27-5-2023 (SINGAPORE) Mediacorp, the leading media company in Singapore, has been honored at the International News Media Association’s (INMA) Global Media Awards in New York for its groundbreaking artificial intelligence project, AI SmartCut. The project automates the process of clipping video reports from CNA’s news bulletins and publishing them online within minutes of being broadcast.
AI SmartCut was awarded the silver prize for Best Innovation in Newsroom Transformation on Friday (May 26). Developed by Mediacorp in collaboration with Voice Interaction and Qvest, this custom AI solution utilizes voice recognition and natural language processing to identify news video stories and interviews. It automatically edits them into individual news clips, which are then seamlessly integrated into CNA’s content management system for quick publication on CNA’s website, app, and YouTube channel.
The implementation of AI SmartCut replaces the time-consuming manual process, enabling CNA editors to focus on higher-value journalistic tasks. Additionally, it enhances the reader’s browsing experience by providing a more immersive and media-rich encounter with CNA articles.
Walter Fernandez, Editor-in-Chief of Mediacorp, congratulated the CNA team on their global recognition, stating, “The newsroom AI team has collaborated with technology partners from around the world to develop, refine, and adapt AI tools that enhance workflow efficiency, eliminate mundane tasks, and equip journalists with new capabilities in transcription, translation, text, voice, video, and verification. Concurrently, we are establishing guidelines for the development and utilization of AI in the newsroom, ensuring that we preserve the hard-earned trust of our audience and uphold our journalistic standards.”
In addition to the accolade for AI SmartCut, Mediacorp also received a silver award at the INMA Global Media Awards for Best Use of an Event to Build a Newsbrand. This recognition was given to 8world’s Young Reporter News Challenge 2022, an initiative that engaged secondary school students in creating video news reports. The competition provided a platform for young aspiring journalists to experience the field and served as an essential outreach effort by the Chinese-language newsroom to connect with a younger audience.
