Tencent Research Institute: released the report "Shaping News: 7 Changes in Journalism in the Era of AI

Tencent Research InstituteRelease of "Shape and Shapepublic information: 7 Changes to Journalism in the Age of AI, a report that explores the impact of AI on journalism, includingAIGCPenetration, content ecology, platform shift, distribution revolution, technology substitution, audience change, local news, etc., presenting the changing trends and challenges facing journalism.

1. AIGC infiltration

• Changing workflowsGenerative AI, such as ChatGPT, has impacted the journalism industry, and many media outlets and organizations are actively applying it to improve the efficiency of gathering and editing and give rise to new platforms. For example, research by the Associated Press shows that nearly half of the practitioners have changed their workflow because of it, and the New York Times and other organizations have carried out relevant practices, while domestic media such as Xinhua News Agency have also made positive attempts.
• Impact on traditional modelsAI is revolutionizing the news production model, allowing ordinary users to become content producers and challenge traditional news authorities, but it is also exacerbating the spread of fake news, with its "illusion" problem leading to questions about the authenticity of content, such as plagiarism and errors in AI-generated articles on CNET.com.

1. content ecology

• flood of fake news: AIGC has led to a proliferation of fake news, with AI news sites such as NewsGPT generating content of questionable authenticity, and CNET, NewsGuard, and others finding large amounts of AI-generated fake news that undermines news credibility.
• Causes and responses: AIGC The problem of fake news stems from the defective information generation mechanism, strong packaging ability and unpreparedness of the journalism industry. The journalism industry should establish a verification mechanism and improve public AI media literacy, while professional organizations should provide real news to avoid "bad money driving out good money".

1. platform transfer

• The Rise of Short Video: Short-video platforms such as TikTok have become important news sources, news organizations have moved in, and their influence has changed news consumption habits, with the short-videoization of news becoming a trend, as well as spawning native news bloggers to supplement news content sources.
• Domestic situation and issuesDomestic short video news is developing rapidly but there are homogenization problems, such as the convergence of presentation forms and elements. At the same time, there is a trend of "news softening" in short video news, and the pursuit of traffic leads to the impact of depth and authenticity, but it also has a positive effect of alleviating the audience's news avoidance.

1. distribution revolution

• Social Media Adjustment: X platform tests features such as removing news headlines, reflecting its changing attitude toward news media, following the end of the honeymoon period between social media and journalism, such as Meta's discontinuation of the Facebook News service in some areas and social media algorithm tweaks affecting news exposure.
• Facing new challenges: Social media once enabled journalism to gain traffic but also changed its content production model, and now platforms are rejecting news media's "dabbling with traffic" and the rise of AIGC is impacting the content distribution landscape, such as search engines integrating AI to affect news media's traffic and revenues, and journalism is facing challenges in the future.

1. Technology substitution

• Hollywood strike: The Hollywood writers' strike over the impact of new technologies such as AI, demanding pay raises and regulating the use of AI, culminating in an agreement to protect the rights of screenwriters, such as restricting the use of AI in creative work and securing screenwriters' copyrights.
• industry shuffle: AI has impacted the news media industry, leading to layoffs and structural changes in the industry, such as Axel Springer's desire to replace journalists with AI, layoffs at the Los Angeles Times and others, and streamlining of operations at companies such as Spotify that have been impacted by AI.

1. Audience 4.0

• Become an information producer: AIGC enables the audience to shift from disseminating information to producing information, realizing identity transformation and reconfiguring production relations, such as ordinary people can generate news reports and comments with the help of AI, lowering the threshold of content production, but also impacting media organizations and possibly weakening their influence.
• Conceptual changes in public informationThe blurring of boundaries in journalism, the rise of the concept of "liquid journalism", the fluidity of journalists' and audiences' identities, and the lack of clarity about the boundaries between news and other information. Media organizations should utilize AIGC to improve efficiency, establish norms and maintain journalistic authenticity in order to cope with the onslaught.

1. Content on the ground

• Local News Decline: The decline of local news in the United States in the past 20 years, such as the closure of newspapers and the reduction of editorial staff for reasons including the impact of the Internet, the shift of advertising, and the change of audience habits, has led to the emergence of "news deserts" in the community, which has many negative impacts, such as affecting political participation and community cohesion, and so on.
• Needs and Opportunities: With strong user demand for local news, focusing on local news in the AIGC era may become a competitive advantage for media outlets, and some outlets have already begun to return to localized reporting, such as Mvskoke Media adjusting its editorial strategy and the Honolulu Citizen hosting a reader event.