Kampala, Uganda: The Vice Chancellor of Victoria University, Prof. Lawrence Muganga, has sounded a bold warning to Uganda’s media industry, calling upon newsrooms to urgently adopt Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in their day-to-day work or face irrelevance in the digital era.
Speaking at the Broadcast & Digital Media Convention in Kampala, Prof. Muganga, a sworn advocate of AI in today’s digital era, told a packed room of journalists, editors, and media executives that the future of journalism rests on how fast media houses evolve.
“The newsroom must evolve or dissolve!” he declared, calling on media practitioners to stop fearing AI and start using it as a newsroom ally.
Prof. Muganga challenged longstanding myths around technology, asserting that AI is not the death of journalism but its next chapter. “AI isn’t the enemy, it’s the upgrade,” he said. “The media must embrace AI to stay relevant, fast, and accurate in today’s digital era. Journalism must transform or risk extinction.”
Muganga emphasized that newsrooms stuck in legacy systems are losing the battle for audience engagement in an age defined by speed, precision, and interactive content.
“If we want artificial intelligence to truly support the future of journalism, we must continue asking critical questions, remain cautious, and always trust our human judgment. After all, no machine should ever replace the truth or human thinking,” Muganga said.
“The future of journalism is, and must always remain, in our hands, and it is our responsibility to shape it for the better,” he added.
The convention, held in Kampala, brought together top media players including NBS TV, NTV Uganda, UBC, New Vision, and NTV Kenya, all convened to rethink journalism’s future in the wake of AI and big data.
Victoria University, under Prof. Muganga’s stewardship, has taken a pioneering step by establishing a state-of-the-art AI-powered broadcast studio for its journalism students, positioning the institution as a frontrunner in media-tech integration in East Africa.
The university’s leadership in this space reflects a growing consensus: that survival in journalism will hinge not on resisting technology, but on mastering it.
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