Artificial intelligence in RTVE at the service of empty Spain. News coverage project with automated writing for the 2023 municipal elections

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2023-1550

Keywords:

Artificial Intelligence, automated news writing, empty Spain, RTVE, innovation, municipal elections, journalistic narratives

Abstract

Introduction: Automated news writing is one of the technological advances that raises most questions, but also expectations, within the application of artificial intelligence in the media. Currently, RTVE (Radio Televisión Española) is working on a pilot project together with the company Narrativa Inteligencia Artificial to cover the municipal elections of 2023 in the areas that are part of the so-called empty Spain. A project that contemplates the automatic writing of news by a technological tool that interprets and transforms the election results and turns them into news without human intervention. Methodology: This work is based on the systematic review of existing literature on the subject and is a case study in which open interviews have been conducted with four of the managers of the companies mentioned. Discussion and results: A pioneering, state-of-the-art initiative in which RTVE, using technology as a lever, aims to increase the dissemination and reach of news in regions with scarce journalistic coverage. Conclusions: The artificial intelligence applied to journalism leads to competitiveness, flexibility, fluidity and fast. This paradigm shift for the profession must have its limits in a code of ethics that rules this innovative way of automating the writing of news. Nevertheless, its proper use will allow, as in this case, to integrate and vertebrate territories, with news formats adapted to each target audience.

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Author Biographies

Luisa Graciela Aramburú Moncada, Universidad de Sevilla

Luisa Aramburú Moncada has a Ph.D. in Journalism from the Universidad de Sevilla and a Master's degree in Journalism from the Universidad San Martín de Porres (Lima, Peru). She is currently a professor at the Faculty of Communication in Seville, where she has taught the subjects of Journalistic Genres and Styles and Theory of Journalism. She has also been a professor at the Faculty of Communication Sciences at the Universidad San Martín de Porres and has participated as a visiting professor at the Pontificia Universidad Católica and Bausate y Meza (both in Lima-Peru). She is a journalist with extensive experience in various media in Peru, from the written press to Peruvian television. Her lines of research are in the field of journalism and new technologies.

Isaac López Redondo, Universidad de Sevilla

Isaac López-Redondo is a journalist and professor at the Faculty of Communication in Seville. He has worked in media such as El Correo de Andalucía, El Día de Córdoba, or Canal Sur Televisión. Since 2012, he has a Ph.D. in journalism with a thesis on the treatment of videogames in the written and digital press. In 2014 he founded the Héroes de Papel publishing house, where he has edited and corrected nearly a hundred works dedicated to video games and popular culture. He is the author of numerous papers, conferences, and scientific articles on journalistic narratives and video games. He is also the author of the books Cosas que cuentan, ¿Qué es un videojuego? and La certeza de empezar: Antología de textos periodísticos. He has also coordinated La mirada del periodista.

Antonio López Hidalgo, Universidad de Sevilla

Antonio López Hidalgo is a journalist and Professor of Journalism at the Faculty of Communication at the University of Seville. He is the Director of the Department of Journalism II and the director of the "Journalistic Narratives and Emerging Technologies" Research Group. In 1990 he published, together with Juan Emilio Ballesteros, El sindicato clandestino de la Guardia Civil, a book for which he was prosecuted and later acquitted. As a result of his academic research, the titles La entrevista. Entre la información y la creatividad; Las entrevistas periodísticas de José María Carretero; El titular; Géneros periodísticos complementarios; Periodismo de inmersión para desenmascarar la realidad-written jointly with Mª Ángeles Fernández Barrero-; El periodismo que contará el futuro, or the international volume under his coordination Periodismo narrativo en América Latina, stand out.

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Published

2023-01-02

How to Cite

Aramburú Moncada, L. G. ., López Redondo, I., & López Hidalgo, A. . (2023). Artificial intelligence in RTVE at the service of empty Spain. News coverage project with automated writing for the 2023 municipal elections. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, (81), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2023-1550

Issue

Section

Public media and digital ecosystem

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