Obianuju Nwabueze Obianuju
Journalists must keep human judgment, truth, and professional ethics at the center of their work, even as artificial intelligence reshapes how news gets made.
This charge was made yesterday at a training in Lagos organized by The Press Society, themed “Ethics, Credibility and Public Trust in the AI Era.”
The session was led by Lekan Otufodunrin, Executive Director of the Media Career Development Network, who walked participants through both the promise and the pitfalls of AI in the newsroom. Otufodunrin acknowledged that AI tools have made news production faster, cheaper, and in some ways more creative, but warned that they come with real dangers from factual hallucinations and fabricated quotes to biased datasets, deepfakes, and copyright disputes.
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“AI has not abolished the old ethics; it has made them more important,” he told participants, insisting that no matter how advanced technology gets, ethical judgment must remain a human responsibility.
He also touched on the regulatory landscape guiding journalism in Nigeria, referencing the Code of Ethics for Nigerian Journalists and the Nigerian Broadcasting Code. According to him, long-standing principles such as accuracy, fairness, privacy, editorial independence, and public interest—are still the strongest defense against misinformation and the erosion of public trust, AI or nothing.
The workshop wrapped up with a reminder to certified journalists to hold the line on professional standards, both online and off, to protect the credibility the press still depends on.
