Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism

Broadcast radio is facing an existential question: can it survive in the digital era, when young audiences don’t know what FM and AM mean? Tech company Futuri Media says they can revitalize local radio using AI. Tech company Futuri Media says they’ve created a tool that can do everything local radio does via AI including local news, interviews, music, and weather and traffic reports. For the final episode of our series on AI and the Future of Audio, host Gretel Kahn speaks with the CEO of Futuri Media, Daniel Anstandig.

Read a transcript here: https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/it-possible-build-local-radio-station-powered-ai-tech-ceo-says-so

How do you best integrate AI in your news strategy as a public service broadcasting organisation? That is a question that Swedish Radio has been pondering and tackling first hand for the past year. Swedish broadcasting organization, Swedish Radio, has been a pioneer when it comes to innovation in the audio space with AI as they have been reshaping audio news production and curation teams for the age of artificial intelligence since before the mass interest in the technology. Host Gretel Kahn spoke with spoke with Olle Zachrison, Head of Artificial Intelligence and News Strategy at Swedish Radio, on how they embrace the technology without succumbing to the hype.

Read a transcript here: https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/how-swedish-radio-balances-journalism-and-ai-without-succumbing-hype

Mexican news organisation 'Grupo Fórmula' has created an AI news anchor to attract younger audiences. Host Gretel Kahn spoke with Oswaldo Aguilar Castro, Director of Technology and AI Infrastructure. An AI news presenter named NAT is one of several synthetic news anchors created by Mexican broadcasting group Grupo Fórmula to attract younger audiences. Host Gretel Kahn spoke with Oswaldo Aguilar Castro, Director of Technology and AI Infrastructure at Grupo Fórmula, on how they trained NAT, feedback from audiences and whether she poses a challenge to human news anchors.

Read a transcript here: https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/meet-nat-ai-generated-presenter-offering-soft-news-mexican-audiences

On April 27 2023, artificial intelligence took over a radio station in francophone Switzerland, the voices were AI clones of their real hosts, everything they said were scripts generated by AI, and even the music played was aggregated and composed by AI. On April 27 2023, artificial intelligence completely took over the Couleur 3 radio station in Switzerland. The voices were AI clones of their real hosts, everything they said were scripts generated by AI, and even the music played was aggregated and composed by AI. Host Gretel Kahn spoke with the station’s head, Antoine Multone.

Transcript: https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/day-ai-clones-took-over-swiss-radio-station

Can AI write better short stories than a human writer? This is the questions at the heart of the Digital Writer project from Czech Radio. Since 2020, Czech Radio has been experimenting with generative AI tools, particularly ChatGPT, to see what it would sound like when AI meets human creativity. The result has been four seasons of their ongoing podcast series called Digital Writer. To find out more about the project, host Gretel Kahn spoke to Anna Vošalíková. She is the Chief Dramaturg in charge of digital content at Czech Radio.

A transcript of this epsiode can be found here: https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/when-ai-meets-creative-writing-audio-experiment-czech-radio

What drives trust in news and how do different audiences think about this. In this final episode of our Digital News Report 2024 series, we look at a complex and often controversial subject which is trust in news. We look at what trust in news means, how this varies by different audiences and socio-economic status, and what factors drive trust in news.

Speakers:

Rasmus Nielsen is co-author of the Digital News Report, Director of the Reuters Institute and Professor of Political Communication at the University of Oxford. His work focuses on changes in the news media, political communication, and the role of digital technologies in both.

Our host Federica Cherubini is Director of Leadership Development at the Reuters Institute. She is an expert in newsroom operations and organisational change, with more than ten years of experience spanning major publishers, research institutes and editorial networks around the world.

Find a full transcript here: https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/our-podcast-digital-news-report-2024-episode-6-how-audiences-think-about-trust-news

What explains the rise of news influencers and who are the most popular? In this episode of our Digital News Report 2024 podcast series, we look at the rise of news influencers, the platforms where they are prevalent and why some audiences are flocking to them. We look at which figures people pay attention to most and what it means for traditional news media.

Speakers:

Nic Newman is the lead author of the Digital News Report and is a Senior Research Associate at the Reuters Institute. He is also a consultant on digital media, working actively with news companies on product, audience, and business strategies for digital transition. He writes an annual report for the Institute on future media and technology trends.

Our host Federica Cherubini is Director of Leadership Development at the Reuters Institute. She is an expert in newsroom operations and organisational change, with more than ten years of experience spanning major publishers, research institutes and editorial networks around the world.

Find a full transcript here: https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/our-podcast-digital-news-report-2024-episode-5-rise-news-influencers

How much money are people paying for news around the world? In this episode of our Digital News Report 2024 podcast series, we look at how much money people pay for news and how this compares to the ‘full ticket’ price. We look at payment trends around the world, the various ways news organisations price their subscriptions, and how much non-subscribers say they would be prepared to pay for news.

See our website for a full transcript: https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/our-podcast-digital-news-report-2024-episode-4-how-much-people-pay-news

The speakers:

Craig T. Robertson is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. His research focus includes news trust and credibility, fact-checking and verification, and how both partisan attitudes and epistemic beliefs factor into these domains. He is the author of the Digital News Report 2024 chapter into how much people pay for online news https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2024/how-much-do-people-pay-online-news-what-might-encourage-others-pay

Our host Federica Cherubini is Director of Leadership Development at the Reuters Institute. She is an expert in newsroom operations and organisational change, with more than ten years of experience spanning major publishers, research institutes and editorial networks around the world.

What do news audiences actually say they want from news? In this episode of our Digital News Report 2024 series, we look at what people say they want from news. Do audiences want more than to just be informed and updated? Are they looking to be entertained or inspired? We speak to an author of the DNR who has explored this issue in a special chapter, and ask what the news media could be doing to address any perceived gaps in how they are delivering the news.

Speakers:

Richard Fletcher is Director of Research at the Reuters Institute. He is primarily interested in global trends in digital news consumption, comparative media research, the use of social media by journalists and news organisations, and more broadly, the relationship between technology and journalism. He is the author of a Digital News Report chapter on what news audiences want from news.

Our host Federica Cherubini is Director of Leadership Development at the Reuters Institute. She is an expert in newsroom operations and organisational change, with more than ten years of experience spanning major publishers, research institutes and editorial networks around the world.

A full transcript can be found here: https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/our-podcast-digital-news-report-2024-episode-3-what-people-want-news

In this episode of our Digital News Report 2024 series, we explore what people think about the use of AI in journalism. In this episode of our Digital News Report 2024 series, we explore what people think about the use of AI in journalism. We look at how AI is being used in newsrooms, levels of comfort that people have with AI and journalism, and questions around transparency and trust when it comes to AI

Guest: Amy Ross Arguedas is a Postdoctoral Researcher Fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and works on the Digital News Project. Amy completed her M.A. and Ph.D. in the Media, Technology, and Society program in the Department of Communication Studies at Northwestern University in 2020. Prior to pursuing her doctorate, Amy worked as a journalist for five years at the Costa Rican newspaper La Nación, where she covered various different beats.

Host: Our host Federica Cherubini is Director of Leadership Development at the Reuters Institute. She is an expert in newsroom operations and organisational change, with more than ten years of experience spanning major publishers, research institutes and editorial networks around the world.

A full transcript can be found on our website: https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/our-podcast-digital-news-report-2024-episode-2-public-attitudes-about-ai-and-journalism