Journalists offer a unique perspective on digital trust issues defining our times. They are at the frontline of emerging technology-driven trends like deepfakes and cyberattacks, documenting them and their impacts for the public record. Furthermore, journalists operate in a field where cybersecurity, data privacy, and information trustworthiness are crucial to their work—from protecting themselves and their sources, to verifying the authenticity of materials. Thus, journalists’ field experience and first-hand insights are invaluable to the academic community, as they provide a real-world context that can significantly enhance our discussions and guide our research agendas.
The “Journalism in the Era of AI and Cyber Threats” track, organized by C4DT and IMI as part of the AMLD EPFL 2025 conference in Lausanne on February 13, brought together global perspectives on digital trust and trust-building technologies at the intersection of research and journalism. Key topics included using AI in investigative journalism, protecting journalists and their sources, anonymizing witnesses in audiovisual content, adapting journalistic practices to technological advances, implementing privacy-preserving filters for multimedia, and more.
