Perception, Acceptance Or Resistance of Artificial Intelligence Among Journalists in Nigeria

Like every known world innovation, the advent of artificial intelligence and its rapid intrusion into the everyday life of humans has left many on their toes. AI is gradually, if not rapidly changing the way journalists gather, edit and disseminate news stories. From research to sourcing to news writing, AI has greatly influenced what is needed to run a contemporary newsroom. To ascertain the perception and adoption of artificial intelligence tools by journalists in Nigeria, this study utilised online surveys targeting journalists working in digital, print, or broadcast media outlets across the country. From the population of 15,000 journalists registered with the Nigerian Union of Journalists, a sample size of 390 was determined using the Taro Yamane formula. The researcher identified at least one journalist from popular newsrooms across the country who helped as research assistants to share the online questionnaire with their colleagues. Anchored on the Diffusion of Innovation, and Mediamorphosis theories, the study found among other things that majority of journalists believe that AI plays an important positive role in making the journalistic process easier. Also, journalists in Nigeria are not resistant to using AI tools for their work, rather they are either neutral or open-minded to the benefits of AI tools in the journalism practice. Above all, the study found that journalists in Nigeria are not bothered about AI taking over their jobs but are rather worried about how it will negatively impact the quality of news coverage and ethics of journalism practice.
KEYWORDS: Acceptance, resistance, perception, adoption, artificial intelligence, automation, robot-journalism, journalists