The Social Construction of News Automation and the User Experience

This paper examines the role of the social representations and cultural practices of journalists in shaping the uses (and non–uses) of news automation software as a tool to support journalism practices. It is approached through an empirical study conducted within two newsrooms in French–speaking Belgium, where we have followed the process of a socio–technical construction involving journalists in the design process. This first form of use led the journalists to reconfigure their professional practices, placing the accent on the necessity of shaping a tool that will reproduce their know-how. Still, automated news will only make sense through journalistic mediation.