2 weeks Ago By Claudine Flores
WITH the rise of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), concerns have emerged about whether it poses a threat to journalism. However, Jaemark Tordecilla, 2024 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University and former editor-in-chief of GMA news online, emphasized during a forum on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, that AI is “a tool and not a replacement for critical thinking.
” “The best use of AI is it’s a tool that narrowly helps augment what we already do as journalists. So the principles and the ethics of journalists and journalism could never go away,” Tordecilla told students and community journalists during the “Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Community Journalism” forum held in a hotel in Cebu City, on Friday. Tordecilla said all critical thinking remains with the journalist.
“It (AI) is not your source of information.” His presentation also focused on an overview of emerging AI technologies, ethical and governance considerations, and frameworks for guidelines on their use, and included a hands-on workshop. “We could use AI as a tool to improve our productivity but we need to always remember the core of what we do, which is journalism, bringing verified information to our readers, to our audiences, to the communities, and that will never go away despite the different technologies that come to us,” he said.
The discussions are also joined by the different communications departments from various academic institutions in Cebu, including the University of San Jose-Recoletos, University of the Philippines-Cebu, and Cebu Normal University. Meanwhile, Ma. Lourdes Cabaero, a member of Stet, asked Tordecilla if AI can help newsrooms save financially in their operations.
In response, Tordecilla said AI can help free journalists from the burden of mundane tasks, such as transcribing interviews. “It’s already given the most newsroom in the Philippines is already squeezed to the bone, but I anticipate that if you free up the time for journalists for more productive work for example, a chunk of what we do is grand like transcription, research, reading, if you are a journalist who spend most of those time, it can be a help,” he said. Lelani Echavez-Paredes, a member of Stet and a former professor, emphasized in her closing statement the four principles of journalism which are, “seek truth and report it, minimize harm, be accountable, and be transparent.
” “And I am glad that this came out during the open forum because despite the very young age of our audience I am glad that your heart and your mind are in the right place because you did question that while you have been lured by the siren’s voice of AI, you also know that we should not surrender our brains, we should not surrender our critical thinking,” Paredes said on her closing remarks. The forum was organized by Stet, a group of veteran women journalists from Cebu who have spent over 30 years in full-time reporting and editing. The forum is part of the week-long celebration of the 2024 Cebu Press Freedom Week.
/ CDF.
