Debadurllav Harichandan, OP
Bhubaneswar: The concerns of journalists in India that their jobs will be replaced by Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) which has already been impacting job markets across the globe is completely exaggerated, noted journalist and former Editor-In-Chief of ‘The Hindu’ N Ram said while stressing the need for discussion among industry stakeholders over the advent of AI as it has put some dire concerns before media houses.
Speaking on the topic ‘Opportunities and Challenges in Regional Media’ at a conclave organised by the Editors Guild of India (EGI) at the Press Club of Odisha Saturday, Ram said the role of newage media would be filled with challenges to secure the core editorial values of an organization as AI becomes widely pervasive in journalistic practices.
“Therefore, it will be interesting to note how it could resist the temptations of sophisticated AI tools which might dampen the ethical standards of journalism,” he said.
Deliberating on the future threats posed by AI to the publishing industry, Ram said in spite of its nature to eliminate drudgery and make work effective, the technology has posed an array of challenges in countering disinformation and fake news.
“Much before AI came to fore, disinformation and misinformation were already prevalent in the media ecosystem. However, the present scenario is challenging since free accessibility to AI tools has led to dissemination of disinformation and fake news across mediums, such as social media and online media. Such disinformation being scaled up and weaponised on tech platforms pose serious harm to democracy and media freedom,” he said, adding that while misinformation presents scope for correction in journalism, the trend of disinformation is alarming. “The US along with India remains to be most impacted by it,” he said.
Ram agreed to the suggestions of Dharitri and OrissaPOST Editor Tathagata Satpathy – who moderated the session – that every publication in the country is regional as they have regional bases. “Every English newspaper is published from a specific region in the country which makes it suitable to be called a regional daily,” Ram added.