how AI has helped in live reporting thereby reducing the cost of production and maintaining the workflow.

The views of Mr Harish Burnwal were seconded by another panelist, Mr Soumitra Bose, who pointed that the fear that AI will result in job losses is a myth. In fact, AI will lead to more employments.  “ AI can help in the three stages of production, starting with content creation, followed by tagging content, and finally, identifying the best content for publishing,” Mr Bose said. He also spoke about how AI can help in saving time, identifying fake news, and curbing language barriers.

Senior Journalist, Mr. Shivendra spoke about the challenges of AI in the newsroom, including the lack of emotions and language barriers. He also mentioned the threat of AI taking over human jobs in the newsroom.

While summing up the discussion, Mr Kunal Ranjan emphasized on how AI can help news agencies with newsroom automation, including virtual cameras, live streaming, and archives. He also discussed how AI has been used in detecting gunshots and identifying fake news.