Can Robots Write Newsworthy Content?

Not without the help of humans...so far.

This article is letter (N) of our “Automation Brand" series where we write an article for each letter of the phrase. “Automation Brand" finds all the ways automation benefits marketing. Find links to more articles in the series below.

Did you know the last breaking news article you just read may have been written by a robot?

Robot reporting. News bots. Robot journalism. It goes by many names, but the concept is the same – using automation technology to generate news stories.

Will Robots Replace Reporters?

One example comes from the Reporters and Data and Robots (RADAR) Project. Radar is a collaborative between Urbs Media and the UK’s leading news agency, the Press Association. Google’s Digital News Initiative funds Radar as well as other innovative news industries in Europe.

Radar made several discoveries in their process to automatically generate newsworthy content. First, they mined open data (data available for open use). They original set out to help local news journalists who are bogged down by creating click-worthy articles.

But they found it productive to centrally work from a large amount of data, rather than individual reporters working from their own small stash of data.

Radar used natural language generation (NLG) and built new templates for each data-set. Both processes were previously underutilized in journalism. Automated news is now a known commodity. We have advanced to the digital world of new reporting.

Reporters And Coding

The most important discovery? The best results come from a combination of automation and a human reporter. “Automation can deliver a mass of copy, but the nose for a story, the context of what is newsworthy and the skill of the writing great copy are still best delivered by a reporter.”

What exactly does the term reporters and coding mean? Most reporters are not interested in building a mobile application or learning machine language. They may need to discuss how to learn the art of data analysis and advanced search algorithms.

Now reporters are going through tests to see whether they can become part of the connected AI, automation and human reporter world. They are trained how to integrate those sources and deal with data ethically including journalists classics such as census, campaign finance and BLS data.

Sniff Out These 6 Values For Newsworthy Content

We know how robot reporting works. But how do human reporters create newsworthy content? Without these eight values, automation-generated news won’t connect to its intended audience – people.

1. Timing – Put the NEW in news. People read the news to find out what’s new in the world.

2. Impact – Why should your audience care? How will it impact their lives?

3. Prominence – Why are you telling your audience this? More prominent people will make the news. You breaking your arm won’t make global headlines, but the Queen of England breaking her arm will.

4. Proximity – Proximity doesn’t only mean geographical distance. It makes more sense for people to hear news from a culturally similar place. For example, Australians may be more interested in hearing about what is going on in America than in Asia.

5. Trending – Is your content current currently popular?

6. Human Interest – People are interested by other people. Does your content appeal to the audience on an emotional level?

Word Up:

While you may not have automated content creation at your disposal yet, you can definitely apply the six lessons for creating value to your content creation! In the future, artificial intelligence automation and humans will work together to create the best content.

sources: mediacollege forbes niemanlab.org sciencedaily nytimes

This article is part of our “Automation Brand” series where we write an article for each letter of the phrase. “Automation Brand” finds all the ways automation benefits marketing.

Click below to read more articles in the “Automation Brand” series:

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