Elevating Local Journalism in the Age of AI

AI is increasingly becoming a powerful support tool, contributing to improving content quality, as well as supporting data analysis, enhancing social impact for newsrooms. Currently, the application of technology in general and AI in particular is being deployed by many press agencies across the country.

Powerful virtual assistant for modern newsrooms

AI is becoming an increasingly important support tool in modern newsrooms. AI not only assists journalists in their daily work, but also opens up new opportunities for the journalism industry.

Trainees were awarded certificates of completion of the training course on Organizing production and distribution of content - videos at a multi-platform newsroom held in Dong Nai in April 2025. Photo: Ha Le

Expert Bung Tran, Vice President of AI Education Group, commented that AI - especially Generative AI like Gemini, is creating a real revolution in the journalism industry. For press agencies in general and local press in particular, this is both a great opportunity and a big challenge.

In terms of opportunities, AI helps optimize production processes. AI can become a powerful "virtual assistant" for reporters and editors. This tool helps to transcribe interviews, translate, summarize long texts, quickly search for information, and even suggest attractive headlines and sapos. Thereby, freeing up time for journalists to focus on tasks that require deeper thinking such as in-depth interviews, investigations, and analysis.

According to many experts, AI will support multimedia content creation. With limited resources, local newspapers can leverage AI to quickly create multimedia products from scripting short news videos, creating infographics from data, to writing social media posts suitable for each platform to increase interaction.

In addition, AI also supports data analysis and audience understanding. For example, AI can analyze data about reader behavior on websites, applications, and social networks. From there, the newsroom can better understand what topics local readers are interested in, what types of content are popular, and when news is most accessed. This is a "gold mine" for orienting content to closely follow the actual needs of the community.

Deputy Head of the Electronic Department of Nhan Dan Newspaper Nguyen Hoang Nhat emphasized that in the past, we had a familiar saying: "The greatest weapon of a journalist is the pen". Now, journalists have many other powerful "weapons" to tell their stories, which are AI tools. Thanks to AI, journalists can do many things that we have never done before, or that are difficult to do.

For example, data analysis for investigative reporting, charting, graphics, podcasting, video editing, etc. Thanks to AI, local press agencies can narrow the technology gap with press agencies in big cities, if we have the right and fast approach.

Deputy Head of the Electronic Department of Nhan Dan Newspaper NGUYEN HOANG NHAT expressed that Dong Nai Newspaper is a typical example for local press agencies in applying modern tools to contribute to improving the newspaper with many quality multimedia press works.

Giving Local Journalism a Different Look with AI

Along with the opportunities and benefits, AI also brings many challenges to journalism. Accessing advanced AI tools and training staff to use them effectively requires both financial and time investment. This is a significant barrier for many local press agencies.

Journalist Nguyen Hoang Nhat commented that when AI floods newsrooms, many people are worried about the so-called “AI swamp”, referring to low-quality products created with AI. To fully utilize the potential of AI, the first thing newsrooms and press agencies need is an open attitude to accept new things. If we are afraid and hesitant about modern tools, it means we are slow, because technology changes very quickly.

However, the editorial office also needs to set specific regulations on the use of AI in the process of producing press products, set clear boundaries so that the use of AI does not violate press ethics, and accept and learn from the experiences of major editorial offices around the world as well as in Vietnam.

Some infographic products and multimedia press products are posted on Dong Nai Newspaper's digital platforms. Photo: Hai Quan

Similarly, according to Mr. Bung Tran, the biggest challenge when applying AI in the field of media and journalism is to ensure accuracy and reliability. Applying AI can create inaccurate information or "hallucinations". Therefore, the role of journalists in verification is not only not lost but also becomes more important than ever. AI is only a supporting tool, journalists must be the ones ultimately responsible for the authenticity of the information.

The second issue is ethics and copyright. The use of AI-generated content raises questions about copyright and originality. Newsrooms need to develop clear ethical guidelines on when and how AI can be used, and whether or not it should be noted to readers. There is also a risk of “uniformizing” content when relying too much on AI with generic prompts, and the content of newspapers can become similar, lacking identity and unique perspectives - which are the strengths of local journalism.

Mr. Bung Tran commented that the most urgent issue for local press today is to change the mindset and improve the capacity of the team. No matter how modern the technology is, it is just a tool. The deciding factor for success or failure is the user.

If the newsroom and the team of reporters and editors are still afraid that AI will replace them, or see it as a "magic wand" that can do everything without verification, then all investments in technology will be wasted. Therefore, the most urgent thing is to build a new mindset, seeing AI as an intelligent assistant, a co-creative partner. From there, equip the team with the necessary skills to master this tool.

“AI can support reporters and editors in exploiting local in-depth topics such as: supporting the analysis of large provincial data sets (for example: socio-economic data, planning data, etc.) to find trends, contributing to creating in-depth, unique and local analytical articles” - expert Bung Tran expressed.

Journalist Nguyen Hoang Nhat added that AI will help us strengthen our connection with readers and interact with them better. By analyzing reader data, we will understand who our readers are. In addition to connecting with readers, we need to connect between our own publications. New technology applications have created conditions for us to connect physical print publications with digital publications, following the phygital trend (integrating physical and digital elements to create a more diverse and rich experience for readers and viewers).

“That is also how Nhan Dan newspaper has succeeded with its recent media campaigns on the occasion of major national holidays. I think that is also a way that local newspapers can learn from, because the trend of localization, highlighting the unique values of the locality is what makes the difference” - journalist Nguyen Hoang Nhat shared.

Expert BUNG TRAN, Vice President of AI Education Group, shared: “I believe that AI is a strong driving force for journalism, especially local journalism, to develop and serve the community better. The key lies in mastering technology with an open mind, a sense of responsibility and always putting human values, the core values of journalism first. No matter what tools are used, the tone, perspective and core values of the press agency, including Dong Nai Newspaper, still need to be maintained. That is the strongest connection with loyal readers.”

Navy

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/chuyen-doi-so/202506/nang-tam-bao-chi-dia-phuong-trong-ky-nguyen-ai-8a90533/