Artificial Intelligence is coming for journalism, or so we have heard, repeatedly. That’s the message we got in the latest MISA Zimbabwe communique after this year’s belated World Press Freedom Day commemorations.
Journalists and media stakeholders gathered under the theme: “Reporting in the Brave New World: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Press Freedom and the Media.”
They raised many valid concerns: AI’s potential to enable misinformation, steal journalists’ work, and flip the media business model on its head. They called for regulations to address these issues and for investments in local AI platforms that better reflect our culture and languages.
These are important conversations to have. But reading through the communique, I couldn’t help but feel that much of what is being said here sounds like the mainstream Western talking points around AI, just thrown onto Zimbabwe.
We need to ask, how much of this actually applies to Zimbabwe? And more importantly, are we in danger of missing the real challenges our media faces by focusing too much on AI panic?
Do note that I’m going off a tiny summary of the discussions that were had there. Naturally, it could not have captured the breadth of the discussions. That means what I’m talking about here could very well have been discussed in detail but regardless, there’s no record of it, so let’s get into it.
Business model massacre
One of the main complaints raised was that AI platforms are using journalists’ work without compensation. This is pretty much a global debate, where newsrooms in Europe and the US are suing AI companies for training on their content without payment.
But let’s be honest: in Zimbabwe, how many media outlets even have a viable licensing or paywall model to protect their content?
The harsh truth is that most news content here is already shared freely in WhatsApp groups, long before AI bots get to it. Some media houses, including our own here, already share their content to WhatsApp for free to get in front of that.
Our media business models were already on the ropes, AI just adds to the problem.
It’s easy to call for regulations to make AI companies pay, but even the EU, with far more leverage, is struggling to enforce this. Zimbabwe is unlikely to lead the way here.
Instead, local media needs to focus on what has always been the real defence: building direct relationships with audiences and creating value that people are willing to support.
Of course, none of this is particularly enjoyable and the media industry is well within its rights to feel aggrieved, but we probably won’t be able to keep AI at bay.
Misinformation: Old problem, new tools
MISA’s communique also talks about AI-generated misinformation and its impact on citizen participation. Again, a valid point in theory, but it’s not a new problem in practice.
Zimbabwean media has been battling misinformation for years, often on WhatsApp, which remains the main news distribution channel for many.
Every new wave of technology — from radio to SMS, Facebook, WhatsApp, and now AI — has simply given bad actors new ways to spread misinformation more efficiently.
But the real issue hasn’t changed. The real fight is still about helping the public know who to trust and teaching people how to recognise false information when they see it.
That means it remains a fight to build brands people can trust and improving public information literacy, regardless of what new tools bad actors use.
AI can generate fake content faster and more convincingly. But fighting that will require what has always worked, most importantly, consistent public education on how to spot fake news.
The idea of building “local AI platforms that reflect our culture and languages” sounds good on paper. But we must be realistic, this is a long and expensive path.
And it won’t, by itself, solve the main misinformation challenge, that battle must be fought through journalism itself, not through tech alone.
Regulation? Let’s be realistic
Journalists also called for “fit for purpose” new laws to tackle AI’s impact on media. While the intention is good, we must be realistic.
If even the European Union, with its sophisticated regulatory muscle, is struggling to tame global AI platforms, what chance does Zimbabwe have?
Worse, poorly designed laws could easily be used to restrict legitimate journalism in the name of fighting disinformation—something we’ve already seen.
We have seen opposition politicians arrested and charged, then sued, over social‑media criticism deemed ‘falsehoods prejudicial to the State.’
Zimbabwe’s 2021 Cyber and Data Protection law, along with new broadcasting regulations, are already problematic, because their broad definitions mean journalists and critics risk legal trouble by simply challenging power.
During the recent elections, accusations of ‘misinformation’ were thrown all over the place from both sides of the political divide. Which made them tools for silencing debate rather than tools to protect people from fake news.
So, in my humble opinion, rather than hoping new laws will protect us, we should instead focus on improving public media literacy, and helping journalists learn how to use AI ethically and effectively.
AI as an opportunity
Fortunately, one of the positives in the MISA communique was the mention of a Gweru-based journalist using AI in storytelling and encouraging others to do the same. This, to me, should have been the headline.
Local media is severely under-resourced, and AI offers struggling newsrooms exactly what they need right now: cheap ways to do more with less. Journalists could use AI to:
- Summarise long court documents and government reports
- Transcribe interviews automatically
- Analyse large datasets for investigative stories
- Translate content into local languages to reach wider audiences
Instead of focusing only on the risks, we need to be equally focused on training journalists to use AI responsibly, to improve their reporting, and to reach more Zimbabweans with credible information.
It’s a battle for survival
Zimbabwe’s media industry is fighting for survival, just like the rest of the world. AI is now part of that battlefield but we must resist the temptation to just inherit Western panic as it is.
Misinformation is not new here. Content theft is not new. The deeper challenges facing our media like financial sustainability, political interference, and public trust, will not be solved or worsened by AI alone.
The real conversation we should be having is about how we equip our journalists to fight in this AI age, and how we help them use the very tools we are afraid of to strengthen their work.
That is the conversation worth having. At least that’s my opinion on the matter.
Leave a Reply