Journalists’ Awareness, Use, and Perceived Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Newsroom Productivity in Selected Television Houses in Abuja

Abstract

This study examined journalists’ awareness, use, and perceived impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on newsroom productivity in selected television houses in Abuja, Nigeria. The study was anchored on Mediamorphosis Theory and adopted a mixed-methods research design, comprising a descriptive survey and qualitative in-depth interviews. Quantitative data were collected through a structured questionnaire administered to 136 journalists, while qualitative data were obtained through semi-structured interviews with six purposively selected Heads of News and Editors from the selected television houses. Quantitative data were analysed using frequencies, percentages, mean scores, and grand means, while qualitative data were analysed thematically. The two datasets were integrated through a joint display matrix to establish areas of convergence, complementarity, and divergence. The findings revealed generally high awareness of selected AI tools, although awareness and usage varied across applications. AI tools were mainly used for content generation, transcription, fact-checking, data processing, and other routine newsroom activities. Journalists generally perceived AI as having a positive influence on news reporting and newsroom productivity, particularly in relation to timeliness, accuracy, quality, efficiency, and productivity. The findings further indicated that AI-enabled personalisation and digital distribution were perceived to influence audience news consumption and engagement. However, significant challenges were identified, including inadequate technical skills, limited structured training, infrastructural deficiencies, ethical concerns, misinformation, privacy and security risks, implementation costs, and concerns about job security. Qualitative findings reinforced the quantitative results, particularly regarding AI’s contribution to faster newsroom workflows and the continuing importance of human editorial oversight. The study concludes that AI is transforming rather than replacing professional journalism in Abuja television newsrooms. recommends regular AI capacity-building programmes, clear editorial guidelines for responsible AI use, investment in digital infrastructure, and institutional mechanisms for human verification, accountability, and ethical oversight of AI-assisted news production.