Are you talking about AI? Well, these professors are

In April, assistant professor Angela Misri, associate professor Nicole Blanchett, and professor emerita and adjunct professor April Lindgren published their article, “‘There’s a Rule Book in my Head’: Journalism Ethics Meet A.I. in the Newsroom (external link) .”

Their research started in 2022 when the three were talking about AI and technology. Misri mentioned how it interested her that journalists were not talking about it in newsrooms.

Blanchett and Lindgren said, “We should write something about that.”

They discovered while talking to people that they were experimenting with using AI tools for journalism, but they weren’t talking to each other. “Everyone had different ideas of what AI was,” Misri said.

The group locked in on the questions of whether anyone is talking about what AI is and what the ethics are of using it, and whether they are talking to each other.

Next, they applied to the research ethics board as they were going to talk to journalists in their newsrooms.

After a long process, Misri had to switch her mindset of a journalist to a researcher to start her first research paper.

She’s used to finding sources as a journalist. “I’m not used to how much journalists don’t want to be sources themselves,” she added.

Blanchett was not surprised at how most of their sources did not want to be on the record or even participate in their paper.

She referenced an earlier paper (external link)  of hers that explores the challenges researchers face in connecting with journalists for their work.

The team experienced similar challenges mentioned in the paper about how newsrooms are generally too under-resourced to talk.

“There's such a limited time for them to do their work and to have someone come in and be like, ‘Hey, spend some more time that you don't have talking to me,’” Blanchett added.

She explained that there can also be a lack of understanding about the relevance academic work can have in newsrooms, which could improve the practice, or the other side of the table with concerned management and how the information can be misconstrued.

After contacting, being rejected and accepted and contacting again, the team ended up with 13 people on the record out of all the people they chased and consulted with.

The team discovered there was no consistency between the newsrooms' policies, between staff and transparency with their audiences.

“That's why the title of the paper is ‘There's a rule book in my head,’ Misri said. “Because we talked to several journalists who said, ‘I don't need to talk to people about this. There's a rule book in my head. I got the ethics; I'm good.’”

While solutions to the lack of consistency didn’t appear in the group's two-year research window, they did notice more guidance on the topic starting to appear from industry leaders.

Misri said she began to see blog posts from leaders like Brodie Fenlon (external link)  at CBC starting the conversation on promising not to create things with AI without a human involved, and mentioning it when they do use AI.

“He put some guidelines out there…but we didn’t hear any large solutions from anyone,” Misri said.

Misri said she is creating a process to help students in her masthead course, On The Record (OTR), identify what AI tools they used for their work and to be transparent with their readers about how AI was involved.

Lindgren was interested in how AI could be a blessing and a curse for local newsrooms and intrigued by the paper idea and by Misri’s template for AI usage in media.

“I think the experiment that Professor Misri is doing in OTR has the potential to be helpful for local newsrooms, once we understand how it works.”

If a student has an AI software that they want to use, Misri says she will be open to discussing it with her students and possibly adding it to her AI user template.

Misri added, “Let's see if it will make good journalism and if it will sit along that ethical line of helping you, as opposed to doing the work for you.”