In the rapid emergence of artificial intelligence technologies, there is the rise of celebrity-journalists, who work for their pockets, limelight, and the ever rising trend of citizen journalists, in various forms, from the so-called social media influencers to social media content creators, and the traditional citizen journalists. These developments have generated intense debate about the future of journalism, often framed as a binary struggle between skeptics, who warn of the erosion of professional standards, and utopians, who celebrate technological disruption as inherently democratic and liberating. In reality, the future of news is unfolding somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. Rather than displacing professional journalism, digital networks, artificial intelligence, and citizen participation are enabling the emergence of a new and enriched form of journalism, one grounded in collaboration, distributed intelligence, and shared public purpose.
skeptics, who warn of the erosion of professional standards
At the institutional level, traditional journalism is no longer the sole gatekeeper of information. Social media influencers, content creators, and citizen journalists now participate actively in news production, often reaching audiences more rapidly and directly than legacy media organisations. This shift has unsettled long-standing professional hierarchies and raised ethical concerns about credibility, accountability, and motive. Celebrity-journalists, in particular, frequently operate at the intersection of journalism, entertainment, and personal branding, where the pursuit of visibility, influence, and financial reward can blur the line between public-interest reporting and self-promotion. While this trend poses clear risks, it also reflects broader changes in audience expectations and media consumption patterns that institutions can no longer ignore.
Artificial intelligence further complicates this transformation. From automated news writing and data scraping to algorithmic content distribution, machines now play a significant role in shaping what news is produced, how it is framed, and who sees it. Critics often portray AI as an existential threat to journalism, arguing that automation undermines human judgment, creativity, and ethical reasoning. However, this perspective overlooks the distinct value that machines contribute to the journalistic process. Machines bring an unprecedented capacity to count, analyse, and process vast volumes of data. This computational power enables more empirical, evidence-based reporting, enhances investigative journalism through pattern detection, and improves accuracy by reducing certain forms of human error. When used responsibly, AI has the potential to strengthen, rather than weaken, the epistemic foundations of journalism.
utopians, who celebrate technological disruption as inherently democratic and liberating
Citizens, meanwhile, contribute forms of knowledge that professional newsrooms cannot easily replicate. Through lived experience, local expertise, and real-time observation, citizen journalists provide access to perspectives and information from vantage points far beyond the reach of any single reporter or institution. In moments of crisis, protest, or community-level disruption, citizens are often the first witnesses, supplying images, testimony, and contextual insight that deepen public understanding. This participatory dimension expands journalism’s informational base and challenges elitist assumptions about who is qualified to contribute to public knowledge. At the same time, it raises ethical questions about verification, consent, and the potential spread of misinformation—questions that require professional mediation rather than outright rejection of citizen input.
It is within this complex environment that the enduring role of professional journalists becomes most apparent. Journalists bring institutional access, legal protections, and the capacity to interrogate power in ways that individual citizens and automated systems cannot. More importantly, they bring a disciplined methodology: the ability to dig beneath surface claims, to triangulate sources, to verify information, and to translate complex findings into narratives that are intelligible and socially meaningful. This professional ethos of open-minded inquiry, skepticism, and accountability remains central to journalism’s democratic function, even as the tools and actors involved evolve.
Working in concert, machines, citizens, and journalists are not dismantling journalism but reconstituting it. The emerging model is best understood not as an existential threat to the profession, but as an organised form of collaborative intelligence. In this model, technology amplifies capacity, citizens broaden perspective, and journalists provide coherence, ethics, and verification. Together, these contributors create a form of public intelligence that is deeper, wider, and more resilient than any one actor could produce alone. The ethical challenge, therefore, is not to defend traditional journalism against change, but to recalibrate institutional norms, professional standards, and accountability mechanisms to align with this hybrid reality.
