A new research project by the Journalism, Information technologies and Media audiences (JIM) research cluster is set to investigate how the use of artificial intelligence in newsrooms might influence public trust. The project will build a collaboration with Dutch news organizations RTL Nieuws, Mediahuis, and Open Rotterdam and is funded by the Dutch Journalism Fund.
While Dutch news organizations generally enjoy high levels of public trust, this is being challenged by the rise of social media and new technologies. Young people in particular are less inclined to follow traditional news brands or pay for news, viewing it as a free component of their social media feeds. Preserving and increasing public trust is crucial for the future of news organizations, especially as search engines and social media platforms are increasingly providing information based on news content without linking back to the original source.
At the same time, generative AI is expected to play a growing role in news production, from data analysis and visualizations to the generation of news reports. While this offers significant efficiency gains, a key question is how the use of AI influences the perceived trustworthiness of news media—their most distinguishing and valuable characteristic. This project aims to provide news organizations with insights into the value the public places on the use of AI in news production and how this relates to trust, enabling them to make informed decisions about if and how they will use AI in the future.
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Read more about the Research cluster JIM on our website.
