Evaluating concerns that technology and artificial intelligence could become a threat to journalists, Prof. Dr. Süleyman İrvan stated that journalism is one of the professions directly affected by technology. Prof. Dr. İrvan said, “There is always a need for good journalists and good journalism to convey the developments that occur.”
Dean of Üsküdar University Faculty of Communication, Prof. Dr. Süleyman İrvan, evaluated whether technological advancements and artificial intelligence would replace journalists.
With the internet, journalism became a profession with 24/7 news reporting
Prof. Dr. Süleyman İrvan stated that journalism is one of the professions directly affected by technology, and continued as follows:
On news websites, the daily number of news items reaches thousands…
“The development of printing technology positively affected newspaper circulations and also made higher quality newspaper printing possible. With computers and the internet, journalism transformed into a profession with 24/7 news reporting. While a daily newspaper publishes an average of 100 news items per day, this number reaches thousands on news websites.”
Robot journalists produce faster and more accurate news in some areas
Prof. Dr. İrvan, drawing attention to robot journalists who found application opportunities particularly in the American media in the recent past, reminded that there was talk of the threat this posed to reporters.
Noting that robot journalists continue to produce financial news, weather news, earthquake news, and sports news in newspapers like the New York Times, Prof. Dr. İrvan stated, “In some areas, they can produce news faster and more accurately than journalists. Therefore, there is no need to worry from a journalistic perspective; in fact, it can even be said to be a positive development when viewed from the perspective of society's need for information and news.”
Copy-paste editors will become jobless
Prof. Dr. İrvan also made an assessment regarding whether some journalists would lose their jobs as artificial intelligence finds more areas of use, and said, “They might... For example, editors who practice copy-paste journalism, a very common practice in Turkey, might become jobless, and perhaps they should. There is no need for a 'human journalist' to copy and paste a published news item. Reporters who create news from published reports might also become jobless.”
On the other hand, Prof. Dr. İrvan emphasized that artificial intelligence applications like ChatGPT cannot find certain topics and report on them, and concluded his words by saying, “That's why good journalists are needed. Good journalism is also needed to convey the developments related to an event or topic.”