A study on Algorithmic Journalism and its impact on the Newsroom in Sri Lanka (specifically for the newspaper media)

Abstract

The study seeks to assess the influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Algorithmic Journalism on news production in the newspaper industry in Sri Lanka, thereby filling a gap in empirical studies within this context. With the rapid development and expansion of Digital Media, various AI applications, including Automatic Content Generation, Data Journalism, and Natural Language Generating (NLG), are affecting news production. However, little is known about the implications for Sri Lankan Media Professionals in this context. The study is based on a quantitative study that used a structured questionnaire for 100 media professionals working in newspaper institutions in Sri Lanka. The results were analysed using SPSS for quantitative analysis and NVivo for qualitative patterns in the use of AI tools. The results show that the study established that the adoption and influence of AI on news production in Sri Lanka is moderate to high, at 70%, while the study also established that the levels of awareness among Media Professionals in Sri Lanka were mostly moderate. Furthermore, the regression analysis has proved the significance of the model, with an R² value of 0.539 and significance level of less than 0.001. This points to the fact that perceptions of AI, such as job threats, productivity, and content originality, along with project rates, are significant factors in the determination of professional roles. The research has also pointed out the dual perception of AI, where it is considered both an efficiency enhancer and the source of professional uncertainty. The analysis of the data using NVivo has pointed out the high concentration of AI tool usage, with ChatGPT being the most dominant. Variations in the adoption of AI tools are also visible, with higher adoption rates being found in the cases of designers and technical staff compared to journalists. English proficiency is also an important factor. However, AI has not replaced human creativity, but has remodelled it in the media sector.