From Tongnaan Bawa, Jos
Stallion Times media has trained Journalists in Plateau state on the ethical usage of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the newsrooms as they navigate through the changes brought into the profession by the Information Technology (ICT) around the globe.
The one-day training workshop which
was in collaboration with Stallion Times Media Services was held at the NUJ Press Centre in Jos the Plateau State capital had over 20 journalists cut across print, and the broadcast Media who were all equipped with great innovations to be better professionals on the field.
In her welcome remarks, the Plateau State Council NUJ Chairman, Comrade Ayuku Pwaspo disclosed that the workshop is to guide Journalists in the state on the proper usage of AI into news production.
Pwaspo stressed that”This training is very important to the future of journalism in this state because we are already seeing the content of AI in our newsrooms.”
“We must be proactive while we leverage on AI to improve storytelling, We must protect the integrity of the profession by ensuring that ethics always come first.” She emphasised.
While lamenting that “We are already loosing public trust, it means that in using AI we must put the ethical consideration even as we continue to do our work so that the public will respect us ”
The Chairman explained that the training is one in the series that the Council has for journalists in the year. And commended the organisation for offering her colleagues in the council the opportunity to be fully equipped.
The Editor-in-Chief of Stallion Times, Isiaku Ahmed advised journalists to embrace the innovation that comes with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and be guided by ethical consideration or risk loosing their jobs.
Ahmed, While presenting copies of the Code of Ethics for Nigerian Journalists and the Freedom of Information Act 2011 to the State NUJ Chairman, Ayuku Pwaspo, he also urged journalists to always reflect on the two documents and applies them in their daily reporting.
He emphasized that “For us, ethical consideration in the usage of AI in journalism is very paramount whether online or hard copy we see stories that are not original carrying the names of journalists instead of accrediting it to AI which is an unethical practice.”
Our correspondent reports that journalists are expected to while using AI not to compromised their values, but be mindful of the code and ethics of the profession such as accuracy, truthful, transparency, balance and fairness.
Participants at the one-day training while appreciating the council and the trainers for the opportunity to learn said they were exposed to various AI tools, such Chat Gpt, deeplink,caput and lots more. We had the opportunity to interact and practically use AI within that few hours of training “