Bytes, bias, and bylines : examining AI and the Fourth Estate

Abstract: This thesis examines the development and deployment of artificial intelligence technologies in news media organisations. Here a framework is proposed to analyse new AI and digital technologies and their introduction within the news media and journalism sphere. The framework consists of three stages: applications and implications, and actors (AAI). The first stage of applications considers the technology itself, including how it is used, defined, and perceived, as well as potential obstacles to its implementation within news organisations. The second stage explores actors involved in the introduction of AI technologies at an organisational level, examining the organisational and institutional structures and relationships that may guide and govern their approach to developing and deploying AI technologies. Finally, the implications stage examines the considerations that must be taken in developing AI, its effects on individual organisations, across the news media industry, and on wider society, and looks to developing regulation. This framework is demonstrated via a comprehensive literature review and in analysis using data collected via qualitative expert interviews with seven key actors in AI from five eminent global media news organisations and one non-profit coalition. Interview participants included the Head of Technology Forecasting at the BBC; the Local News AI Program Manager at the Associated Press; an AI and ML engineer from SVT; both the CTO and another senior technology manager at RTÈ; the Head of Cloud, Analytics, and Insight at Al Jazeera; and the AI and Media Integrity Program Lead at Partnership for AI. The findings of this work prove that AI is not a hypothetical future possibility for news organisations, but rather a technology currently being developed and deployed in newsrooms and organisations globally. The empirical data is intended to demonstrate the functions of a framework motivating new pathways for research that can, piece-by-piece, further our understanding of emerging artificial intelligence technologies and establish methods of academic study and insight. Ultimately this thesis contributes to the growing body of literature on the intersection of artificial intelligence and news media by illustrating the field’s current landscape, demonstrating the effectiveness and applicability of the AAI framework, and indicating the steps organisations can take in the facilitation of the responsible and efficient adoption and integration of AI.