Artificial intelligence (AI), an innovative tool and a new challenge, AI has already begun to impose itself on journalism education. This study analyzes how AI is being employed in journalism curricula nowadays at two Turkish public universities: Ankara University and Istanbul University. Through the analysis of syllabi and a detailed interview with a teacher of journalism, the study confirms that AI has yet to be comprehensively incorporated into journalism education. The findings reveal that while both universities address digital transition, clear mentions of AI are not common. Daily use and practical exposure to AI tools do not exist. As per the analysis, the study emphasizes the need for restructuring education in journalism in Turkey to incorporate AI literacy, vocational skills, and ethics.
Learning in journalism is worth it to acquire ideas and concepts regarding professional journalistic standards and theoretical knowledge and technicalities of journalism. As Josephi (2020) clarifies, the literature teaching journalism clearly reveals attempts at bridging the theory and practice. Other than these similarities, it is only natural that journalism education would change over time and geographically. Computer-assisted journalism has been controversial in journalism and journalism education for some time. AI represents a new field of study in journalism education. It is often placed among online, mobile, and data journalism as new skills and capabilities. AI is a current buzzword in journalism education despite there having been decades of debate and scholarship in the field, and is tied with debates about new approaches, including machine-based acquisition of large data sets, and new competencies required, such as coding (Jaakkola, 2023a). Digitalization challenges and how it is framed in journalism education remains contentious.
AI holds the capability of making a profound and extensive impact in journalism production and consumption. The three main objectives of using AI are reported to be improving the effectiveness of the company, providing users with more suitable content, and simplifying journalists' work better (Beckett, 2019). It is predicted that the next decade of the media industry will be rocked by the next wave of technological disruption brought by AI-driven automation, big data, and new visual and voice interfaces. It is realized that AI is being used in news gathering, transcription, machine translation, and speech-to-text text-to-speech. It is believed that AI is opening up new opportunities. Media outlets and business publications such as Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal have used AI to create headlines about corporate earnings in real-time (Newman, 2020). It is largely discussed in terms of opportunities of AI in journalism (Caswell, 2023). Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed journalism by enabling rapid production of content, improved analysis of data, and personalized audience engagement. But along with these advances come issues, such as ethical implications, potential for spread of disinformation, and the potential for industry job displacement. Journalism education, under the responsibility of preparing students to cope with the possibilities of an AI-driven media universe, lags behind in assimilating these technologies into curriculum. As Beckett (2024) notes, while AI offers opportunities to improve journalism work, poor training in the use of generative AI tools and a lack of knowledge about their implications become key barriers for future journalists. Closing these gaps will make journalism education modern, which will provide students with technical skillset and ethical methodologies to match the evolving world.
Journalists believe they have an obligation to adopt AI technologies early on, whether or not the technologies are used in the workplace by management through algorithmic control, monitoring of workers, or replacing jobs. Thus, The Pulitzer Center has formally introduced The AI Spotlight Series, a new training program with an objective to train 1000 journalists in the next two years on how to perform AI accountability reporting. For the purpose of explaining fundamental AI concepts to non-tech beat reporters, the first "Introduction to AI reporting" workshop brought together over 40 reporters at the University of California, Berkeley on April 21, 2024 (Deck, 2024). One can see that this new training program of seminars and short courses is an augmentation of journalism education.
The present paper analyzes how the theory and practice of AI are being implemented in education in Ankara University and Istanbul University in Turkey. These two institutions were selected since they happen to be two of the oldest schools to provide communication studies. Through a document analysis of undergraduate journalism programs and an in-depth interview with a journalism professor, the study probes if the courses are keeping pace with online journalism trends and adapting to the AI-manipulated news landscape as well as possible. It also assesses if journalism school is getting ahead of technological advancements and how students are being equipped for the challenges of a technologically evolving profession. Finally, the paper identifies the most crucial strengths and weaknesses in current curricula and evaluates how well they align with international standards in incorporating AI
