A former Commissioner for Information in Rivers State, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, has warned against over reliance on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in journalism, especially during investigations.
She gave the warning at a two-day capacity building workshop organised by Step-Up for Women In Journalism Initiative (SWIJ) in Port Harcourt.
Mrs Ibim advised that while journalists can employ AI to enhance their jobs, they should not make it a replacement for the brain and critical thinking.
She emphasised the need for journalists, especially women, to regularly and consciously invest and develop themselves so as to remain abreast with the changing technology.
The former Acting Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) MD noted that with feminist intuition women are crafted to be better investigative journalists but regretted that they are not utilising it to reach the peak of their career.
On her part, Elizabeth Aduku, a member of Common Ground Journalism Forum and Development Partner with Foundation for Partnership Initiative in the Niger Delta (PIND), stressed the need for journalists to understand digital tools and their uses.
Speaking on ‘Utilising Social Media Tools For Community Peace Building’ she maintained that journalists must be conflict sensitive while using social media tools for their reports.
She further opined that journalists must develop fact-checking skills to always verify videos and pictures to avoid spreading false stories that could lead to conflict and listed Verify, Messaging, and Mapping as some of the tools.
The Executive Director of Step-up for Women in Journalism Initiative, (SWIJ), Ann Godwin, stated that thriving career is not just built on academic qualifications and experience but on emotional intelligence, emotional maturity and ability to connect.
She posited that setting career targets, positive mindset, self-care, learning from past experiences as well as handling issues and challenges with maturity, are some of the ways that can lead to career development, and urged female journalists to embrace emotional intelligence.
Meanwhile, the Executive Director of Media Career Development Network (MCDN), Lekan Otufodunrin, while speaking on ‘Career Check’, stressed the need for journalists to regularly check up on their career and update their documents. The training which was in partnership with the Common Ground Journalism Forum, funded by the European Union with support from Search for Common Ground Nigeria, Nigeria, the Nigerian Union of Journalists and Media Career Development Network (MCDN) had ‘Career Advancement Amid Evolving Dynamics’ as its theme.
