Algorithms, Automation, and News

Abstract

This special issue examines the growing importance of algorithms and automation in the gathering, composition, and distribution of news. It connects a long line of research on journalism and computation with scholarly and professional terrain yet to be explored. Taken as a whole, these articles share some of the noble ambitions of the pioneering publications on 'reporting algorithms', such as a desire to see computing help journalists in their watchdog role by holding power to account. However, they also go further, firstly by addressing the fuller range of technologies that computational journalism now consists of: from chatbots and recommender systems, to artificial intelligence and atomised journalism. Secondly, they advance the literature by demonstrating the increased variety of uses for these technologies, including engaging underserved audiences, selling subscriptions, and recombining and re-using content. Thirdly, they problematize computational journalism by, for example, pointing out some of the challenges inherent in applying AI to investigative journalism and in trying to preserve public service values. Fourthly, they offer suggestions for future research and practice, including by presenting a framework for developing democratic news recommenders and another that may help us think about computational journalism in a more integrated, structured manner.

Inteligencia artificial aplicada al periodismo: estudio de caso del proyecto “A European Perspective” (UER)

“…Concluimos que en los primeros pasos del espacio "Um Olhar Europeu" hay marcas muy positivas de un trabajo híbrido entre la inteligencia artificial y los periodistas en la labor de ofrecer información de calidad. Como bien nota Thurman et al (2019), los efectos de cada tecnología dependen de los humanos, en este caso de la forma como editores y periodistas decidan utilizarla. Al ofrecer perspectivas originarias de diferentes geografías sobre los temas más importantes a cada momento, el proyecto de UER posibilita al usuario hacer su proprio fact-checking y, de esa forma, combatir la desinformación.…”

Cross-cultural differences in information processing of chatbot journalism: chatbot news service as a cultural artifact

“…Conversational journalism attempts to build readership through a chat-interface. The conversational features of the interaction demand that journalistic chatbots present with social behaviors (Thurman et al, 2019). Journalists, news organizations and many other companies are already using chat AI and its ability to make them more conversationally interesting as a way of reaching their readers.…”

“…Users' perception and understanding of CJ features and trust serve as key grounds in estimating the effects of algorithmic systems on the three dimensions of user experience (Thurman et al, 2019): system features, contextual influences and performance value (Radziwill and Benton, 2017). Although users in both countries actively engage and contribute to news curations and the CJ responds to all users' desires, people's sensemaking of chatbots differs.…”

“…Today's algorithms are widely used in different fields such as media, healthcare, marketing, social media, education, etc. By adopting algorithms and AI to understand user intentions and preferences, chatbots provide an interactive conversational platform (Thurman et al. , 2019).…”

U-Tapis: Automatic Spelling Filter as an Effort to Improve Indonesian Language Competencies of Journalistic Students

“…In the production processes of news, a number of foreign media and news headquarters try to develop automated journalism practices. This is a form of the combined process of journalistic work carried out by human beings by making use of computational algorithm and machine learning (Thurman, Lewis, & Kunert, 2019). A number of parties refer to automated journalism as "robojournalism" since the computational technology works like a robot in writing news items from big data in the machine learning (Carlson, 2015).…”