This study explores the evolving landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI) integration in Mumbai’s newsrooms, focusing on current practices, ethical challenges, and the shifting dynamics of journalistic leadership. It examines how AI tools are transforming editorial workflows, decision-making, and media education, highlighting tensions between technological efficiency and human judgment (Carlson, 2020 et al.,). The need for this research stems from limited empirical data on AI use in Indian newsrooms, despite the technology’s rapid global uptake. As Mumbai serves as a key media hub, this study investigates how journalists and media students are responding to AI’s promises and perils, particularly in ethical, professional, and educational contexts. The research draws on Technological Mediation Theory (Verbeek, 2011) to frame how AI adoption is shaped by social contexts, newsroom cultures, and normative values. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study surveyed 48 journalists using a research tool designed and developed for the purpose of the study and conducted focus groups with 18 participants across nine media outlets. Results reveal varying perceptions of AI usage ranging from enhanced productivity to ethical concerns over job displacement and content authenticity. Senior and junior journalists differ in their evaluations, reflecting generational divides in leadership and adaptation. The findings indicate cautious but growing AI adoption in Mumbai media. The study contributes to global debates on AI and journalism, advocating for ethical leadership, digital literacy, and inclusive engagement to ensure media integrity and peace-oriented communication in an AI-driven world.

Authors:
Mathew Martin Poothullil, University of Mumbai, India
Jerry Joseph Onampally, University of Mumbai, India

About the Presenter(s)
Name: P J MATHEW MARTIN PhD, Senior Visiting Faculty Department of Communication and Journalism, University of Mumbai, India and Guru Nanak College, Mumbai, India. Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at CCD-HumES, Orebro University, Sweden, V Joint Secretary, Indian Sign Language Interpreter Association, India.

Connect on Linkedin
https://dcjmumbai.mu.ac.in/mathew-martin.html

Connect on ResearchGate
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pjmathew-Martin

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