Even as newsrooms are increasingly using the power of artificial intelligence in their reporting, research is telling them that AI makes their audience anxious and worried. It’s a potentially bad combination for audience trust — which isn’t so hot to begin with.
To help, MediaWise, the Poynter Institute’s media literacy initiative that focuses on online information, has created new tools for newsrooms to talk with their audiences about AI, both for ethical transparency and to demystify how AI is used. The effort was funded by Microsoft and was produced in collaboration with The Associated Press.
“If audiences aren’t able to understand how we are using AI, we can very quickly lose trust and credibility,” said Sean Marcus, interactive learning designer for MediaWise, who worked on the project.
The new Talking About AI: Newsroom Toolkit, launching this week on Poynter’s site and with a webinar on June 5 hosted by Poynter, is free to use and provides guidance on communication that newsrooms can use “with minimal extra lift,” Marcus said. “So they can continue to do their reporting and day-to-day work without having to invent an entirely new vehicle around AI.”
As the ranks and popularity of independent journalists and news content creators and influencers grow, the project also has material to help them. Launching June 5, three videos, featuring MediaWise ambassadors V Spehar, of Under the Desk News, and Dave Jorgenson of The Washington Post, as well as Sam Cole of 404 Media, show creators who work primarily on social platforms that they can talk about AI without being ponderous or intrusive to their medium. Accompanying the videos are interactive elements that reinforce the themes of each video.
“You as a single producer can still work in some of that AI literacy in a way that matches the tone of your platform and what you’re doing,” Marcus said. “It doesn’t have to be all serious, heavy, technical.”
Jorgenson’s video, heavy on colorful graphics and plain language, gives creators useful tips across the spectrum of AI use — from idea brainstorming to script writing and adds, “Your audience will appreciate knowing how the sausage is made, even if the sausage is part robot.” Spehar notes, “The more we discuss AI as a tool, the less our audience confuses it for something that can think for itself.”
The overall toolkit offers lessons on why AI literacy matters, demystifying AI concepts for the audience, explaining AI use for in-depth reporting, disclosing AI use in an audience-focused way and opening a dialogue with the audience, among other topics.
MediaWise director Alex Mahadevan, also a member of Poynter’s faculty who specializes in AI, said that after leading two AI ethics summits and poring over audience data, Poynter found a major disconnect between newsrooms and readers when it comes to understanding AI.
“This technology can help journalists reach new audiences and do better investigative work, but audiences seem to be turned off by AI,” Mahadevan said. “We think AI literacy can help anyone understand that the tools do have limitations, but great promise for reporters covering their communities.”
While MediaWise and Poynter do other extensive work with AI, including providing a guide for newsrooms to build their own AI ethics policy and resources and training on AI tools, the emphasis for the toolkit is “laser-focused on communicating with audiences,” Marcus said. “This is zeroed in on audience engagement so we can push aside the big debate on AI, and dig into the heart of how we are going to communicate to our audiences.”
Marcus said the effort built on guidance already in use at The Associated Press, as well as work done by Poynter on ethical frameworks around AI use. The AP covers AI extensively and also works with local newsrooms on AI experiments and provides thought leadership on this topic through its webinars and trainings.
“We’ve spent the past few years thinking critically about how to use AI responsibly in journalism and how to communicate that use clearly to our audiences,” said Amanda Barrett, AP vice president of standards and inclusion. “Contributing our guidance to this toolkit was a natural extension of that work, and we hope it helps other newsrooms navigate these important conversations.”
The toolkit is heavy on case studies from real newsrooms that show how they engaged with audiences about AI use. Top of mind was the disclosure paradox that news consumers want to know about AI use, but often become fatigued and turned off when they see it.
“It’s a fine line between how much and how deep you go into talking about AI vs. how effectively you explained it,” Marcus said.
Attendees at the second Summit on AI, Ethics and Journalism, put on by Poynter and the AP at AP headquarters in New York in April, got the first look at the Toolkit, and their feedback helped shape changes. Updates will be ongoing, Marcus said.
To register for the webinar on using the Talking About AI toolkit, go here. The free, full toolkit can be found here. Registration is required.
Media Contact
Jennifer Orsi
Vice President, Publishing and Local News Initiatives
Poynter Institute
jorsi@poynter.org
About the Poynter Institute
The Poynter Institute is a global nonprofit working to address society’s most pressing issues by teaching journalists and journalism, covering the media and the complexities facing the industry, convening and community building, improving the capacity and sustainability of news organizations and fostering trust and reliability of information. The Institute is a gold standard in journalistic excellence and dedicated to the preservation and advancement of press freedom in democracies worldwide. Through Poynter, journalists, newsrooms, businesses, big tech corporations and citizens convene to find solutions that promote trust and transparency in news and stoke meaningful public discourse. The world’s top journalists and emerging media leaders rely on the Institute to learn new skills, adopt best practices, better serve audiences, scale operations and improve the quality of the universally shared information ecosystem.
The Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership, the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), MediaWise and PolitiFact are all members of the Poynter organization.
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