1
Q
Journalistic advantages of social media
A
- increasing audience reach
- increasing traffic to website
- monitoring new developments
- personal branding
- audience engagement
2
Q
News coverage
A
Decisions about which news stories are prioritized are still mostly made by editors
- editors as gatekeepers
- guided by professional journalistic standards
- established news values
3
Q
Algorithm platforms for news selection
A
- algorithms as gatekeepers
- they determine what’s relevant based on commercial incentives
- biased and not impartial
- filtered criteria are hidden and obscured (intellectual property)
4
Q
Algorithmic values of Facebook’s news feed
A
- friend relationship
- status updates
- age of post
- post comment
- post likes
- content type user
- page relationship
- content type network
- post clicks
- post shares
- negative feedback
- content quality
5
Q
Conclusion the power of platforms
A
- dictate the conditions under which news is disseminated (moderating speech in our society)
- ability to influence attention, interaction and communication (shaping public opinion)
- lack of transparency (hidden algorithm logic)
- recognize their commercial, algorithmic values (traditional, journalistic values)
6
Q
Filter bubbles
A
- online algorithms only selectively show people information on what s/he would like to see
- people get trapped in their “like-minded” information bubbles
- isolated from different, opposing viewpoints
- selective exposure
- could lead to increase polarization & fragmented public debate
7
Q
Echo chambers
A
- Similar concept as filter bubbles
- but: why are people excluded from counter-additional information?
- human self-selection vs algorithmic selection
- difference in agency of selection
8
Q
Underlying mechanisms filter bubbles and echo chambers
A
- confirmation bias
2. homophily
9
Q
Chatbot news
A
- informing people with conversation-sized chunks of news updates
- usually via private message platforms (messenger)
- conversational, social and interactive way of news dissemination
- anthropomorphism
10
Q
Conclusion chatbot news study
A
People may be more likely to accept opposing news content when it is provided by a chatbot (as a result of anthropomorphism)
11
Q
Implications chatbot news study
A
- chatbots as critical media technologies to invite citizens to see both sides of an argument, and reflect on their own views and acquire new ones (media diversity)
- hence, it may contribute to a more informed public discourse
- solution to decrease polarization in our society?
12
Q
Robot journalism
A
- algorithms that autonomously write news stories
- usually pre-written templates (with gaps)
- Natural Language Generation (transforms structured data into natural language)
- results: publishable news articles
- usually on events with a lot of data
13
Q
Advantages of robot journalism
A
- scale (increasing amount of coverage)
- cost efficient (cheaper than journalist labor)
- releases journalists from repetitive tasks
- accuracy (algorithms never get tired)
- speed (first to break a story)
- re-usability (for future events, elections etc)
- unbiased account of facts?
14
Q
Conclusion study robot journalism
A
- important phenomenon (especially as technology advances)
- fragmented debate (pro vs con)
- journalism should adapt to technological changes
- new powers, new responsibilities
- learning process
