Egypt Media Forum: Students Distrust AI. Mona Abdel-Maqsoud Says Journalists Must Lead Its Use
At the opening session of the Egypt Media Forum in Cairo, media professor Mona Abdel-Maqsoud put a simple truth on the table: journalism students don't trust AI. And that trust gap puts responsibility squarely on working journalists to decide how AI is used in newsroom practice.
She noted a pattern that should matter to every comms team. Students read plenty of news but rarely retain the source. Yet they're sharper at judging whether a video looks real, likely because they operate inside the media field and see how content gets made.
Abdel-Maqsoud also framed AI as an unsettled, interdisciplinary science. Its outputs blend multiple media disciplines, which is exactly why ethical goals and practical methods should be set by practitioners-reporters first, not vendors.
What PR and Communications Should Take From This
If future journalists distrust AI, your content will be held to a higher bar for proof, context, and disclosure. The message is clear: make it easy to verify, or expect skepticism.
For PR and communications, that means treating authenticity as a product feature. Every asset needs a visible chain of trust.
Key Insights From Abdel-Maqsoud's Session
- Source recall is weak. Readers often forget where information came from. PR must over-communicate sourcing and provide primary documents.
- Video scrutiny is strong. Media students are better at spotting fake or staged video. Build assets that are verifiable on their own merits.
- AI is interdisciplinary and unsettled. Don't wait for perfect rules. Co-create working standards with the journalists you brief.
- Journalists should set the ethics. Align your AI practices with newsroom expectations; otherwise your pitch becomes friction.
Practical Steps PR Teams Can Implement Now
- Add clear source lines and link to primary evidence in every release, fact sheet, and newsroom post.
- Ship a verification kit with major announcements: raw b-roll or image files, timestamps, locations, and a contact for technical checks.
- Use content credentials (C2PA) on images and video, and state it in your media notes so journalists know what to check.
- Label AI assistance where it materially shapes copy, images, or audio. Put the disclosure near the asset-not buried.
- Create an AI use policy for comms: what tools are allowed, for which tasks, with human edit and final approval before publication.
- Stand up a fact-checking lane: AI for first-pass checks, human editors for final sign-off and accountability.
- Prepare a deepfake response plan: a verification hub, rapid rebuttal templates, and pre-approved channels for takedowns and clarifications.
- Maintain audit logs of prompts, model versions, and edits whenever AI assists content creation. Keep them ready for media inquiries.
- Train your team on AI, provenance, and media ethics so they can answer tough questions without hedging. If you need a starting point, see courses by job role.
Why This Moment Matters
The third annual Egypt Media Forum-an independent platform launched in 2022 to build media competencies across the region-has gathered more than 2,500 journalists under the theme "2030: Who Will Continue". The signal from its first session is steady: trust isn't a slogan; it's a system you can show your work through.
For PR leaders, the play is straightforward. Build processes that make verification fast for reporters, disclose AI use without drama, and keep humans accountable for final outputs.
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