FACTS ABOUT THE NEWSROOM AI CATALYST
Regions: Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and South Asia.
Cohort size: 16 publishing companies per accelerator.
Number of accelerators: There are two accelerators in each region. Altogether eight.
Duration of each accelerator: Three months.
Newsrooms trained: 128 newsrooms.
Time frame: July 2024 to December 2025.
PROGRAMME
The Newsroom AI Catalyst accelerator programme includes 10 learning modules, hands-on workshops, a mini hackathon and a showcase.
Module 1: The AI News Landscape: Essentials and Opportunities
Explore AI’s potential impact on the news industry, covering key concepts, use cases, and ethical considerations.
Module 2: Use Cases for AI in Journalism
Overview and exploration of specific applications of AI in content generation, audience insights, investigative reporting, and more.
Workshop: Kickstarting Your AI Prototype. Determining AI fit, challenge mapping, and potential areas for application Skills and knowledge gap assessment. Introduce prototyping frameworks and resources.
Module 3: Building an AI Strategy
Develop a framework for aligning AI initiatives with newsroom goals, prioritizing projects, and assessing potential partners.
Module 4: Data-Driven News Production
Learn to identify relevant data sources, apply data cleansing techniques, and use AI for news analysis and insights.
Module 5: AI for Audience Insights and Engagement
Use AI for audience segmentation, sentiment analysis, and personalized content recommendations.
Module 6: AI-Powered Content Generation
Utilize large language models for summaries, translations, and content variations, focusing on editorial judgment. Tool overviews. Live demo and experimentation.
Module 7: Workflow Integration and Change Management
Emphasize strategies for addressing challenges faced during early prototyping. Design strategies for integrating AI tools into existing workflows, addressing staff training, and fostering a culture of innovation.
Module 8: Measuring Success and ROI for AI Initiatives
Set AI-specific KPIs, measure efficiency gains, and understand the return on investment of AI projects. Core metrics and KPIs. Case study analysis and setting prototype-specific KPIs.
Module 9: Monetization and Sustainability with AI
Explore new AI-driven revenue models, optimize content production, and develop sustainable AI strategies. Pre-reading or case studies on potential AI-driven revenue models.
Module 10: The Future of Journalism with AI
Anticipate how AI will further transform journalism, discuss new roles and skills, and proactively address potential risks. Focus on prototyping implications and anticipating future needs.
– Workshop: Refining Your AI Prototype. Progress presentations with cohort and facilitator feedback. Refine your AI project scope, assess technical needs, and develop an initial implementation plan focused on technical troubleshooting in small groups with rotating mentors.
– Mini-hackathon on AI prototyping. Intensive group work towards finalizing prototypes.
– Showcase: Presentation of the prototypes & wrap-up with industry stakeholders and mentors to observe the results and foster potential collaborations. Lessons learned and next steps.
SCHEDULING
The Newsroom AI Catalyst accelerator programme runs for three months. It will start with a two-day in-person workshop for the participants and coaches to get to know each other and kick start the AI prototyping project. This will be followed by online sessions and coaching before the final in-person workshop.
The proposed schedule is:
- Week 1: In-person workshop covering modules 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 and workshops on prototyping
- Week 2: Individual expert coaching
- Week 3: Module 6
- Week 4: Individual expert coaching
- Week 5: Module 7
- Week 6: Individual expert coaching
- Week 7: Module 8
- Week 8: Individual expert coaching
- Week 9: Module 9
- Week 10: Individual expert coaching
- Week 11: Module 10
- Week 12: In-person workshop on finalizing the prototype and the mini hackathon
Weeks 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10: Participants will receive expert coaching and mentoring that includes facilitator-led Q&As, progress assessment, breakout rooms for feedback and collaboration, and industry speakers with specific expertise.