Artificial Intelligence in Media Practice: Comparative Analysis of Editorial Guidelines

The subject of the research is the mechanisms of regulation and ethical approaches to the use of artificial intelligence in the editorial processes of leading Russian and foreign media outlets during the period of 2025–2026. The object of the study includes editorial codes, guidelines, official statements, and practices of AI application in newsrooms. The author examines in detail the aspects of AI integration into journalistic work, including the automation of routine tasks, ensuring transparency of generated content, and minimizing risks of misinformation, algorithmic bias, and loss of audience trust. Particular attention is given to differences in approaches: formalized ethical policies of foreign media (BBC, The New York Times, Reuters, Le Monde, AFP, Der Spiegel) and pragmatic, informal use of AI in Russian newsrooms (RIA Novosti, RBC, TASS). The influence of external regulations (EU AI Act) and national initiatives (the Russian strategy for technological sovereignty of AI until 2030) on the transformation of journalistic practice is analyzed. The research methodology relies on content analysis of public editorial documents and guidelines, a comparative method, as well as an analysis of results from semi-structured interviews with practicing journalists from Russian media. The main findings of the research confirm the institutionalized nature of AI regulation in foreign media (mandatory human oversight, transparency, content labeling) and the predominance of a pragmatic, informal approach in Russian newsrooms, where AI serves as an auxiliary tool without specialized regulatory documents. The author's contribution to the research topic consists of integrating primary empirical data from interviews with journalists amid the lack of similar works in domestic media communication studies. The novelty of the research lies in the current comparison of trends, such as the impact of the EU AI Act and Russian initiatives on sovereign AI technologies, as well as in identifying a common imperative of human oversight amidst differences in the degree of formalization. The obtained results have practical significance for the development of internal editorial standards and recommendations for the ethical use of AI in Russian media, including the introduction of elements of transparency and verification of generated content.