Week 6

Question 1

Journalistic advantages of social media

Answer 1

1. increasing audience reach
2. increasing traffic to website
3. monitoring new developments
4. personal branding
5. audience engagement

Question 2

News coverage

Answer 2

Decisions about which news stories are prioritized are still mostly made by editors

• editors as gatekeepers
• guided by professional journalistic standards
• established news values

Question 3

Algorithm platforms for news selection

Answer 3

• algorithms as gatekeepers
• they determine what’s relevant based on commercial incentives
• biased and not impartial
• filtered criteria are hidden and obscured (intellectual property)

Question 4

Algorithmic values of Facebook’s news feed

Answer 4

1. friend relationship
2. status updates
3. age of post
4. post comment
5. post likes
6. content type user
7. page relationship
8. content type network
9. post clicks
10. post shares
11. negative feedback
12. content quality

Question 5

Conclusion the power of platforms

Answer 5

1. dictate the conditions under which news is disseminated (moderating speech in our society)
2. ability to influence attention, interaction and communication (shaping public opinion)
3. lack of transparency (hidden algorithm logic)
4. recognize their commercial, algorithmic values (traditional, journalistic values)

Question 6

Filter bubbles

Answer 6

1. online algorithms only selectively show people information on what s/he would like to see
2. people get trapped in their “like-minded” information bubbles
3. isolated from different, opposing viewpoints
4. selective exposure
5. could lead to increase polarization & fragmented public debate

Question 7

Echo chambers

Answer 7

1. Similar concept as filter bubbles
2. but: why are people excluded from counter-additional information?
3. human self-selection vs algorithmic selection
4. difference in agency of selection

Question 8

Underlying mechanisms filter bubbles and echo chambers

Answer 8

1. confirmation bias

2. homophily

Question 9

Chatbot news

Answer 9

1. informing people with conversation-sized chunks of news updates
2. usually via private message platforms (messenger)
3. conversational, social and interactive way of news dissemination
4. anthropomorphism

Question 10

Conclusion chatbot news study

Answer 10

People may be more likely to accept opposing news content when it is provided by a chatbot (as a result of anthropomorphism)

Question 11

Implications chatbot news study

Answer 11

1. chatbots as critical media technologies to invite citizens to see both sides of an argument, and reflect on their own views and acquire new ones (media diversity)
2. hence, it may contribute to a more informed public discourse
3. solution to decrease polarization in our society?

Question 12

Robot journalism

Answer 12

1. algorithms that autonomously write news stories
2. usually pre-written templates (with gaps)
3. Natural Language Generation (transforms structured data into natural language)
4. results: publishable news articles
5. usually on events with a lot of data

Question 13

Advantages of robot journalism

Answer 13

1. scale (increasing amount of coverage)
2. cost efficient (cheaper than journalist labor)
3. releases journalists from repetitive tasks
4. accuracy (algorithms never get tired)
5. speed (first to break a story)
6. re-usability (for future events, elections etc)
7. unbiased account of facts?

Question 14

Conclusion study robot journalism

Answer 14

1. important phenomenon (especially as technology advances)
2. fragmented debate (pro vs con)
3. journalism should adapt to technological changes
4. new powers, new responsibilities
5. learning process