The Challenges of Journalism in the Age of AI: Information Disorders, Social Gaps and New Opportunities

Dear Colleagues,

The emergence of new generative AI tools has transformed the media landscape. Its adoption seems to be rapid and inevitable, and will transversally affect all areas of news production, distribution, and consumption.

For media, this new stage in the digitalization process that has transformed the media ecosystem in recent decades presents challenges and opportunities. On the one hand, the adoption of AI can allow for the optimization of media resources to render them more efficient and avoid the economic difficulties they face, as well as generate new professional profiles and offer new possibilities for connecting with their audiences. These changes could also be beneficial for professionals since journalists could eventually be freed from more routine tasks, and these changes could even improve the conditions under which they prepare information.

On the other hand, for professionals, the incorporation of AI can also pose risks of job insecurity and job cuts, and, as concerns audiences, it can incorporate new biases and gaps in information and increase exposure to information disorders or polarization.

Given this technological development led by the largest technological platforms, it is interesting to redirect attention away from technocentric perspectives and instead reflect on the social impact that the implementation of AI will have on media professionals, on the production and distribution of news, and on audiences.

For these reasons, this Special Issue analyzes the way in which new technological advances influence information disorders or digital divides, either combating them or contributing to their increase. In this Special Issue, analyzing the impact of the adoption of AI in the field of media as well as on actors in the information process is proposed, with special focus on journalists themselves and audiences in particular.

Prof. Dr. Simón Peña-Fernández
Prof. Dr. Ainara Larrondo-Ureta
Prof. Dr. Koldobika Meso-Ayerdi
Guest Editors

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• AI
• information disorders
• polarization
• social gaps
• journalism
• social media
• news
• algorithms
• audiences