Is Fear Born of Ignorance? Associations Between Journalists’ AI Attitudes, Knowledge, and Use

Sabus, Sorsha; Thurman, Neil und Thäsler-Kordonouri, Sina : Is Fear Born of Ignorance? Associations Between Journalists’ AI Attitudes, Knowledge, and Use. The Joint Computation + Journalism European Data & Computational Journalism Conference 2025, Athens, Greece, 08.09.2025 - 10.09.2025.

Abstract

The increasing implementation of AI in journalism is prompting both positive and negative reactions among practitioners. Some studies suggest that these attitudes might be linked to journalists’ AI use. However, because such conclusions are based mostly on qualitative data, it is difficult to determine the direct relationship between AI attitudes and use. Therefore, using a broadly representative sample of UK journalists and drawing on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), this study investigates how journalists’ AI knowledge, personality trait of openness, and extent of AI integration in their newsroom are associated with their perceptions of AI as both an opportunity and a threat. Conversely, we also investigate to what extent these perceptions about AI are associated with individual AI adoption. The findings show that both AI knowledge and the extent of newsroom AI integration significantly and positively predict journalists’ perception of AI as an opportunity. Newsroom integration is also associated with a reduction in the perception of AI as a threat. Openness was not significantly associated with attitudes towards AI. Furthermore, perceiving AI as an opportunity strongly and positively predicts individual AI adoption. The findings highlight journalists’ dialectical thinking about AI and underscore the importance of exposure and education in fostering positive perceptions and further AI integration in journalism.

• Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
• Keywords: Human-centered computing; Human computer interaction (HCI); Empirical studies in HCI
• Faculties: Social Sciences > Department of Communications and Media (IfKW) > Research Papers > Journalism
• Subjects: 000 Computer science, information and general works > 000 Computer science, knowledge, and systems; 000 Computer science, information and general works > 070 News media, journalism and publishing; 300 Social sciences > 300 Social sciences, sociology and anthropology; 600 Technology > 600 Technology
• Language: English