Lynn Walsh, Emmy Award-winning journalist with over 15 years of experience, discusses the importance of transparency and guidelines for newsrooms using AI. They highlight the need for trust building, AI literacy, bias identification, ethical integration, and automation in newsrooms.
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Quick takeaways
Newsrooms should prioritize rebuilding trust with their audience and be transparent about their use of AI to enhance trust and engagement with the news.
Newsrooms need to establish guidelines for transparency when using AI tools, carefully considering the wording and placement of disclosures to ensure the public understands how AI is being used and what it is not being used for.
Deep dives
Building Trust in the Age of AI
In this podcast episode, Lynn Walsh discusses the importance of trust in the news industry and how AI can impact that trust. She emphasizes that newsrooms need to prioritize rebuilding trust with their audience and be transparent about their use of AI. Trusting News, the organization she works for, focuses on promoting transparency, ethics, values, and mission in journalism. By being transparent about the use of AI and involving the audience in the conversation, newsrooms can address the low level of trust in news and ensure responsible and accurate reporting.
Guidelines for Transparency
Lynn Walsh highlights the need for newsrooms to establish guidelines for transparency when using AI tools. While there may not be clear answers yet, she suggests incorporating research to understand audience response to AI disclosure. It is essential to carefully consider the wording and placement of these disclosures, ensuring the public understands how AI is being used. Newsrooms should be transparent about what they are not using AI for, indicate what they are exploring, and disclose when AI has been used in specific stories. Open conversations and feedback from the audience can help build trust and transparency.
Ethical Considerations and AI Avatars
Lynn Walsh delves into the ethical dilemmas arising from the use of AI avatars in news videos. She emphasizes that the avatars should resemble the real reporter and stresses the importance of disclosure when an avatar is not based on the journalist. Discussions with the audience about the use of avatars and how it impacts trust are crucial. While exploring this new territory, she urges newsrooms to maintain authenticity and openness, avoiding deceptive practices that could lead to mistrust. The aim is to engage with the audience, include them in the conversation, and ensure transparency about the use of avatars.
AI and Enhancing Trust in Journalism
Lynn Walsh discusses how AI can enhance trust in journalism. She emphasizes the importance of transparency, engagement, and understanding in building trust. AI can play a vital role in helping newsrooms disclose the use of AI, engage with their audience more effectively, and identify potential bias in stories. Walsh advocates for using AI to improve the reporting process, not replace it, and ensure that journalists and newsrooms stay ahead of the curve. By embracing the potential of AI in a responsible and ethical manner, newsrooms can enhance trust with their audience and improve the quality of their reporting.
Lynn Walsh, the Assistant Director of Trusting News, joins Nikita Roy to discuss how newsrooms should think about their relationship with audiences when adopting AI. She also highlights opportunities to use AI to enhance trust and engagement with the news.
Lynn is an Emmy Award-winning journalist who has worked in investigative, data and TV journalism for over 15 years. Currently at Trusting News, she works to help rebuild trust between journalists and the public. She is also an adjunct professor at Point Loma Nazarene University and a past national president and Ethics Chair for the Society of Professional Journalists.
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