AI speeds newsroom output, but field reporting remains irreplaceable, expert argues
Media organizations must adopt artificial intelligence to stay competitive, but over-reliance on AI and digital sources risks eroding the core practice that defines journalism: reporters on the ground.
That's the tension Dr Syed Agil Shekh Alsagoff, a senior lecturer at Universiti Putra Malaysia, identified as newsrooms grapple with integrating AI into daily operations. AI can boost productivity and speed up news production. It cannot replace a journalist's presence at the scene.
The field reporting problem
Some newsrooms increasingly rely on social media and online sources, processing that information through AI without direct verification. This approach produces stories quickly but strips away what makes journalism credible: first-hand observation.
"If journalists become too reliant on AI and digital sources, the culture of field reporting could gradually diminish," Alsagoff said. "Yet being on the ground remains essential to understanding the real context of an issue."
Field reporting gives journalists access to emotion, atmosphere, and human experience that algorithms cannot capture. A reporter covering a disaster witnesses victims' suffering. A correspondent in a conflict zone hears the fear in residents' voices. An interviewer sees the grief in a family's eyes.
Technology processes data. It does not understand what it means to lose a home or live under threat.
Where AI adds value
Alsagoff does not dismiss AI's utility. The technology works well for research, data analysis, and multimedia production when journalists use it as a tool rather than a replacement for their judgment.
The distinction matters. AI can speed up the work journalists do. It cannot do the work itself.
Reports produced quickly without human verification risk becoming "flat," stripped of the nuance and context that readers recognize as trustworthy journalism. Speed without accuracy serves neither journalists nor their audiences.
What's at stake
As digital transformation accelerates, media organizations that fail to integrate AI may lose efficiency and fall behind competitors. Those that over-integrate it risk losing audience trust.
The solution is balance: adopt AI for tasks where it adds efficiency while preserving the editorial judgment and field presence that separate journalism from content mills.
Alsagoff said this balance should guide the industry as it moves forward. Journalism is not just about reporting facts. It is about understanding human experience and societal realities-work that requires reporters to be present.
For writers and journalists looking to develop skills in using AI effectively, AI for Writers and AI Research Courses offer practical training in tools that support rather than replace editorial work.
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