Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Journalism in Nigeria: Practitioner Perspectives

This study examines Nigerian journalism practitioners' understanding of, attitudes toward, and experiences with artificial intelligence tools in journalistic work, providing an empirical foundation for understanding the trajectory of AI adoption in one of Africa's most important media markets. AI tools including automated content generation, social media monitoring, fact-checking assistance, and audience analytics are transforming journalism globally, but their penetration and implications in the Nigerian context have not been studied. This study employs a qualitative research design combining in-depth interviews with 35 journalists, editors, digital producers, and journalism educators from Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Enugu, and Port Harcourt, representing print, broadcast, and digital media. Interviews explore current AI tool use, perceived benefits and risks, ethical concerns, employment anxiety, and views on Nigerian journalism's AI readiness. A content analysis of 10 Nigerian news platforms' technology adoption footprint supplements interviews. Findings reveal that AI tool adoption in Nigerian journalism is nascent but growing, concentrated primarily in social media monitoring, content distribution analytics, and limited automated alert systems. Editorial staff show moderate enthusiasm for efficiency-enhancing AI applications but strong anxiety about job displacement and AI-generated misinformation risk. Journalism educators are less prepared for AI pedagogy than practitioners are for AI practice. Ethical concerns about AI-generated content transparency, bias in training data, and corporate data monopoly are raised by experienced journalists. The study contributes an original practitioner perspective study and recommends AI ethics guidelines for Nigerian journalism and integration of AI tools and critical evaluation into journalism education curricula.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, journalism, Nigeria, AI adoption, future of news.