Description
Artificial Intelligence (AI) plays an important role in the ongoing digital transformation of the news media industry. These technologies have significantly altered traditionalpractices and are posing a series of challenges for the news media sector which is steadily adapting to this new paradigm: from personalization and data-driven reporting to ethical considerations and the evolving roles of journalists. Newsrooms today are made up of multidisciplinary teams consisting of journalists collaborating with data scientists, engineers, and AI specialists to leverage the latest technologies in content creation, analysis, and distribution.
According to Beckett and Yaseen (2023), around 80% of the newsrooms that responded to their worldwide survey are using AI technologies in news distribution. Respondents cited news distribution as the area in the newsroom that was most affected by AI and news organizations increasingly recognise its potential to optimize the dissemination of news content. News Recommender Systems (NRS) have emerged as powerful tools that leverage user data to automatically curate personalized news feeds in the dynamic news media environment. Notwithstanding, the increasing reliance on NRS and AI tools more broadly raises pressing ethical concerns: they can impact public discourse by determining which stories gain more visibility and engagement, and users may be excluded from alternative perspectives leading to a narrower understanding of complex issues (Du, 2023). This has sparked the debate about the formation of public opinion, the erosion of trust in media and the challenges journalists face as they navigate the tension between tradition and change in a fast-paced networked information environment (Usher, 2014). AI tools in the newsroom can be recognised as ‘enablers of change’ (Paulussen, 2016), nevertheless, tensions may arise within news organisations (Diakopoulos, 2019a; Lindén, 2017; Schapals & Porlezza, 2020).
While algorithmic transparency and content diversity can play a crucial role in tackling these challenges (Diakopoulos & Koliska, 2017; Loecherbach & Trilling, 2020; Möller et al., 2018; Sax, 2022; Vrijenhoek et al., 2020), what is at stake is the impact on citizens’ rights to know and be exposed to trustworthy, independent, and diverse information while respecting individual rights to their data. These rights can be broadly referred to as epistemic welfare. News media organisations constitute an ideal example of “institutions in charge of knowledge generation and dissemination” (Godler et al., 2020). Importantly, public service media face the challenge of adapting to significant societal and market changes while upholding their core values as publicly funded media entities (Túñez-López et al., 2021).
The study focuses on Spanish news media industry as it constitutes a particularly compelling case due to the combination of cultural and linguistic diversity as well as its international presence considering its influence in the Spanish-speaking market (Cea Esteruelas, 2013; El País, 2022; Prensa RTVE, 2020). It employs more than 15 semi-structured interviews with editors-in-chief, chief digital officers and other professionals from several Spanish media outlets to gain insights into the ongoing discussion on the use of algorithms and to understand the media approach for news dissemination and audience engagement. This will shed light on the news media strategies and challenges related to the use of NRS in the newsroom and the day-to-day decision-making processes.
Bearing the concept of epistemic welfare in mind and considering the need to incorporate journalistic values into algorithmic news solutions (Diakopoulos, 2019b; Gulla et al., 2021), this study aims to explore what the challenges raised by the implementation of NRS in media organisations are, an issue underreported in the literature (Parratt-Fernández et al., 2021; Ranaivoson et al, forthcoming). With a multi-stakeholder approach (Abdollahpouri et al., 2020), we aim to investigate and eventually question the existence of “tech-editorial gaps”, understood as a disassociation between the technical and the editorial departments in the newsrooms, and the necessity for bridging roles considering not only the commercial objectives but also the editorial factors and the technical viability to drive economic growth and enhance cultural value creation (Moller,
2023; Noain-Sánchez, 2022; Smets et al., 2022). Ultimately, this article adds to the discourse on media ethics and responsible use of algorithms, providing insights into the practical challenges linked to AI and NRS in the Spanish news media industry.
| Period | 6 Jun 2024 |
|---|---|
| Event title | emma Conference 2024 |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Leeuwarden, NetherlandsShow on map |