As artificial intelligence explodes, journalism is at a huge turning point.

Journalist Le Quoc Minh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department, Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists Association emphasized at the workshop " Application of technology in digital newsroom management ": " Digital has become so important that it blurs the line between journalism and technology. To develop, press agencies have no other choice but to continue to put technology at the center of all strategies, use technology to create attractive content and conquer new groups of readers, distribute content more effectively and make more money ".

Don't just stop at breaking the ice, go deeper and apply

The nature of digital journalism is to use digital technology to simultaneously operate content creation, produce digital product lines, do business, and publish on digital platforms, in a digital ecosystem. Digital transformation of journalism is essentially a transformation from a single-type of journalism to a journalism that focuses on electronic online newspapers, applying digital technology in all activities of a converged newsroom. Journalist Le Quoc Minh commented: A new era of digital journalism, digital technology, technology convergence and content convergence has formed and is developing strongly. Content convergence and technology convergence are considered a key to opening a new path for journalists and modern newsrooms. To do this, there needs to be an "integration" and "convergence" of both the content and the publishing form of a newspaper.

Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper Le Quoc Minh at the conference.

Mr. Le Quoc Minh recalled that in the 2010s, when the Internet developed strongly with the emergence of many digital press agencies, traditional press agencies felt confused but then these agencies adapted very quickly. “ According to the latest statistics, among the top 25 digital press agencies, only one of them is purely digital, the remaining 24 press agencies have known how to transform, adapt and rise up. Therefore, traditional press agencies in Vietnam should boldly embark on digital transformation, applying AI in press production processes, we should not just stop at breaking the ice, we need to go deeper and apply it ” - Mr. Le Quoc Minh emphasized.

Recently, on August 16, 2023, the Associated Press (USA) issued guidelines on artificial intelligence in the newsroom - this is one of the few news agencies that have begun to set rules on how to integrate rapidly developing technology tools such as ChatGPT into their work. In Vietnam, many press agencies have used AI tools as effective assistants in their work. A typical example is Ho Chi Minh City Television - HTV. HTV has applied AI to many important stages in the station, especially in the production of news programs.

Journalist Ngo Tran Thinh - Head of the Digital News Content Department of Ho Chi Minh City Television said that HTV reporters used AI to synthesize topics, create content based on suggestions from reporters, layout pages and then deploy them into perfect news reports. Testing the application of AI in the production of news and TV programs, journalist Ngo Tran Thinh commented that although AI is really smart, is a tool to start work easily and is a great suggestion for each topic, it cannot work by itself and bring good results without human participation.

Journalist Ngo Tran Thinh.

Recently, HTV Television has produced a short news segment with the appearance of an MC created by AI and the voice of a real MC. This is considered a new step in testing the application of modern technology to a television station that has always been considered traditional and difficult to change. The news program led by MC AI has received much attention from the audience and created excitement for technology lovers and praise from experts. Through this, viewers are gradually getting acquainted with a virtual MC and accepting that this is a step forward in technology for the field of visual journalism and communication MC AI.

How and to what extent to use AI is a matter of consideration.

Artificial intelligence, along with new digital technologies such as blockchain, xR... are indispensable tools for the digital content industry, but also a big challenge in content management in newsrooms, due to the risk of increasing fake news with the high production speed of automated journalism as well as legal and ethical troubles in journalism and media.

Mr. Le Quoc Minh commented that using AI is not a big deal, but how to use it and to what extent is a matter of consideration. “ We are testing the tool and around November we will put into use a very simple automatic text, photo and video generation system. This tool was created by Vietnamese people, no less than ChatGPT, especially it can control the input, avoiding unidentified sources of information ” - Mr. Minh said.

However, according to the Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, a paragraph that is read by a machine is very smooth and easy to listen to, but sometimes it is wrong and can violate copyright. Many applications are created to take hundreds, thousands, even billions of details on the Internet to create a photo or a video, so who owns the copyright and who will be sued if it is wrong? If it is a journalist or reporter, there is a basis for punishment, but if it is AI, who is responsible? Copyright and journalism ethics are controversial issues that need to be resolved.

Regarding the issue of editorial benefits, according to Mr. Le Quoc Minh, currently 50% of the editorial office's traffic comes from search engines, but when AI technology with many new breakthroughs can answer questions with text, readers are satisfied with that information, there will be no need to click on the newspaper page anymore - we lose traffic - losing traffic means losing money - there is no more revenue from the automatic advertising system - this is an obvious problem and editorial offices must accept.

Regarding digital transformation, in addition to changing the content production process of the editorial office and each individual, Mr. Le Quoc Minh said that generating revenue will be a very hot issue in the near future. The press has long depended on advertising, advertising accounts for 80%-95% of the press's revenue. However, since 2016, for the first time, revenue from readers has exceeded revenue from advertising - this is the development trend of editorial offices. “ In 2012, when we started researching online newspaper fees, it showed that if 10 million people read for free and sell advertising, the editorial office would earn a certain amount of money, but that amount of money would not be easy to increase. But when the editorial office has 10,000 paying people, we try to increase it to 20,000, 30,000, then this story will be very feasible in the context of declining advertising. Reader fees are a very important pillar in the journalism economy. Agencies like the Vietnam Journalists Association will support in disseminating knowledge, besides, press agencies must also proactively find their own path, ” said Mr. Minh.

Many experts say that Vietnamese press is developing very strongly, everything the world has, Vietnam has. Especially in the field of electronic newspapers, there are newspapers using modern technology, producing diverse content, not inferior to foreign press agencies. However, according to Mr. Le Quoc Minh, Vietnamese press is standing at a very important turning point, if it does not grasp the digital transformation process, it will quickly fall behind. At that time, the press will lose readers, not be able to carry out the mission of propagating the Party and State's guidelines and policies - there will be no advertising and no order mechanism from State agencies. " Grasping new technology trends, applying many ways to generate revenue, Vietnamese press will overcome the turning point to enter a new era - the era of digital press " - Mr. Le Quoc Minh affirmed.

Phan Hoa Giang

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/khi-tri-tue-nhan-tao-bung-no-bao-chi-dang-dung-o-buoc-ngoat-rat-lon-post261712.html