`Journalism must retain the capacity to distinguish between what attracts attention and what genuinely matters to the public’
Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Pedro Vaca Villarreal, has urged Caribbean journalists and media organisations to embrace technological change while maintaining editorial independence, rigorous verification and professional responsibility.
Vaca Villarreal made the call yesterday while addressing the 57th Annual General Assembly of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU) at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Liliendaal, where he presented the Rickey Singh Initiative for Journalist Excellence.
The initiative is named after the late veteran Guyanese/Caribbean journalist Rickey Singh, who was inducted into the Caribbean Broadcasting Hall of Fame on Tuesday evening.
Vaca Villarreal said his presence in Guyana was significant because it marked the first visit to the Caribbean by a Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression in more than three decades.
He said he hoped the visit would mark the beginning of more sustained engagement between his office and journalists, media organisations and other stakeholders across the region.
Vaca Villarreal said Singh’s career reflected many of the values underpinning the initiative, including independence, professional rigour, commitment to the public interest and a distinctly Caribbean approach to journalism.
He said the initiative grew out of consultations with journalists, editors, media organisations, press freedom groups, academics and other stakeholders across the Americas.
Those discussions focused on how journalism can preserve its democratic role, credibility and independence while adapting to a rapidly changing information environment.
Vaca Villarreal said the consultations resulted in 17 tenets for journalistic excellence in the Americas, which are intended to provide a framework for reflection, self-regulation and dialogue within the journalism profession.
He said journalism must ultimately serve the public interest by providing information that is reliable, truthful, relevant, contextualised, independent and timely.
That requires journalists to scrutinise public and private institutions and report on issues including corruption, inequality, security, the environment, culture, science and human rights, he said.
Journalism must also give greater visibility to voices and communities that have historically been excluded or underrepresented in public debate.
Vaca Villarreal warned that in an information environment increasingly shaped by clicks, virality and audience metrics, editorial judgment has become even more important.
“Journalism must retain the capacity to distinguish between what attracts attention and what genuinely matters to the public,” he said.
He also stressed the importance of editorial independence—not only from governments and political parties, but also from owners, advertisers, corporations, donors, digital platforms and other interests seeking to influence editorial decisions.
“Audience metrics can inform editorial choices. They cannot become the sole measure of public relevance,” he said.
AI and journalism
Vaca Villarreal said artificial intelligence presents both opportunities and challenges for journalism.
AI can transcribe interviews, translate material, analyse large datasets, identify patterns, assist investigations and editing, and create new possibilities for storytelling.
For Caribbean newsrooms operating with limited resources, he said, those opportunities could be particularly significant.
However, he stressed that AI must not displace human editorial judgment.
“Editorial judgment, human verification, and professional responsibility must remain firmly in human hands,” he said.
Vaca Villarreal said media organisations should establish clear and transparent policies governing the use of AI in research, transcription, translation, data analysis, content generation, editing, personalisation and moderation.
Where the use of AI substantially affects the production, presentation or verification of journalistic content, audiences should be informed.
“Transparency should accompany innovation,” he said.
He also raised concerns about the use of journalistic content by technology companies to develop AI systems.
Vaca Villarreal said AI companies and platforms should recognise and fairly compensate the value of journalistic content used to train their models, systems and products.
He said the issue was directly connected to the sustainability of media organisations and the economic conditions of journalists and other media professionals.
Another concern, he said, is whether Caribbean perspectives are adequately represented in the information used to develop AI systems.
If Caribbean societies, stories, languages, media and perspectives are insufficiently represented, he warned, the region risks reproducing an old problem through new technology.
“A region explained to the world, and increasingly to itself, through the eyes of others,” he said.
He therefore stressed the importance of diversity, plurality and transparency in the sources that feed AI systems.
Vaca Villarreal said Caribbean journalists also have much to contribute to the wider hemispheric discussion because of the region’s interconnected societies and its tradition of viewing national developments within broader regional contexts.
He encouraged journalists, broadcasters, editors and media organisations represented at the CBU assembly to examine the 17 tenets and adapt them where appropriate to the realities of their newsrooms.
“Please discuss them, question them, adapt them if you want to, to your newsrooms and to the realities of the Caribbean,” he said.
Vaca Villarreal said journalistic excellence is built daily through newsroom decisions, interviews, investigations, verification and the relationship between journalists and the communities they serve.
He urged the Caribbean media to remain vigorous and independent, verify information before amplifying it, correct mistakes, protect sources and journalists, reflect the diversity of Caribbean societies and preserve the region’s collective memory while embracing responsible innovation.
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