News Is Under Attack
Large news organizations are phasing in computer-generated stories which don’t use actual human reporters.
As Agence France-Presse reports:
The new reporter on the US media scene takes no coffee breaks, churns out articles at lightning speed, and has no pension plan.
That’s because the reporter is not a person, but a computer algorithm, honed to translate raw data such as corporate earnings reports and previews or sports statistics into readable prose.
Algorithms are producing a growing number of articles for newspapers and websites ….
While computers cannot parse the subtleties of each story, they can take vast amounts of raw data and turn it into what passes for news, analysts say.
“This can work for anything that is basic and formulaic,” says Ken Doctor, an analyst with the media research firm Outsell.
And with media companies under intense financial pressure, the move to automate some news production “does speak directly to the rebuilding of the cost economics of journalism,” said Doctor.
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“Over the next 12 to 24 months, every media property will need some automation strategy,” Frederick told AFP.
To mimic the effect of the hometown newspaper, the company generates articles with a different “tonality” depending on the reader’s preference or location.
For the 2012 Super Bowl, the article for New York Giants’ fans read like this: “Hakeem Nicks had a big night, paving the way to a victory for the Giants over the Patriots, 21-17 in Indianapolis. With the victory, New York is the champion of Super Bowl XLVI.”
For New England fans, the story was different: “Behind an average day from Tom Brady, the Patriots lost to the Giants, 21-17 at home. With the loss, New England falls short of a Super Bowl ring.”
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Chicago-based Narrative Science … has 40 clients including Forbes, and some corporate clients which use the technology to take spreadsheets or other data for internal reports that are more readable.
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The “bylines” generated were made-up names, not real journalists, in the Tribune, Houston Chronicle and San Francisco Chronicle, a violation of ethics policies for the dailies.
Human journalists face additional threats. If they criticize those in power, they may be smeared by the government, targeted for arrest (and see this).
Indeed, because the core things which reporters do could be considered terrorism in modern America, they could even targeted under counter-terrorism laws.
And an al-Jazeera journalist was held at Guantánamo for six years, partly in order to be interrogated about the Arabic news network. And see this.
Of course, the government and mainstream media is doing its best to censor alternative views. Even though though SOPA and ACTA were defeated, the boys are still trying to sneak them through in various other laws. See this, this and this.
Experts who write about the truth – without any middleman – are also being harassed (and see this).
Wikileaks’ head Julian Assange could face the death penalty for his heinous crime of leaking whistleblower information which make those in power uncomfortable … i.e. being a reporter.
Former attorney general Mukasey said the U.S. should prosecute Assange because it’s “easier” than prosecuting the New York Times. But now Congress is considering a bill which would make even mainstream reporters liable for publishing leaked information (part of an all-out war on whistleblowing).
On the other hand, reporters who promote the agenda of the powers-that-be are richly rewarded. See this, this and this.
Category: Financial Press
Please use the comments to demonstrate your own ignorance, unfamiliarity with empirical data and lack of respect for scientific knowledge. Be sure to create straw men and argue against things I have neither said nor implied. If you could repeat previously discredited memes or steer the conversation into irrelevant, off topic discussions, it would be appreciated. Lastly, kindly forgo all civility in your discourse . . . you are, after all, anonymous.
Thank goodness. Newspapers and print magazines are sorry anachronisms, propaganda for hire, defenders of the status quo and political hobby shops.
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BR: Except that for the little issue of Democracy requiring a robust press to function. Other than that . . .
There is just so much formulaic writing people can take, Barry. When they bring in computers to write the copy, people will stop reading it and they won’t be able to sell papers or make any money on advertising. It’s just another case of our myopic elitiots killing the gold egg-laying goose.
Large news organizations are phasing in computer-generated stories which don’t use actual human reporters.
This immediately brings to mind an article in an evangelical Christian magazine about the British sprinter Tyson Gay, which was autocorrected apprantly without human review and printed as “Tyson Homosexual”.
“I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.”
Quoting Hal — 2001: A Space Odyssey.
See:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/quotes
PS — “Large news organizations are phasing in computer-generated stories . . . ”
Query: are we assuming that this process is being done by human beings, or is HAL already in charge?
Hmmmmm.
just wait your local TV stations (in some cases today they share reporters among the different stations is some areas already) will grab onto this and we will have virtual reporters (can see in now, same virtual ‘reporter’ on CNN,ABC.CBS and FOX, only difference is how the story is presented)
Headline generator…
(INSERT) better than expected
home sales
retail sales
auto sales
unemployment
inflation
deficit
What happened to the link to Washingtonsblog about the Al Jazeera reporter locked up six years in Guantanamo?
The blog says not found. Was that a typo on your part or was the item removed from Washingtonsblog?
This comment supports the thrust of the article, using computers to generate news, while questioning one point about how the general relationship between input and output can lead to garbage output. This comment continues by thanking the human blogger who posted the post, Washingtons blog, and also expresses ambivalence toward the source of the story in the link. In conclusion, thank you for allowing me to comment Barry Rithholtz, on your excellent blog. Venndata will be returning next week, after a brief holiday.
LET PRINT IF “word sequence” = __
DELETE “story” IF “word sequence” = __
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JohnT – “And see this.” – worked for me just now – sad on “50 ways to leave”/see the news flavor disappear
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meme in general – maybe my harping on the inflation of news (& costs of) in our culture is working .. but alas – be careful what you ask/wish for
these are interesting times for you parents out there
The media is in terrible shape. Either the “reporters” are merely bobbleheads who cheerfully take in whatever nonesense or outright lie is told to them, without any question, or the are partisan ideologues whose views on everything are predictable and absolutely unalterable. We need a show on TV or newspaper column that robustly does fact checking and keeps those interviewed honest. The media has essentially lost that quality having downsized and watered down the newsroom but which, as BR points out, is necessary to a functioning democracy.
Let the computers write the sports, obituaries, garden club reports, the latest shooting, road closings, weather, gossip “news.” Who cares? Do more fact checking and investigative reporting with the humans that remain.
I still enjoy reading what a human has discovered, facts & fallacies, and puts into an article often called news but actually a “byline,” or an opinion piece. Who, What, When, Where, Why & How seems to be a relic of the past, now that pursuit of the almighty dollar has taken-over our lives. I miss the days of being able to read the news, and avoiding opinion-columns when I chose—often, I can’t tell the difference, from some news sources. (Malevolent intent too obvious nowadays, propaganda perhaps considered too strong a word, but not by me.)
Small-town newspapers still the best for entertainment and getting along with one’s community. Largest ones, hmm…gotta be careful what one reads. “Don’t believe nothing that you hear, and only half of what you see & read,” still good advice. BR, you seem to be still getting it right, to the consternation of many people I know.
My best memory of newspapers is from a movie some decades ago. Younger feller moves to Alaska, happens to have inherited a house out on the point, and tiny town has both men as newspapermen. He’s asking, what do I write for the Headline today? The old timer looks out on the horizon, sees dark clouds, and tells him, “Storm threatens town.” The feller asks him, “What if the storm never happens?”, looking at the same clouds and pondering. The old timer tells him, “Town averts disaster from Storm.” Seems to be all about spin….
I think it is very easy to replace feelings with facts on the bigger issue of quality journalism.
Measurement tools for valuing content have been overly influenced by the click which became a somewhat outdated metric in it’s short existence. The Wired link posted by BR this am is one place to begin. Without great measurement tools basic economic reality is easily misguided. I suspect we see this in a lot of places these days.
Now this may seem like a hard turn on the topic but from even farther back, the issues we are fighting in this regard right now are all about the excess leverage of these venerable industries making it impossible for them to turn the corner, and this subject of robo writing, while it may seem inevitable, is really (IMO) just one more reflection of misallocations in the economy that require better perspective before anything can begin to correct. The internet, and easy global trade is not a giant excuse to stop producing as a nation. This meme is stretched far beyond reason. What it will do, only if we let it, is determine levels of quality better.
Not much real ‘news’ reporting going in this country anymore – for at least a couple of decades. There is no free press in the US. Best sources of news and commentary for several years has been comedians John Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Sad state of affairs.
Seaton I remember that movie as well! dcrbt@verizon.net
Mark
Tribune Company Makes Investment In Journatic
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tribune-company-makes-investment-in-journatic-148539645.html
Woopsie!
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/noad/chi-tribune-suspends-use-of-journatic-20120713,0,3361930.story
@seaton, msindc,
“The Shipping News” with Kevin Spacey, great movie !
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120824/