Incorporation of journalistic approaches into algorithm design

TL;DR

This paper explores integrating journalistic principles into algorithm design to address ethical concerns and improve the development of AI tools in journalism, emphasizing methodological approaches and future research directions.

Contribution

It provides a framework for incorporating journalistic values into algorithm design and discusses various perspectives and methodologies for doing so.

Findings

Different journalistic viewpoints influence algorithm design choices.

Methodological approaches can effectively translate journalistic values into algorithms.

Future research should focus on contextualizing journalistic approaches and AI impacts.

Abstract

The growing adoption of algorithm-powered tools in journalism enables new possibilities and raises many concerns. One way of addressing these concerns is by integrating journalistic practices and values into the design of algorithms that facilitate different journalistic tasks, from automated content generation to news content distribution. In this chapter, we discuss how such integration can happen. To do this, we first introduce the concepts of algorithms and different perspectives on algorithm design and then scrutinize various journalistic viewpoints on the matter and methodological approaches for studying these perspectives and their translation into specific algorithm-powered journalistic tools. We conclude by discussing important directions for future research, ranging from contextualizing journalistic approaches to algorithm design to accounting for the transformative impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.