As the news industry struggles with funding shortfalls, layoffs, declining trust and rapidly changing technology, journalists — from freelancers to newsroom leaders — have professional and financial security top of mind. In a recent IJNet Crisis Reporting Forum session, Muck Rack Editorial Director Andrew Mercier and Ajor Executive Manager Samanta do Carmo discussed how journalists can keep afloat and thrive in an increasingly uncertain professional environment.
Since ChatGPT was released to the public in November 2022, generative artificial intelligence (AI) has dominated the public’s attention. The rapidly evolving technology is already impacting industries such as education, travel and government. The media won’t be spared.
At Media Party Chicago, a conference exploring the intersection of artificial intelligence and journalism, attendees debated and learned about the opportunities and dangers of AI. Ethics experts proposed frameworks for responsible use of powerful new technologies, developers taught journalists how to use AI to bring customized content to their readers and reporters wrestled with how to maintain audiences’ trust while AI-aided disinformation abounds.
Himanshu Kumar runs a non-governmental organization in Chhattisgarh district, where Knight International Fellow Shubhranshu Choudhary has created a mobile phone news network called CGnet Swara. When Kumar heard from colleagues who described a brutal police attack on several villages, he filed a report using his cell phone. He alleged the police had killed two people and raped five women.
A website promoting international technology projects that increase government transparency, the Technology for Transparency Network, highlights Knight Fellow Shubhranshu Choudhary's project, CGNet Swara - a mobile news network that enables tribes in Chattisgarh, India, to report on local issues. The website features an audio interview and its transcript with Choudhary discussing his goals for the project.
The Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW) website features a radio broadcast about Knight Fellow Shubhranshu Choudhary's mobile news network, CGNet Swara, which provides a new form of news gathering for tribal populations in central India. The broadcast story contains input from Choudhary explaining the evolution and necessity of the project.
In a remote region of central India, a citizen journalist reached for a cell phone recently, and with the push of a few buttons filed a report to a mobile phone news service developed by Knight International Journalism Fellow Shubhranshu Choudhary. The story was about school workers going unpaid for more than a year, and included contact information for the education secretary.
Once it was confirmed and approved by professionals, the story was made available publicly. Subscribers to the news service got a prompt on their own cell phones that a new story had been posted.
Indian magazine Hardnews features Knight Fellow Shubhranshu Choudhary's fellowship project, CGNet Swara, a mobile news network that lends a voice to tribals in rural India. The piece highlights an event where the network received a tip alleging police murdered two Maoist in cold blood, a report contradictory to the police's report that the rebels were armed with a pistol and bombs.
