IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/meanco/v14y2026a12388.html

“AI’s Good, but People Have Hearts”: Artificial Intelligence in Data-Driven Journalism in Ghanaian Newsrooms

Author

Listed:
  • Theodora Dame Adjin-Tettey

    (Department of Media, Language and Communication, Durban University of Technology, South Africa)

  • Samuel Danso

    (Department of Film and Multimedia Communication, African University of Communications and Business, Ghana)

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) offers tremendous potential to advance data journalism by empowering journalists to analyse massive datasets and produce insights for investigative reporting. Through the lens of the technology acceptance model and the social construction of technology theory, this study employed qualitative methods to investigate how Ghanaian journalists adopt AI tools in data journalism. The findings indicate that AI tools are primarily used to support research, idea generation, editing, story development, and visual data representation. Journalists also perceive AI as enhancing efficiency, accessibility, and storytelling capacity. These perceptions align with the perceived usefulness dimension of the technology acceptance model as AI is viewed as improving productivity and strengthening audience engagement and trust. However, several challenges, including high subscription costs, limited availability of context-specific datasets, and persistent ethical concerns, hinder the adoption of AI technologies in data journalism. We argue that these challenges highlight the social context within which technology is adopted, which the social construction of technology theory accounts for.

Suggested Citation

  • Theodora Dame Adjin-Tettey & Samuel Danso, 2026. "“AI’s Good, but People Have Hearts”: Artificial Intelligence in Data-Driven Journalism in Ghanaian Newsrooms," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 14.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v14:y:2026:a:12388
    DOI: 10.17645/mac.12388
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/12388
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/mac.12388?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:meanco:v14:y:2026:a:12388. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.