Automated sports coverage. Case study of bot released by The Washington Post during the Río 2016 and PyeongChang 2018 Olympics

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2019-1407

Keywords:

Automated journalism, robot journalism, artificial intelligence, sports journalism, match reports

Abstract

Introduction. Around thirty relevant international media outlets already apply artificial intelligence to automation of news. AP and Reuters agencies and The Washington Post stand out here as pioneers. Hypothesis and objectives. Bots and algorithms are more and more used in sport coverages thanks to a lot of structured data and cyclic pattern of tournaments. Methodology. A case study of bot created by TheWashington Post to cover 2016 and 2018 Olympics on Twitter. Results. A bot helps news outlets speed up their coverage of events in real time: flashes, results of events, top medal tallies and alerts. Conclusion. Artificial intelligence turns to be effective for sports coverage purposes and supplements the work of reporters, who can focus more on creation rather than on automation.

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Author Biography

José Luis Rojas Torrijos, University of Sevilla

José Luis Rojas Torrijos holds a PhD in Journalism. Member of the Communication & Social Sciences (COM&SOC) research group of the Department of Journalism II of the University of Seville. Professor in the MA programmes in Innovation in Journalism, of the Miguel Hernández University of Elche; in Sports Journalism, of the Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona; in Communication and Sports Journalism, of the European University of Madrid (EMU); in Sports Journalism, of Marca newspaper-CEU San Pablo University; and in Sports Journalism of the Catholic University of Murcia (UCAM), among others.

Former Professor in the bachelor’s degree in Journalism of the EUSA University Centre. Speaker and director of conferences and seminars related to specialised journalism. Visiting professor at the Gabriel García Márquez Foundation for New Ibero-American Journalism (FNPI), of Cartagena de Indias (Colombia), in the Press and Democracy Programme (PRENDE), of the Ibero-American University of Mexico City. Participant in the International Sports Journalism Symposium of the José Martí Institute in Havana (Cuba).

Sports journalism and style books are the focus of his research work, including his doctoral thesis (2010) and four books: La información y el deporte (Aconcagua Libros, 2005), Libros de estilo y periodismo global en español (Tirant lo Blanch, 2011), Periodismo deportivo de calidad (Fragua, 2011) and Alto y Claro. Guía de pronunciación para la cobertura de grandes eventos deportivos internacionales (Visión Libros, 2013). Coordinator of the handbook Periodismo deportivo de manual (Tirant, 2017), which had the participation of 16 professors from 10 universities from 4 countries. Co-author of the style book of SER network (Libro de estilo de la Cadena SER).

Former style advisor for SER network (Prisa Radio) and journalistic quality and innovation advisor in Marca newspaper (Editorial unit).

Author of the academic blog on quality sports journalism Periodismo Deportivo de Calidad http://periodismodeportivodecalidad.blogspot.com

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Published

2019-11-05

How to Cite

Rojas Torrijos, J. L. (2019). Automated sports coverage. Case study of bot released by The Washington Post during the Río 2016 and PyeongChang 2018 Olympics. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, (74), 1729–1747. https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2019-1407

Issue

No. 74 (2019)

Section

Miscellaneous
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Scopus
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Europe PMC

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