The Mix 2025: AI’s emerging role in media
By Lily Check (Salem High School), Nolan Sullivan (Green Hope High School) and Sophia Yurko (Community School of Naples)
This summer, Emily Gessner, an editor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s The Daily Tar Heel, had concerns about an article a reporter submitted.
“It just did not sound like her previous writing, and instead something that had been copied and pasted directly into a Google Doc,” Gessner said.
She said she has already seen AI used in an undisclosed or nontransparent way for reporting within this respected students news organization, which she said has led to strikes against the staffer. “For any writing class, (writers) aren’t gonna use AI for writing, so the same thing goes for the paper. We’re not gonna expect anything less,” said Gessner on the standards of The Daily Tar Heel.
Gessner is among a much larger group of people who distrust and disapprove of the undisclosed or uncontrolled use of AI. An increasing number of people have reported feeling concerned about AI’s growing role in media, journalism and daily life, according to a 2024 Pew Research study.
While AI has been a topic of concern for some, its capabilities are only improving, and its role in society continues to grow, according to the Pew study. Nonetheless, while people are concerned about robots taking over, and specifically the future of creative work, AI might not be entirely negative.
Is AI negatively contributing to the already-declining field of journalism?
Regarded as a tool for information analysis, coding, writing, sourcing ideas, connections and other tools a journalist might need, AI fails to account for one key part: the journalists themselves. The decline in journalism noticed in recent years is related to audience and advertising declines that predate Generative AI’s prominence. And, while it might play a part, there are larger issues that overshadow AI, such as private market failure, according to technology magazine Fast Company.
Evan Fekete, sports editor for Green Hope High School’s news site The Green Hope Falcon said: “I think people that appreciate the quality of journalism will not resort to AI sources for their news.” He acknowledged that AI could cause a decline, but added, “While [journalism] might not have as large of an audience as before, I don’t think that AI is the sole reason for the decline.”
AI news sources could become a relevant well of information, but as Fekete succinctly stated, people want quality information gathered by real people, not AI sources.
Are AI capabilities better than those of real-life journalists?
Artificial Intelligence can be utilized by journalists to enhance the medium in which they write. From drafting the first outline of an article to predicting future journalistic trends, and having access to an entire database of additional vocabulary and information, many people share the sentiment that AI possesses heightened capabilities over newsroom writers.
The DTH’s Gessner explained that when AI-produced content and capacities are favored over genuine journalistic material, “Sometimes it feels a bit like a slap in the face, like you can’t think on your own.”
“Some writers use (AI) as an outline or to help generate a lead, but it is not as good. I can tell that (AI) is not as good as your typical ‘writer,’” Gessner said. To writers, she then posed a question: “Why would you even want your name on (AI generated stories)?”
As generative AI models can only draw on previously known information, it cannot replace the humility, humanistic outlook and reporting skills that journalists use to uncover previously unreported information about prominent issues and topics in their community, especially those of a socio-economic nature.
Is AI entirely detrimental to the journalism industry?
While AI has often been portrayed as negative, it isn’t all bad. Newsrooms are using it as a tool to find resources, create ideas or even suggest headlines or hooks, serving as a source of inspiration in the creative process. Investigative reporters also use machine learning and generative AI models to analyze large public data sets or code data visualizations.
And, while journalists don’t think AI is necessarily negative to the field, they say that it should be used sparingly and by no means be used to create entire articles or stories.
Gessner, who doesn’t use it herself, did admit that she could see the uses: “Classes can use AI to find ideas and headlines for public relations. In general, I avoid it. I don’t love when people use it, and I don’t think it makes sense; you should be able to write yourself.”
“The GH Falcon’s” Fekete gave a similar view and discussed that, “Real journalism is an art that AI just can’t replace. AI doesn’t compare to the human ability to captivate readers.”
Fekete also acknowledged the positives: “AI can benefit journalists through generating ideas for articles to begin with, or help guide them in the right direction.”