High-quality journalism will trump AI, says FMT managing director
Published on: Thursday, May 09, 2024
By:
FMT, Liew Yen Rou
FMT managing director Azeem Abu Bakar said the world will always need news produced to the highest editorial standards to protect the integrity of information.
PETALING JAYA: Sophisticated and quality journalism will continue to remain relevant even in the face of artificial intelligence (AI) potentially taking over numerous tasks within a news organisation’s operations, according to FMT’s managing director Azeem Abu Bakar.
Azeem said the world will always need news produced to the highest editorial standards to protect the integrity of information, adding that this was important for a functioning democracy.
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However, he said media companies need to enhance the sophistication and quality of their storytelling to stay ahead of AI.
“(The articles that) will survive are those with compelling storytelling that can shape public opinion and policies or lifestyle content that can build brands and businesses,” he said as a panellist at Astro Awani’s ‘Journalism in the Age of AI Disruption’ roundtable discussion.
Other panellists included Astro Awani’s editor-in-chief Ashwad Ismail, University of Nottingham Malaysia’s Zaharom Nain and GMA Integrated News, Regional TV & Synergy senior vice-president and head Oliver Victor B Amoroso.
The session was moderated by Centre for Independent Journalism executive director Wathshlah G Naidu.
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On digital media advertising revenue, Azeem said big tech corporations like Google, Meta and TikTok now control the lion’s share of the pie while news companies received only a small percentage.
Therefore, he said media companies must be lean and cost-effective to ensure the business can support quality journalism.
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At the same time, the business models of media companies should also evolve as their revenue share diminishes, he said.
“Media companies have influence and they can capitalise on it to build other companies through a media-for-equity model,” he added.
Azeem said FMT has an accelerator programme that invests in startups through media coverage that can build their brands and revenue.
At the session, Ashwad launched Astro Awani’s AI guidelines titled “Jiwa”, an acronym for justifiable, inclusive, wise and authentic.
The guidelines are intended to provide a framework for the newsroom with the aim of upholding journalism ethics, fostering skills, protecting confidentiality of information and enhancing processes.
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