Reported Transparency Practices in AI Use Among Journalism Professionals in Ecuador: Ethics, Self-Regulation, and Professional Challenges

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly incorporated into journalistic work, raising questions concerning transparency, authorship, editorial responsibility, human verification, and organizational governance. This study examines reported transparency practices and professional perceptions concerning AI use among journalism professionals linked to media organizations and news-production environments in Ecuador. A mixed-methods design combined a non-probability online survey of 53 eligible professionals with seven semi-structured interviews involving six journalism professionals and one communication academic with professional experience in journalism. The quantitative component was analyzed descriptively, while the qualitative component was examined through a deductive and interpretive analysis structured around four predefined thematic domains. AI use was reported by 48 of the 53 survey participants (90.6%), with both instrumental and generative applications identified. Among applicable responses, 39.5% reported the existence of a specific AI-related deontological code, 59.2% reported having received instructions from superiors, and 29.3% reported an obligation to disclose AI use to audiences. Human verification was the most frequently selected component of proposed internal AI rules (79.2%). The interviews showed uneven levels of organizational formalization, including verbal instructions, emerging guidelines, and differing thresholds for disclosure, while consistently emphasizing human editorial judgment and responsibility. The findings indicate that transparency in AI-assisted journalism is multidimensional and unevenly institutionalized across the professional environments represented in the study. These results provide sample-bound evidence from Ecuador and should not be interpreted as a national estimate of media transparency.