The Tow Center considered the landscape for automated journalism in 2016. Their report is published in the Columbia Journalism Review.

In comparison to human-written news, the Tow report says consumers tend to rate algorithmic news as more credible but less interesting to read.

Issues of accountability and transparency persist, and audience impacts arising from increased volume and more personalization are unknown. Another area of uncertainty is using algorithms in a watchdog role.

NOTABLE ELEMENTS

• How algorithms generate news
• Three case studies (crime reporting, earthquake alerts, company earnings reports)
• Key questions and implications for journalists, consumers, news organizations, society

REPORT AUTHOR

• Andreas Graefe, research fellow at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University and at the Department of Communication Science and Media Research at LMU Munich, Germany.

SEE FULL REPORT

Guide to automated journalism | COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW | January 2016