Ethical Guidelines for the Application of Generative AI in German Journalism

Abstract Generative Artificial Intelligence (genAI) holds immense potential in revolutionizing journalism and media production processes. By harnessing genAI, journalists can streamline various tasks, including content creation, curation, and dissemination. Through genAI, journalists already automate the generation of diverse news articles, ranging from sports updates and financial reports to weather forecasts. However, this raises ethical questions of high relevance for media organizations and societies especially when genAI is used for more sensitive topics and at larger scale. To not jeopardize trustworthiness in journalistic organizations, it is important that the use of genAI in journalism is guided by moral principles. We therefore conducted 18 interviews with researchers and practitioners with expertise in AI-based technologies, journalism, and ethics from a German perspective in order to identify guidelines for the ethical use of genAI in media organizations. We derived requirements for the ethical introduction of genAI and actionable guidelines which explain how decision makers in media organizations should address ethical principles for the use of AI in the news production life cycle, in order to contribute to trustworthiness of journalistic organizations and products.