Investigating Robot Journalism, National Security and the Future of Military-Media Relations in Nigeria

Abstract

Emerging and disruptive technologies have had indubitable impact on journalism; from the print to radio, to television. The use of artificial intelligence has become a part of the industry’s toolbox. A computer programme, such as Heliograf was able to generate 300 news articles when it was launched to cover the Rio Olympics while Automated Insights’s Wordsmith, creates 1.5 billion articles per year. Premised on the foregoing, this paper sought to examine how algorithmic journalism, an emerging development in the West, has changed the world and the future for journalism and news organizations in Nigeria. Furthermore, it did critique how this new phenomenon will construct and deconstruct the already frosty bitter-sweet military-media relations in the context of national security debates, heightened by the present issues of insurgency, civil unrest, armed banditry and separatist agitations bedevilling the nation. The paper was sectionalized into subthemes: current state of military-media relations, background on robot journalism and how the adoption can revolutionise the industry; redefining its engagement with the military, perpending the dynamics of the Nigerian media ecosystem. The study was anchored on theories of Socio-technical Systems and Media Richness. Aside structured literature review, a quantitative survey was employed, and data analysed were obtained from 200 Nigerian journalists drawn from television, radio and print outlets across all geopolitical zones. Findings show that aside vitalizing news objectivity, accuracy and urgency, pragmatic thinkers claim that AI will not replace human intelligence but rather augment it while recognising that they create mistrust and birth new twist on the clash of professional ethics from the military and journalistic viewpoints, which can delay or derail practical applications of the technology and even influence legislation counterproductively. In conclusion, it was recommended that key decision-makers in the national security sphere and news agencies must intentionally deescalate the hostility between the media principle of “the right to know” versus the military believe in “the need to know”, while mitigating other forces hampering the optimal adoption of automated technology such as organisational culture, technological infrastructure and legislations.