Journalists from Public Service Media Explored the Role of AI in Combating Disinformation

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into daily fact-checking in newsrooms was the area on which 19 journalists and media professionals honed their skills at the workshop “Content Verification and Usage of AI by Public Service Media”, which the Institute of Communication Studies (ICS) conducted on September 24 and 25 in Skopje.

Participants gained practical advice on identifying disinformation and skills to distinguish facts from fabricated fictions in today’s media environment. Through hands-on examples, they were introduced to deepfakes, voice cloning and manipulated photos. Using AI tools, they explored how false information can spread across digital platforms and from prominent politicians and other sources, highlighting the challenges journalists face in handling, particularly during breaking news situations. The sessions covered past disinformation campaigns during major incidents and accidents and the challenges media outlets encounter when reporting on such events.

The workshop emphasized the potential of AI as a friendly and useful tool for content production in public media services and the ethical implications of AI in content creation, aggregation, and distribution. The journalists were encouraged to integrate AI into their daily work.

The workshop was conducted by Teodor Marjanović, a journalist in the International News Desk of Czech Television and Oldrich Boruvka, Head of the Social Media Department at Czech Television, who shared insights into the daily use of AI at the Czech public broadcaster and its strong fact-checking processes across various departments.

ICS conducted the workshop as part of the project “Use Facts, supported by the British Embassy in Skopje.