Seminar #5. ‘Preserving the integrity of media newsrooms in the age of AI’.

When	Tuesday 16 March 2021, 13:00–14:30 CET on Zoom.
Presenters	Agnes Stenbom (Responsible Data & AI Specialist | Schibsted  & Industrial Phd Candidate | KTH, Sweden) Carl-Gustav Linden (Associate Professor, Department of Information Science and Media Studies, University of Bergen, Norway)
Abstract	The ongoing digital transformation of news media practices generates new interfaces between technology and intricate journalistic processes. In this seminar, issues on this process will be discussed with a starting point in a recent study. Stenbom’s presentation is based on the recent study “Future-proofing the Newsroom Through Integrating Skills: Reflections on a Swedish Machine Learning Experiment” (currently in peer-review). The study offers a practical illustration of an attempt to utilize machine learning to generate search engine optimized headlines in the major Swedish newsroom Aftonbladet. By using its technical results as a springboard for reflections among internal stakeholders, the experiment served as a catalyzing innovation revealing deliberations on computational approaches in journalism. This research is part of a doctoral project exploring how legacy news organisations explore and collaborate with computational technologies, all with the aim of contributing to the longevity of the journalism field and the editorial mission it serves. Lindens’ presentation is based on his recent book “Silicon Valley och makten över medierna” (eng: “Silicon Valley and the power over the media”). A starting point for the book is that democratic societies demand journalism. But journalism in the digital society cannot be organized in the same way as journalism in the pre-digital society, and instead of competing, the media must find common solutions. In this presentation, Lindén will highlight the new reality for Nordic media and illustrate why innovation and collaboration is essential. Together, these presentations will seek to inform a discussion about the new media landscape and AI in the Nordics.
Questions	How can the values of a field such as journalism be represented in AI applications? Do we expect AI applications in traditionally purpose-driven fields such as journalism to behave differently than such from new market entrants?
Recommended texts	Linden, C.-G. (2020). Silicon Valley och makten över medierna. https://doi.org/10.48335/9789188855350 Broussard, Meredith, Diakopoulos, Nicholas, Guzman, Andrea L., Abebe, Rediet, Dupagne, Michel, and Ching Hua Chuan. “Artificial Intelligence and Journalism.” 2019. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 96 (3): 673–695. DOI: 0.1177/1077699019859901