They Think AI Can Do More Than It Actually Can: Practices, Challenges, & Opportunities of AI-Supported Reporting In Local Journalism

A new research paper conditionally accepted for CHI'26 reveals significant gaps between AI's potential and its actual use in local journalism. Researchers Besjon Cifliku and Hendrik Heuer conducted 21 semi-structured interviews with German local journalists to understand how they work with digital data and where AI could help most. The study found that despite declining newspaper revenues pushing newsrooms toward automation, journalists currently don't leverage AI's full capabilities for data-related work, creating a disconnect between technological possibilities and practical implementation.

The research identifies three key areas: how journalists use data and AI, challenges they face, and perceived opportunities through discursive design. While journalists showed limited awareness of what AI can actually do, they expressed strong willingness to adopt it for processing data and discovering stories. The paper provides concrete recommendations grounded in journalists' socio-technical perspectives and their imagined future AI capabilities, offering a roadmap for developing more effective AI-supported reporting systems that address real newsroom needs rather than technological hype.