It has now become commonplace for media to use artificial intelligence to write news. Robots routinely transform data into a story, and a story into multimedia content.

As more organizations begin to use AI, there is a need to focus on ethics and robotic newswriting.

What accuracy and transparency problems do robotic systems create? What bad scenarios do we need to worry about?

Most robot newswriting so far has been for fairly formulaic situations: company earnings reports, stock market summaries, earthquake alerts and youth sports stories.

As news organizations transition to AI, they should ask themselves some serious questions.

Here is a checklist of things to consider regarding 1) personal stories about robots, 2) news evaluation and transparency issues, and 3) pitfalls to watch out for.

MORE DETAILS YOU CAN FIND OUT AT THE PEACEMAKING WEBINARS

The School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in Central Asia announces an annual a competition among students from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, studying journalism and mass communication, law, cultural studies and anthropology, to participate in research and media monitoring projects.

Over the past six years, about 80 students have completed the research internships.

This internship is scheduled for the period from December 15, 2024 to January 25,2025.

In some cases, a student can start an internship earlier.

The internship will be carried out in a distance format or offline.

The selected interns will be trained in new analytical tools, will have access to databases and, together with the team, will conduct a few studies.

Participation in the project is a good practice, upon completion of which an internship confirmation letter will be issued. An important criterion for selecting interns is language proficiency, perseverance, attentiveness, a clear application of methodology, AI and indicators in practice, a desire to work with large amounts of information.

Topics for research this year:

Media хenophobia and hate speech (focused on local countries context)

Freedom of expression in the conflict time

Information wars and geopolitics

A motivation letter and a CV including the contacts of at least two referees should be sent to peacemakingandmediaca@gmail.com until 18:00 Bishkek time, December 6, 2024 marked "For internship".

Applications sent after this deadline will not be considered. The team does not comment on the selection methods and does not respond to letters of inquiry after the end of the call.

About the organization: The School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in Central Asia is a media

development, peace communications and freedom of expression organization focused on countering hate speech, discrimination in the media, on the Internet and public discourse. Our vision statement aims at encouraging diversity, human rights, peace fair journalism access to information and citizens making informed opinions as a means of promoting a tolerant society. Since 2011, the School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in Central Asia has

implemented nearly 30 programs focused on these activities.

Afghan women were not allowed to participate in the ongoing UN-supported meeting in Doha.

Representatives from 25 countries are attending the event. The Taliban group, which is banned in many parts of the world, has said that "women's issues are an internal Afghan affair and will be dealt with according to Sharia law".

Human rights activists and citizens criticized the UN for not inviting Afghan women to the negotiating table with the Taliban in Doha and called the approach "misguided."

Tirana Hassan, executive director of Human Rights Watch, warned that excluding women "risks legitimizing Taliban misconduct and irreparably damaging the credibility of the United Nations as a defender of women's rights".

Despite that Afghan women are half of Afghan society #Afghanistan will remain the only country in the world where women and girls are denied the right to attend school and receive an education.

Talks without women is a big problem and is giving power and legitimacy to the Taliban.

This is the third such meeting in Doha, the capital of Qatar, but the first to be attended by the Taliban. The fundamentalist group, recognized as a terrorist group in many countries, has ruled Afghanistan since terrorists seized power after the withdrawal of coalition troops in August 2021.

Activists around the world call the plight of women in Afghanistan "gender apartheid."

The School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in Central Asia joined the global action to eliminate gender apartheid and recognize it as a crime against humanity.

The International Day for Countering Hate Speech, commemorated annually on June 18th, shines a spotlight on the pressing need to address the pervasive issue of hate speech, which has become increasingly amplified in the digital era.  UN Secretary-General António Guterres delivers his special address on the International Day for Countering Hate Speech. He says that  hate speech is a marker of discrimination, abuse, violence, conflict, and even crimes against humanity.

Hate speech today targets a broad range of groups, often based on grounds of race, ethnicity, religion, belief, or political affiliation. Recent months have seen an upsurge in both antisemitic and anti-Muslim hate speech online and in public comments by influential leaders. Hate speech may be used against women, refugees, migrants, gender-diverse and trans people, and minorities. It is massively amplified by the power of digital platforms and tools that enable it to spread across borders and cultures.

States have an obligation under international law to prevent and combat incitement to hatred and to promote diversity, mutual understanding and solidarity. They must step up and implement these commitments, while ensuring that the measures they take preserve freedom of speech and protect minorities and other communities.

The United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech provides a framework to tackle both the causes and impacts of this scourge. And the United Nations is currently preparing Global Principles for Information Integrity to guide decision-makers around these issues. 

As young people are often most affected by hate speech, particularly online, young people must be part of the solution. The participation of young people, particularly girls and young women, indigenous youth, young people from minority communities, LGBTIQ youth, and young people with disabilities, is crucial to create public and online spaces free from hate speech.

Governments, local authorities, religious, corporate and community leaders have a duty to invest in measures to promote tolerance, diversity and inclusivity, and to challenge hate speech in all its forms.

As we mark the International Day for Countering Hate Speech, let us all work to promote human rights education, bring young people into democratic decision-making, and counter intolerance, discrimination, prejudice and stereotypes, wherever they are found, his message said.

Media coverage of xenophobic attacks on foreign students and migrants should have shed light on the true causes of the violence and played an important role in informing society and mitigating intolerance. However, many aspects of the context were not reflected in the media at all. Jt seems, the journalists were focused on the authorities’ reports only.

The analysis showed that the media focused on the chronology of attacks against foreigners, their beatings, robberies, referring to a viral video from the Internet showing a fight between foreign students and local youth a week ago.

Media with reference to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kyrgyzstan informed that this very video preceded the attacks on foreigners.

The violence broke out in the late hours of May 17, lasting for more than six hours, when hundreds of Kyrgyz people targeted hostels of international students, leaving more than 40 injured.

From May 19 to May 21, 2024, in breaking news, various media outlets reported that around 20 student hostels and their private residences were attacked. Foreigners from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh lived there. But the main targets of the attacks were Pakistanis.

Three days later, on May 22, another fact suddenly appeared in the media space.

With reference to the Department of Internal Affairs of the Chui region of Kyrgyzstan, it was reported that on the night of May 17-18, when the violence occurred, a large group of aggressive people entered the sewing workshop in which "citizens of India, Bangladesh and Pakistan worked and lived.” The aggressors carried out a pogrom, destroyed property, beat foreigners, took money and iPhones, and then disappeared. They were later detained.

Also local media reported that 64 sewing shops where foreigners worked closed down after the attacks.

The first reason was the mass departure of foreign students and workers from Bishkek, on special flights sent by the Pakistani government. Second, the media wrote, Kyrgyz authorities deported migrants who had violated the migration law.

For narrative analysis, news and reports in 13 media outlets in Kyrgyzstan were analyzed randomly using AI. The analysis of 138 media contents showed that only the informational significance prevailed in the coverage of violence. There were no analytics and journalistic investigations into the causes of violence.

CDH is thrilled to announce that applications for the in-person Social Data School (SDS),taking place in Cambridge between 9-13 September 2024, are now open. Individuals working in the media, academia, civil society organisations, trade unions, the public sector and industry – as well as those who work with social data in other capacities – are encouraged to apply.

Prospective applicants are invited to join theapplicant information webinaron Tuesday 16 April 2024, from 14:00-14:45 BST. Please register onlinehere.

This year, the SDS will focus on Machine Learning and the investigation of environmental issues, with key sessions delivered in conjunction with partners in the Pulitzer Center, who have been developing cutting edge technologies to carry out impactful investigations.Through a range ofcollaborative activities delivered by experts over the course of a week, participants will be equippedwith the skills and knowledge to conduct data-driven investigations in the public interest.

The teaching team includes:

• Dr Anne Alexander(Director of Learning, CDH)
• Dr Irving Huerta(Data School Convenor, CDH)
• Dr Hugo Leal(Teaching Associate for theMPhil in Digital Humanitiesat CDH and Research Associate at theMinderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy)
• Gustavo Faleiros, Director of Environmental Investigations for the Pulitzer Center
• Anton Delgado, Pulitzer Center Fellow and multimedia journalist based in Southeast Asia

Applications submitted by 21 April 2024 will be eligible for the early bird rate. All other applications must be submitted by16 June 2024.Limited bursaries and concessionary places are available.

For more information, visitwww.cdh.cam.ac.uk/DataSchools

To make an application,click here.

The Peace Journalist, a semi-annual magazine produced by the Center for Global Peace Journalism, is seeking submissions for its April edition. Submissions should be 600-1600 words, and address peace journalism/peace media research and projects. Please also submit photos, if possible. The deadline for submissions is March 5.

Please submit tosteven.youngblood@ fulbrightmail.org.

We do not run articles about general peace projects or processes unless they have a strong media component/angle.

The previous edition of The Peace Journalist can be found at https://www.scribd.com/document/681077185/Peace-Journalist-Oct-2023-Web

Kyrgyz journalists are going through dark times, but professionalism, high feeling of responsibility and recognition from society will not prevent them from telling the truth, says Inga Sikorskaia, program director of the School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in Central Asia. She pointed out the existing media risks in Kyrgyzstan, the increase in attacks on media workers and why the stranglers of freedom of speech will not be able to defeat it.

What is the reason for the latest mass arrests of journalists and searches of media outlets in Kyrgyzstan?

The answer is obvious because there is pressure on independent investigative journalists and the media. Someone doesn’t like criticism, someone wants to hide facts, but they were made public, etc. Everyone wants to hide information for a long time. However, this is impossible. The authorities understand this. Therefore, mass arrests are like agony. The stranglers of freedom use only repressive methods, since other methods can seriously undermine their positions.