“Guardians of the Truth”: Journalists’ Resistance to the Algorithmization of Journalism
Jan KREFT
Gdańsk University of Technology , Polandhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-9294-7175
Monika BOGUSZEWICZ-KREFT
WSB University in Gdańsk , Polandhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-4129-8424
Mariana FYDRYCH
Jagiellonian University, Cracow , Polandhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-7706-9792
Abstract
Regardless of the term used, be it “robot journalism,” “automated journalism,” “algorithmic journalism” or “machine-written journalism,” the process of automatic content creation and distribution is progressing in the newsrooms. Meanwhile, exercising control over the creation and distribution of news is considered a fundamental element of journalists’ professional identity. The article presents the results of research on the perception of algorithmic content creation conducted among journalists in the context of their professional values and identity. The research was conducted with a qualitative method using a semi-structured interview technique with 18 journalists employed in leading Polish media. According to the study, algorithmic journalism is perceived by journalists primarily in the context of posing a threat to the fundamental journalistic principle of providing true information: what they bring to the fore is the potential for creating and spreading fake news. The respondents, who defended their journalistic professional identity, compared the disadvantages of algorithmic journalism with the unique competences of “human” journalists, perceiving the latter as advocates of concern for the quality standards of social discourse and as “guardians of the truth”.
Keywords:
truth, post-truth, journalistic identity, algorithmic journalismReferences
Boczkowski, Pablo J. Digitizing the News: Innovation in Online Newspapers. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2015.
Broersma, Marcel. “The Unbearable Limitations of Journalism.” International Communication Gazette 72, no. 1 (2010): 21–33.
Carlson, Matt. “News Algorithms, Photojournalism and the Assumption of Mechanical Objectivity in Journalism.” Digital Journalism 7, no. 8 (2019): 1117–33.
———. “The Robotic Reporter: Automated Journalism and the Redefinition of Labor, Compositional Forms, and Journalistic Authority.” Digital Journalism 3, no. 3 (2015): 416–31.
Chyliński, Marek. “Prawda jako zasada dyskursu dziennikarskiego.” Zarządzanie w Kulturze 15, no. 2 (2014): 151–67.
Cohen-Cole, Jamie. The Open Mind: Cold War Politics and the Sciences of Human Nature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013.
Dalen, Arjen van. “The Algorithms behind the Headlines: How Machine-Written News Redefines the Core Skills of Human Journalists”. Journalism Practice 6, no. 5–6 (2012): 648–58.
Deuze, Mark. “The Changing Context of News Work: Liquid Journalism for a Monitorial Citizenry”. International Journal of Communication 2 (2008): 848–65.
Diakopoulos, Nicholas. “Algorithmic Accountability”. Digital Journalism 3, no. 3 (2015): 398–415.
Diakopoulos, Nicholas, and Michael Koliska. “Algorithmic Transparency in the News Media.” Digital Journalism 5, no. 7 (2017): 809–28.
Ekström, Mats, Seth C. Lewis, and Oscar Westlund. “Epistemologies of Digital Journalism and the Study of Misinformation”. New Media & Society 22, no. 2 (2020): 205–12.
Ekström, Mats, and Oscar Westlund. “The Dislocation of News Journalism: A Conceptual Framework for the Study of Epistemologies of Digital Journalism.” Media and Communication 7, no. 1 (2019): 259–70.
Esterberg, Kristin G. Qualitative Methods in Social Research. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2002.
Ferrucci, Patrick, and Tim Vos. “Who’s in, Who’s out? Constructing the Identity of Digital Journalists.” Digital Journalism 5, no. 7 (2017): 868–83.
Flader, Maciej. ”Postprawda jako efekt błędnego poszukiwania prawdy.” Teologia i Człowiek 44, no. 4 (2019): 41.
Gelfert, Axel. “Fake News: A Definition”. Informal Logic 38, no. 1 (2018): 84–117.
Jung, Jaemin, Haeyeop Song, Youngju Kim, Hyunsuk Im, and Sewook Oh. “Intrusion of Software Robots into Journalism: The Public’s and Journalists’ Perceptions of News Written by Algorithms and Human Journalists.” Computers in Human Behavior 71 (2017): 291–98.
Kaczmarek, Mirosława, Iwona Olejnik, and Agnieszka Springer. Badania jakościowe – metody i zastosowania. Warszawa: CeDeWu, 2018.
Konarska, Katarzyna. “Media i prawda—czy mit prawdy?” Colloquia Anthropologica et Communicativa 3 (2011): 203–12.
———. The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2007.
Kreft, Jan. Władza algorytmów: U źródeł potęgi Google i Facebooka. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, 2019.
———. Władza platform: Za fasadą Google, Facebooka i Spotify. Kraków: Universitas, 2022.
Kreiner, Glen E., Elaine C. Hollensbe, and Mathew L. Sheep. “Where Is the ‘Me’ Among the ‘We’? Identity Work and the Search for Optimal Balance.” Academy of Management Journal 49, no. 5 (2006): 1031–57.
Lasorsa, Dominic L., Seth C. Lewis, and Avery E. Holton. “Normalizing Twitter.” Journalism Studies 13, no. 1 (2012): 19–36.
Latar Lemelshtrich, Noam. “The Robotic Journalist in The Age of Social Physics: The End of Human Journalism?” In The New World of Transitioned Media. Edited by Gali Einav. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2015.
Lewis, Seth C. “The Tension between Professional Control and Open Participation.” Information, Communication & Society 15, no. 6 (2012): 836–66.
Marr, Bernard. “How Much Data Do We Create Every Day? The Mind-Blowing Stats Everyone Should Read.” Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/05/21/how-much-data-do-we-create-every-day-the-mind-blowing-stats-everyone-should-read/?sh=6ab9ca4c60ba.
Milosavljević, Marko, and Igor Vobič. “Human Still in the Loop: Editors Reconsider the Ideals of Professional Journalism Through Automation.” Digital Journalism 7, no. 8 (2019): 1098–116.
Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries, s.v. “Post-truth.” Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023, https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/post-truth.
Patton, Michael Quinn. Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage, 2002.
Perreault, Gregory P., and Patrick Ferrucci. “What Is Digital Journalism? Defining the Practice and Role of the Digital Journalist.” Digital Journalism 8, no. 10 (2020): 1298–316.
Rubin, Victoria L., Yimin Chen, and Nadia K. Conroy. “Deception Detection for News: Three Types of Fakes.” Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology 52, no. 1 (2015): 1–4.
Schudson, Michael, and Chris Anderson. “News Production and Organizations: Professionalism, Objectivity and Truth-Seeking.” In The Handbook of Journalism Studies. Edited by K. Wahl-Jorgensen and T Hanitzch, 88–101. New York: Routledge, 2009.
Susskind, Richard, and Daniel Susskind. The Future of the Professions: How Technology Will Transform the Work of Human Experts. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015.
Tajfel, Henri, and John C. Turner. “The Social Identity Theory of Intergroup Behavior.” In Psychology of Intergroup Relations. Edited by Stephen Worchel and William G. Austin. Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1986.
Tandoc, Edson C., Joy Jenkins, and Stephanie Craft. “Fake News as a Critical Incident in Journalism.” Journalism Practice 13, no. 6 (2019): 673–89.
Thurman, Neil, Konstantin Dörr, and Jessica Kunert. “When Reporters Get Hands-on with Robo-Writing: Professionals Consider Automated Journalism’s Capabilities and Consequences.” Digital Journalism 5, no. 10 (2017): 1240–59.
Trybulec, Barbara. “Podmiot czy agent? Rozumienie podmiotowości w erze artefaktów poznawczych.” Filozofia i Nauka 2, no. 8 (2020): 89–115.
Waisbord, Silvio. “Truth Is What Happens to News.” Journalism Studies 19, no. 13 (2018): 1866–78.
Witschge, Tamara, and Gunnar Nygren. “Journalistic Work: A Profession under Pressure?” Journal of Media Business Studies 6, no. 1 (2009): 37–59.
Young, Mary Lynn, and Alfred Hermida. “From Mr. and Mrs. Outlier to Central Tendencies: Computational Journalism and Crime Reporting at the Los Angeles Times.” Digital Journalism 3, no. 3 (2015): 381–97.
Zelizer, Barbie. “When Facts, Truth, and Reality Are God-terms: On Journalism’s Uneasy Place in Cultural Studies.” Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies 1, no. 1 (2004): 100–19.
