Generative AI in Digital Newsrooms: A Systematic Review of Disclosure, Human Editorial Oversight, News Credibility, Audience Trust, and Journalistic Autonomy with Implications for Ghanaian Journalism

Abstract

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is increasingly embedded in news production, yet its implications for credibility, public trust, and professional authority remain unsettled, particularly in under-researched African media systems. This systematic review synthesizes international empirical research on GenAI and automated journalism, with specific attention to AI disclosure, human editorial oversight, audience evaluations, and journalistic autonomy, and interprets the evidence for Ghanaian digital journalism. Searches conducted through scholarly discovery services, publisher indexes, citation chaining, and African research repositories covered January 2020 to 21 July 2026. Following PRISMA 2020 and PRISMA-S principles, 60 records were identified, 43 full-text reports were assessed, and 40 studies were included in a structured narrative synthesis. Only three included studies directly involved Ghana; Ghanaian implications are therefore presented as contextual interpretations of a predominantly international evidence base rather than as Ghana-specific causal conclusions. Across the reviewed literature, journalists most often used GenAI for transcription, summarization, research support, ideation, translation, copyediting, headline development, and preliminary drafting. Audience studies did not support a universal “AI credibility penalty.” Responses varied with task type, topic sensitivity, outlet reputation, AI literacy, disclosure wording, and the visibility of human responsibility. Labels implying full automation were generally more problematic than process-based descriptions of AI assistance accompanied by explicit human verification. African studies further highlighted informal adoption, limited institutional policy, local-language constraints, training gaps, infrastructure limitations, and data-governance concerns. The review concludes that GenAI is reconfiguring rather than simply eliminating journalistic autonomy. An evidence-informed Human-Centered Disclosure and Editorial Accountability Framework is proposed for adaptation and empirical evaluation in Ghanaian digital newsrooms.