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Friday, November 11
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PS 080
'Robo-Journalism' Goes Multimedia: Viewers' Perceptions of Computer-Generated News Video
N. Thurman
1
, C. Monzer
1
1
LMU Munich, Institute for Communication Science and Media Research, Munich, Germany
Algorithms have been supplementing and replacing human decision-making in areas such as finance and in e-commerce for some time. For example,
'algo-trading' is responsible for the majority of equity trading in the US. Automation is now also being integrated into the detection, production, and
distribution of news. In the domain of news production so-called 'robo-journalism', where news stories are generated automatically from structured data
feeds, has garnered a significant amount of press attention and, also, some preliminary academic research.That research has, however, only been concerned
with journalism in written form. It has not addressed the emergence of computer-generated news videos, which are being distributed by news organi‑
sations in countries including Argentina, India, and Spain. This study extends, for the first time, research on robo-journalism to the audio-visual medium.
An experimental research methodology was used to determine viewers' perceptions of computer-generated news video. Two 'entertainment news' videos
of similar length, style, and content were sourced. The first was from a supplier of computer-generated news videos and the second (the control) was a hu‑
man-produced video from an online news website.Thirty-five participants were recruited and shown one or other of the videos. Afterwards they completed
a survey that asked them to rate the video they watched on 15 dimensions of quality, split into three broad categories: journalistic content, watchability,
and credibility. The results were analysed using the Mann-Whitney test. The results show that the computer-generated video was rated more highly than
the human-produced video in 12 of the 15 dimensions, with a statistically significant difference in the dimensions of 'accuracy' and 'trustworthiness'. For
three characteristics the human-produced video scored higher, but the differences in the ratings were not statistically significant. When the individual di‑
mensions of quality in each broad category were combined, it was found that, although the computer-generated video scored higher in all three categories,
only the difference in 'credibility' was statistically significant. This study shows that differences in viewers' perceptions of computer- and human-produced
news video are small. For most dimensions of quality the differences were statistically insignificant, with the exception of 'accuracy' and 'trustworthiness',
where the computer-generated video scored higher. Although these results may be surprising to some, they are in line with previous research on readers'
perceptions of computer-generated journalism in written form. Our results differ from previous research and analysis in two ways. Firstly, they show that,
unlike with text, when algorithms generate news in the audio-visual medium the results are not considered to be more 'boring' than the human-made
equivalent. Secondly, they demonstrate that robo-journalism has potential in softer areas of news, such as entertainment, and not only in areas such as
sports and finance which, with their readily available feeds of structured data, have been the focus of most algorithmically generated news thus far. More
widely this study raises questions about the consequences of the availability of huge volumes of cheap-to-produce news video on the choices both news
publishers and end-users will make about what kind of stories to publish and consume.
PS 081
The Social Role of Literary Reportage in Poland After 1989
M. Piechota
1
1
Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Department of Social Communication- Faculty of Political Science, Lublin, Poland
Literary reportage is a genre which has occupied a special position in Polish writing for more than a hundred years. After Poland regained its independence
in 1918, authors–reporters such as Melchior Wańkowicz and Ksawery Pruszyński helped their compatriots understand the ongoing transformation, identi‑
fied problems and explained the unknown and foreign. Already at that time, this kind of reportage became part of non-fiction, positioned among diaries,
memoirs and epistolography. However, while these three genres represent personal writing, reportage allows for superimposing a subjective perspective
onto an objective view of facts based on social mechanisms of cognition. The status of reportage as a genre changed during the period of People’s Republic
of Poland, when publications were censored and used for communist propaganda. In this setting, masters such as Ryszard Kapuściński, Hanna Krall and
Małgorzata Szejnert were able to develop their own styles of writing characterized by a deeply human perspective and an ability to say much despite
the political restrictions. After the turning point of 1989, literary reportage in Poland was freed from censorship and propaganda.The genre became an area
for various structural experiments and authorial exploration. At the same time it proved capable of capturing very deep and rapid changes in the way of life,
social relationships and the hierarchy of values. All these problems of Polish reality feature in pieces of reportage by authors such as Iwona Morawska,
Mariusz Szczygieł, Wojciech Tochman, Włodzimierz Nowak, Lidia Ostałowska, Jacek Hugo-Bader, Katarzyna Surmiak-Domańska, Ewa Winnicka and many
others. They can be called the„third generation of the Polish school of reportage”, which has, in a way, chronicled the over 25 years in which a new Polish
identity has been constructed after the long years of communism. This school of reportage has become something of a mirror in which Polish readers can
see themselves as they are, free from accusation or mockery, but also from a new propaganda of success. The crash course in democracy proved to be a very
bitter lesson for Polish people; it undermined the authority of many figures and broke down various taboos. In that time of change, reporters were instru‑
mental in giving voice to those who did not have one in the mass media.The most recent period in Polish literary reportage has showed the vast possibilities
of this genre. Reporters can inform their readers and assist them in understanding reality, they can be explorers of the non-obvious and therapists for those
who do not understand themselves or the world around them. They can also educate, create an intellectual community, mediate and help in acute social
problems. My presentation will be focused on all of these kinds of roles played by contemporary literary reportage in Poland.This investigation will be based
on genology and an analysis of media discourse.