What is (automated) news? A content analysis of algorithm-written news articles

The use of automation in producing news articles confronts journalism with threats, opportunities, and ambiguities. Thus, automation in journalism has attracted a lot of attention, from scholars who sought the perspective of human journalists to those who examined how audiences process algorithm-wri...

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Main Authors: Tandoc, Edson C., Wu, Shangyuan, Tan, Jessica, Contreras-Yap, Sofia
Other Authors: Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/173664
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1736642024-02-25T15:32:56Z What is (automated) news? A content analysis of algorithm-written news articles Tandoc, Edson C. Wu, Shangyuan Tan, Jessica Contreras-Yap, Sofia Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information Computer and Information Science Bloomberg Content analysis The use of automation in producing news articles confronts journalism with threats, opportunities, and ambiguities. Thus, automation in journalism has attracted a lot of attention, from scholars who sought the perspective of human journalists to those who examined how audiences process algorithm-written news articles. These studies assume that human-written news articles differ from automated-written news articles. But do they? This current study compared human-written with algorithm-written news articles published by media and software company Bloomberg. Guided by the frameworks of field theory and journalistic boundaries, we compared the news articles based on traditional markers of human-written news. Using manual content analysis, we found that algorithm-written news shares some similarities with human-written news, such as focusing on timely or recent events and using the inverted pyramid format. Beyond these, we also found differences. First, in terms of news values, human-written news articles tend to display more negativity and impact than algorithm-written news articles. Human-written news articles are also more likely to include interpretation while algorithm-written articles tend to be shorter and contain no human sources. Published version 2024-02-21T05:23:06Z 2024-02-21T05:23:06Z 2022 Journal Article Tandoc, E. C., Wu, S., Tan, J. & Contreras-Yap, S. (2022). What is (automated) news? A content analysis of algorithm-written news articles. Media E Jornalismo, 22(41), 103-120. https://dx.doi.org/10.14195/2183-5462_41_6 2183-5462 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/173664 10.14195/2183-5462_41_6 2-s2.0-85150211570 41 22 103 120 en Media e Jornalismo © 2022 Media & Jornalismo. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Computer and Information Science
Bloomberg
Content analysis
spellingShingle Computer and Information Science
Bloomberg
Content analysis
Tandoc, Edson C.
Wu, Shangyuan
Tan, Jessica
Contreras-Yap, Sofia
What is (automated) news? A content analysis of algorithm-written news articles
description The use of automation in producing news articles confronts journalism with threats, opportunities, and ambiguities. Thus, automation in journalism has attracted a lot of attention, from scholars who sought the perspective of human journalists to those who examined how audiences process algorithm-written news articles. These studies assume that human-written news articles differ from automated-written news articles. But do they? This current study compared human-written with algorithm-written news articles published by media and software company Bloomberg. Guided by the frameworks of field theory and journalistic boundaries, we compared the news articles based on traditional markers of human-written news. Using manual content analysis, we found that algorithm-written news shares some similarities with human-written news, such as focusing on timely or recent events and using the inverted pyramid format. Beyond these, we also found differences. First, in terms of news values, human-written news articles tend to display more negativity and impact than algorithm-written news articles. Human-written news articles are also more likely to include interpretation while algorithm-written articles tend to be shorter and contain no human sources.
author2 Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information
author_facet Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information
Tandoc, Edson C.
Wu, Shangyuan
Tan, Jessica
Contreras-Yap, Sofia
format Article
author Tandoc, Edson C.
Wu, Shangyuan
Tan, Jessica
Contreras-Yap, Sofia
author_sort Tandoc, Edson C.
title What is (automated) news? A content analysis of algorithm-written news articles
title_short What is (automated) news? A content analysis of algorithm-written news articles
title_full What is (automated) news? A content analysis of algorithm-written news articles
title_fullStr What is (automated) news? A content analysis of algorithm-written news articles
title_full_unstemmed What is (automated) news? A content analysis of algorithm-written news articles
title_sort what is (automated) news? a content analysis of algorithm-written news articles
publishDate 2024
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/173664
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