<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>News automation is an emerging field within journalism, with the potential to transform newswork. Increasing access to data, combined with developing technology, will allow further inquiries into automated journalism. Producing news text using NLG (natural language generation) is currently largely undertaken in specific, predictable news domains, such as sports or finance. This interdisciplinary study investigates how elite media representatives from Finland, Europe and the US imagine the affordances of this emerging technology for their organization. Our analysis shows how the affordances of news automation are imagined as providing efficiency, increasing output and aiding in reallocating resources to pursue quality journalism. The affordances are, however, constrained by such factors as access to structured data, the quality of automation and a lack of relevant skills. In its current form, automated text generation is seen as providing only limited benefits to news organizations that are already imagining further possibilities of automation.</p>
</abstract>

News automation is an emerging field within journalism, with the potential to transform newswork. Increasing access to data, combined with developing technology, will allow further inquiries into automated journalism. Producing news text using NLG (natural language generation) is currently largely undertaken in specific, predictable news domains, such as sports or finance. This interdisciplinary study investigates how elite media representatives from Finland, Europe and the US imagine the affordances of this emerging technology for their organization. Our analysis shows how the affordances of news automation are imagined as providing efficiency, increasing output and aiding in reallocating resources to pursue quality journalism. The affordances are, however, constrained by such factors as access to structured data, the quality of automation and a lack of relevant skills. In its current form, automated text generation is seen as providing only limited benefits to news organizations that are already imagining further possibilities of automation.

Unboxing news automation

Nordic Journal of Media Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Exploring imagined affordances of automation in news journalism

News automation is an emerging field within journalism, with the potential to transform newswork. Increasing access to data, combined with developing...

Unboxing news automation

Published Online: Jun 26, 2019

Page range: 47 - 66

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/njms-2019-0004

Keywords
automated journalism, news automation, newswork, NLG, imagined affordances

© 2019 Sirén-Heikel, S., Leppänen, L., Lindén, C-G. & Bäck, A., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Unboxing news automation

Published Online: Jun 26, 2019

Page range: 47 - 66

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/njms-2019-0004

Keywordsautomated journalism, news automation, newswork, NLG, imagined affordances

© 2019 Sirén-Heikel, S., Leppänen, L., Lindén, C-G. & Bäck, A., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
automated journalism, news automation, newswork, NLG, imagined affordances