At a Glance

The Finding: According to FT Strategies and WAN-IFRA, 61% of newsrooms surveyed offer no formal training for new skills.

The Problem: Newsrooms understand change is coming—fragmented audiences, declining trust, the rise of creators, AI, disrupted business models. But awareness and readiness are two different things. Most teams are being asked to navigate profound transformation without structured support.

The Real Barrier: The biggest obstacles to AI adoption are skills gaps, cultural resistance, and unclear use cases. Many journalists have access to AI tools but don't understand how to use them effectively in journalism.

What's Needed: Journalists need to understand audience behavior, be comfortable with video and emerging formats, and know how to use AI responsibly. Editors need to redesign workflows. Leaders need to guide organizations through transformation. These are skills many journalism schools didn't teach and many newsrooms haven't developed systematically.

Why It Matters for Africa: African journalism is resilient, but resilience alone won't be enough. The competition for attention isn't just traditional media anymore—it's YouTubers, TikTok creators, podcasters, influencers, newsletters, WhatsApp groups, and AI-generated content. The response can't be to produce more content. It has to be to produce more valuable content.

What's Being Done: My team and I have developed an AI Literacy for Journalists e-learning programme. It's practical, accessible, and grounded in the realities of African newsrooms. Not just teaching which tools to use, but helping journalists understand how AI is reshaping journalism and how to apply it responsibly.

The Bottom Line: The challenge isn't awareness. It's readiness. And there's no better time to start building it than now.

GO DEEP

When was the last time your newsroom offered formal training for new skills?

According to a new report by FT Strategies and WAN-IFRA, 61% of newsrooms surveyed offer no formal training at all.

If I were leading a newsroom today, I'd be concerned because we are grappling with multiple challenges on several fronts, from fragmented audiences and declining trust in institutions to the rise of creators and influencers, the rapid emergence of AI, as well as disrupted business models and shrinking revenues, amongst others. 

Most news organisations have traditionally relied on trust as a competitive advantage. Today, that trust is under pressure and can no longer be taken for granted, because newsrooms are no longer just competing with each other.

When I joined the BBC more than 20 years ago, our competition was other international broadcasters. But now all of them are competing for attention in an increasingly crowded information ecosystem, where audiences have more choices than ever.

And yet, this report reveals that despite the scale of this transformation, most newsrooms are expecting their teams to adapt to it without structured support.

The challenge is clearly not a lack of awareness, because most leaders understand what’s happening around them. What they lack is the skills, systems, and training required to respond to the challenge.

The challenge is readiness

I remember when I joined the BBC as a young radio producer, change was relatively predictable. New platforms didn't emerge every other week. Change came in waves - most times after every few years, giving newsrooms time to understand it, learn new skills, and adapt.

For example, when social media arrived, it felt transformative. But we had plenty of time to experiment, in some cases- to resist, make mistakes, and gradually work out what it meant for journalism.

But today, change is relentless, and it’s harder to keep up with the pace of emerging technologies. 

Media leaders today have two big challenges: how to keep up with the change. And how to build an agile organisation that can continuously evolve with the changes.

Building organisations that can adapt

In my experience, the biggest barrier to change in legacy newsrooms is usually not the lack of ideas or even technology, but culture. It’s usually the people. 

I am not surprised that the FT Strategies report found that the biggest barriers to AI adoption are skills gaps, cultural resistance, and unclear use cases. 

Many journalists have access to the technology but don’t understand how to use it effectively.

They are still trying to figure out how these tools fit into journalism itself- the journalism questions like: How can AI help with research? Where should human judgment remain central? What are the ethical risks? How do we maintain accuracy, accountability, and trust?

Why African newsrooms should pay attention

African journalism has always been resilient. Journalists across the continent produce impactful reporting despite several constraints, including political pressures, limited resources and challenging operating environments.

But the information ecosystem is changing too quickly, and resilience alone won't be enough for what's coming.

So the response cannot be to produce more content, but to produce more valuable content, and that requires new capabilities for this era.

Journalists need to understand audience behaviour. They need to be comfortable with video and emerging formats. They need to know how to use AI responsibly. Editors need to understand how to redesign workflows. Leaders need to guide organisations through transformation. 

These are skills that many journalism schools didn't teach, and many newsrooms haven't developed systematically.

That's why the 61% statistic matters so much.

What I'm hearing from newsroom leaders

Over the past year, I've spoken with journalists, editors, and media leaders across Africa about AI. What's struck me most is that people are curious and want to understand what's happening. They also want practical guidance and want to know where AI adds value and where caution is required. Some of the leaders are sitting and waiting to learn from the early adopters. 

But sitting and waiting will not solve the challenge. We need to move the conversation about AI in journalism beyond tools and towards building capability in newsrooms - including skills, cultures, and systems that are needed to thrive in a rapidly changing environment.

Why we're building an AI literacy programme

These conversations are precisely why my team and I have developed an AI Literacy for Journalists e-learning programme.

The idea grew out of an observation I've repeatedly made over the past 18 months: journalists are curious about AI and eager to learn, but many are looking for training that is practical, accessible, and grounded in the realities of African newsrooms.

It is a safe space to experiment, learn, ask questions, and understand what AI means for journalism in practice.

Our aim is to help journalists and newsroom leaders understand how AI is reshaping journalism, how it can be applied responsibly, and how they can prepare for the future with confidence.

If you'd be interested in helping us test the programme before its wider launch, we'd love to hear from you. Please get in touch at [email protected].