Journalistic applications of Artificial Intelligence. Concept map, professional roles and developing trends in the context of the global Covid-19 pandemic.
Abstract
The article offers a diagnosis of the current journalistic use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Specifically, it introduces its conceptual debate and details its main functions and professional trends in development in the context of Covid-19 information. Based on a bibliographic search in Web of Science with the terms Journalism and Artificial Intelligence, 90 publications are analyzed in order to review the academic production focused on the concepts of AI and journalism to know the predominant theme in the theoretical corpus in relation to three aspects: (1) the conceptual framework of AI and journalism, (2) the technology alluded to and the use made of AI in the information process, and (3) the journalistic trends to which it relates. The analysis also relates these uses and trends to the informative context of Covid-19.
The results show the clear irruption of AI in journalism, which has been approached by academia from different focuses, from the broadest ones that include it within high-tech journalism to others that focus on some of its aspects in a terminological debate that is still open. Content production is consolidating as the main entry point for these technologies in the development of journalistic functions, followed by their use for distribution and, lastly, for information gathering. Among the journalistic trends favored by AI, data journalism and verification journalism stand out, as evidenced in the coverage of Covid-19. The treatment of the pandemic also offers examples of the use of AI in all phases of journalism, from information gathering to content production and dissemination.
Keywords
Journalism, Artificial Intelligence, high tech, professional roles
Author Biography
Rosana Sanahuja Sanahuja
Associate Professor of Journalism in the Department of Communication Sciences at the Universitat Jaume (UJI), researcher of the Practical Ethics and Democracy group and currently manager of the European project H2020 ETHNA System. With a degree in Journalism from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and a PhD from the Department of Communication Sciences at the Universitat Jaume I, she has extended her studies with the Master in New Trends and Innovation Processes in Communication and the Interuniversity Master in Ethics and Democracy. She has worked as a journalist in several media, in the Communication and Publications Service of the UJI and in the Scientific Culture Unit of this University, and as a research technician in different national and European projects. Her lines of research include artificial intelligence and journalism, science communication, citizen science, social responsibility and business and institutional ethics. She has participated in responsibility and ethics management projects for companies and public administrations, as well as in several studies on science communication and responsible research and innovation.
Pablo López Rabadán
Degree in Journalism from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (2003) and PhD in Communication Sciences from the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (2009). He has been a professor in the Department of Communication Sciences at the Universitat Jaume I of Castellón since the 2009/2010 academic year and currently holds the position of vice-dean of the Journalism Degree. His lines of research focus on the digital transformation of specialized journalism and the impact of social networks in political communication. He has been a visiting researcher in different European universities (Cardiff, Westminster, Florence) and American (Valparaiso and Boston). In recent years he has co-edited several books on political journalism in Spain and has published in reference journals such as Journalism, Palabra Clave, El profesional de la información, or Communication & Society, among others. In 2017 he won the Drago Award of the Latin Journal of Revista Latina de Comunicación Social for the most cited article of the period 2012-2016.
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References
- Esta publicación se enmarca en los Proyectos de Investigación Científica y Desarrollo Tecnológico «Ética discursiva y Democracia ante los retos de la Inteligencia Artificial» PID2019-109078RB-C21 y PID2019-109078RB-C22, financiados por el Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades.