When Reporters get Hands-on with Robo-writing: Professionals Consider Automated Journalism’s Capabilities and Consequences

Thurman, Neil; Doerr, Konstantin und Kunert, Jessica (2017): When Reporters get Hands-on with Robo-writing: Professionals Consider Automated Journalism’s Capabilities and Consequences. In: Digital Journalism

Abstract

The availability of data feeds, the demand for news on digital devices, and advances in algorithms are helping to make automated journalism more prevalent. This article extends the literature on the subject by analysing professional journalists’ experiences with, and opinions about, the technology. Uniquely, the participants were drawn from a range of news organizations—including the BBC, CNN, and Thomson Reuters—and had first-hand experience working with robo-writing software provided by one of the leading technology suppliers. The results reveal journalists’ judgements on the limitations of automation, including the nature of its sources and the sensitivity of its “nose for news”. Nonetheless, journalists believe that automated journalism will become more common, increasing the depth, breadth, specificity, and immediacy of information available. While some news organizations and consumers may benefit, such changes raise ethical and societal issues and, counter-intuitively perhaps, may increase the need for skills—news judgement, curiosity, and scepticism—that human journalists embody.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Keywords: algorithmic journalism, automated journalism, computational journalism, journalism ethics, media economics, news production, professional skills, robot journalism
• Fakultät: Sozialwissenschaften > Institut für Kommunikationswissenschaft und Medienforschung (IfKW)
• Themengebiete: 000 Informatik, Informationswissenschaft, allgemeine Werke > 000 Informatik, Wissen, Systeme ; 000 Informatik, Informationswissenschaft, allgemeine Werke > 004 Informatik ; 000 Informatik, Informationswissenschaft, allgemeine Werke > 070 Publizistische Medien, Journalismus, Verlagswesen ; 300 Sozialwissenschaften > 300 Sozialwissenschaft, Soziologie ; 300 Sozialwissenschaften > 330 Wirtschaft ; 300 Sozialwissenschaften > 380 Handel, Kommunikation, Verkehr ; 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften > 600 Technik ; 800 Literatur > 800 Literatur, Rhetorik, Literaturwissenschaft
• ISSN: 2167-0811
• Sprache: Englisch