Marina Vujnovic, Ph.D., APR, professor in the Department of Communication, recently co-authored “Exploring Artificial Intelligence Implications for Journalism and Mass Communication Education” (Peter Lang, 2025). The monograph equips educators with strategies to navigate AI’s growing role in journalism and mass communication, offering practical approaches for integrating AI into coursework while critically assessing its impact on both educators and practitioners.
The authors conducted a multinational survey of journalism and mass communication educators to explore how they use AI in their classrooms, their early assessments of the technology’s impact, and their broader concerns and hopes regarding AI’s role in education. The research also examined syllabi and textbooks used in courses that incorporate AI.
“This book is the result of two years of data collection and collaboration among scholars from three countries across two continents. I am proud to have contributed to such a timely project,” Vujnovic said.
Vujnovic and her co-authors have been researching AI’s influence on journalism, mass communication, and public relations since 2020. “While many educators see AI as a tool for innovation in the classroom and an essential skill for students’ careers, concerns remain about credibility, authenticity, and disinformation. Respondents also expressed unease about training students on tools that may ultimately replace human workers. However, they recognized AI’s ubiquity and emphasized the importance of both familiarizing students with AI tools and teaching them to critically assess their applications,” Vujnovic said.
The work emerged from a competitive “scholarsourcing” initiative, an academic adaptation of crowdsourcing, led by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) and Peter Lang Publishing. The selection process included two rounds of peer review by AEJMC members and a voting process. Since 2018, only 10 books have been published through this initiative.
The monograph was co-written by Lukasz Swiatek, Ph.D., FHERDSA, lecturer in the School of the Arts and Media at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia; Chris Galloway, Ph.D., APR, honorary research associate of Massey University, New Zealand; and Dean Kruckeberg, Ph.D., APR, FPRSA, professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.