Technology in the newsroom
By Dayanara Analuisa
Technology has no limitations. As a rapidly changing society, we have taken a glimpse of what technology is capable of and it will forever shape how media is illustrated.
Technology like artificial intelligence and more sophisticated gadgets are more prominent in the journalism media world. While it is hard to keep up with the new trends, these new additions to the media are becoming more of a reality in our modern world.
Technology allows us to live our fantasy lives where robots are actually possible. The idea of artificial intelligence has been portrayed in movies and other types of media, but the majority of the population has never encountered anything like it. Artificial intelligence is useful in journalism because it gathers information quicker and more efficiently than the average journalist. This is helpful in newsrooms where the environment is fast-paced and extremely busy.
Amy Webb discussed the use of artificial intelligence and bots in the newsroom in her Future Today Institute 2019 Industry Trends: Journalism, Media, Technology. Webb demonstrated one product that she brought with her that resembled a virtual reality headset.
Although it wasn’t a finished invention she explained that this headset would allow people to search up information, and communicate with other people without leaving your home.
Although the use of this technology is beneficial to the advancement of media, it could also hinder the quality of news people receive. Bots that are found online can have a crucial role of the spread of fake news and can influence how people get their news.
According to “Berkeley students battle fake news with ‘bot buster,’ ” two juniors at the University of California were trying to find out where fake news originated from. The two went on Twitter and found out that a lot of the tweets were not from real people, but from automated bots.
“These bots are like retweeting and amplifying voices in the Twitter community that otherwise would not be as amplified,” said Ash Bhat. The danger that this can lead to is not only the spread of fake news but the ability to gain from misleading many people.
