By Shakeer Sayani, Journalism student at the University of Leicester
As part of its AI series of blogs, Liberty PR has taken the firm stance that there is no substitute for human intelligence, imagination and creativity when it comes to drafting original, interesting and newsworthy copy.
But do the journalists and editors that are inundated with PR content on all manner of subjects agree? What do they really think about press releases written by an AI bot? We decided to take a closer look at the media’s attitudes towards the use of generative AI in PR content to find out.
A recent report conducted by Global Results Communications, called The AI Factor in Journalism, surveyed over 1,500 journalists globally on their views about the use of AI.
Interestingly, it revealed that the one of the main reasons why journalists would reject a PR pitch or press release is because it is AI-generated, with many respondents describing this type of content as “cookie-cutter” and suggesting it “lacks perspective”.
This certainly chimes with Liberty PR’s approach to content creation, which is all about producing original and unique copy and images, not repurposing templates or using AI.
A key question in this report asked journalists how they feel about the “use of AI by PR professionals in crafting press releases and pitches.” While a combined 11.97 per cent felt positive or very positive about this, far more were negative (43.91 per cent) or neutral (38.12 per cent) on the subject.
Summarising the survey’s findings, the report noted that: “Journalists value context, quotes, and unique insights that cannot be automated.”
And this is exactly why Liberty PR has a dedicated team of journalists and copywriters with decades of editorial experience to produce the engaging, high-quality written content that is one of the hallmarks of the agency.
Research also suggests that audiences as well as journalists are becoming increasingly sceptical about the use of AI in PR and news content – something which may in turn be hardening attitudes even more among the media.
A global survey published by Reuters Institute, in collaboration with the University of Oxford, asked members of the public in six different countries, including the UK, what they think about the use of generative AI in journalism.
It found what it described as a “significant comfort gap” between AI and human-led news production, with only 12 per cent of respondents comfortable with fully AI-generated news compared with 62 per cent for entirely human-made content.
This gap was bigger in the UK than the other five countries in the survey – with just six per cent of respondents saying they were comfortable with fully AI-generated news content compared with 74 per cent for content created entirely by a human journalist.
What this tells us is that the public has a strong sense of scepticism about journalists using AI tools to report the news.
It therefore stands to reason that journalists will be just as sceptical about using content from PR agencies that is produced – or merely looks like it has been produced – by AI.
That’s the type of content that they will never receive from Liberty PR.
