In recent years, the journalism industry globally has been completely disrupted by the use of algorithms to automatically generate news from structured data. Recent advancements in AI, automated news, robotics, and camera drones present both opportunities and threats to the journalism profession, especially in Nigeria. Anchored on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Social Responsibility Media Theory as its theoretical framework, the study adopted an integrative literature review method to examine the subject matter under investigation. This study therefore investigates whether automated and drone journalism in Nigeria is a blessing or a curse. Consequently, using the two (2) dominant frames of news automation—optimistic “machine liberates man” and pessimistic “man versus machine” frames—the study established that automated and drone journalism provides endless possibilities for generating a huge number of stories in several languages in a remarkably short amount of time, enabling management personnel to increase profit margins while simultaneously reducing production costs. However, this development raises ethical concerns on accuracy, transparency, bias, safety, and privacy. It was also found that if these technologies eventually result in the progressive removal of such rank-and-file employment, algorithms cannot replace the void left by human journalists, as algorithms are restricted in their capacity to monitor society and perform other important journalistic responsibilities such as public orientation, public opinion creation, and establishing causation. Hence, the study recommends that journalists improve their capacity and adopt the “man-machine marriage” where journalists, AI, news automation, and robotics will integrate and work very closely, thereby forming a mutually beneficial relationship in such a way that algorithms will analyse data, find interesting stories, and provide a first draft, which journalists will then enrich with more flesh, investigative and in-depth analyses, and fact-checking by interviewing key people.
PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES OF AUTOMATED AND DRONE JOURNALISM IN NIGERIA, 2024, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 12-24. PDF