Spanish media coverage of journalistic artificial intelligence: relevance, topics and framing

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a much-discussed topic due to its implementation in many areas, including journalism. This article examines the coverage of journalistic AI in Spanish written media, in particular the relevance allocated to it, the topics that are addressed, and the framing from which it is approached. Quantitative content analysis and statistical analysis were used. Although journalistic AI only appears as the main topic in a third of cases, it is increasingly present, it is distributed across more sections, and it mostly appears in self-written articles. Despite informative texts prevailing, journalists author the majority of interpretative and practically all opinion pieces, thus increasing knowledge and promoting public debate. They deal largely with the most widespread application of AI, which is news automation, ranking well above the issues of job loss and ethics. Although journalistic AI is generally framed from a perspective of its benefits rather than from its risks, some recent changes are observed: growing concern about its dangers and its ethical implications; the detection of numerous pieces with a Personal Frame, where journalists reflect on their profession and the use of ChatGPT; and the growing relevance of the Episodic Frame as specific AI products develop. This study could have examined all types of media, although that approach would have gone beyond the exploratory nature of this pioneering research. With this work we extend scientific production on journalistic AI in Spain, where this perspective has not been analysed.