Study Finds AI and Emerging Technologies are Challenging Journalists to Maintain Truth and Accuracy

Study Finds AI and Emerging Technologies are Challenging Journalists to Maintain Truth and Accuracy.

Cision’s 2023 State of the Media Report spotlights challenges and opportunities in rapidly changing media landscape.

Chicago – “Accuracy” and “maintaining credibility as a trusted news source” are leading concerns for journalists, particularly in the wake of the meteoric rise of ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence-driven applications. They are seeing the impact this emerging technology is having on their industry and are concerned it will make authentic journalism even more challenging for the future.

Cision, a comprehensive consumer and media intelligence and communications platform enabling public relations, marketing, and communications professionals around the world to understand, influence, and amplify their stories, released these findings as part of its 14th annual State of the Media Report.

The report, featuring responses from more than 3,100 journalists from 17 global markets, brings forward journalists’ concerns about news and content accuracy, and their daily challenge to battle misinformation. “Ensuring content is accurate” was named the top priority by journalists (58%) and was what they perceive as the top priority for their organization (43%). More than a quarter of journalists (27%) responded that their biggest challenge was maintaining credibility as a trusted news source. Further, when asked about future generations of journalists, many responses focused on reducing “bias” and separating “fact from opinion.”

These findings reinforce the opportunity for journalists and communications professionals to build authentic, trust-based partnerships, advancing a mutual objective of honest, accurate storytelling amidst the changing media landscape.

“Now more than ever, journalists are seeking credible data and trustworthy, unbiased sources. Communications professionals can and should come to their aid. Working together, at this critical moment of disruption, journalists and communicators can protect and even elevate journalism,”

said Putney Cloos, Cision Chief Marketing Officer.

The Future of the State of the Media

In a first for the State of the Media Report, respondents were asked to share forward-looking perspectives on the discipline of journalism. Key themes include maintaining accuracy, reducing bias, and adapting to an increasing tech and data-reliant industry. Many journalists also spoke about the opportunities and pitfalls of AI:

• “Innovations like ChatGPT won’t stop, but the journalists who hide from them are at a disadvantage.”
• “As AI does more of the actual writing, the journalists who succeed will be the ones who can do the human kinds of things like telling personal stories and finding original conclusions in data sets and data trends well.”
• “… Able to use Generative AI to enhance their work and remain relevant.”

Data and Social Media Evolution

Data is becoming a key driver in journalism, as 40% of journalists say they are relying more on data this year and 66% say providing data and expert sources is one-way communicators can make their job easier.

Social media platforms provide places for journalists and communications professionals to gather data, as well as connect and promote their own work. Journalists aim to increase their audience on LinkedIn and Instagram in the next year while reducing their reliance on Twitter citing changes to the platform made by new leadership. Their expectation of increased usage of Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube is due to increased popularity and going where their audiences are.

“Communications are, and will continue to be, a critical driver of progress for brands, companies, organizations, and communities. The stories we tell and how we tell them matter. Working together, journalists and PR and Comms professionals can navigate the future, preserve the art of journalism, and maintain the trust of the audiences we serve.”

said Cloos

Methodology

Cision conducted its 2023 State of the Media survey in February and March 2023. Surveys were emailed to Cision Media Database members, who are vetted by the company’s media research team to verify their positions as media professionals, influencers, and bloggers. We also surveyed members of our HARO (Help a Reporter Out) database and made the survey available to media professionals in the PR Newswire for Journalists database. This year’s survey collected responses from 3,132 respondents in 17 markets across the globe: U.S., Canada, UK, France, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Portugal, China, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

The survey language was translated and localized for each market and the results were tallied together to form this global report.

Download the 2023 State of the Media Report