Robot reporters and mobile newsrooms – the future of journalism is now

There is little doubt that journalism, as a career, is undergoing more than a little disruption at the hands of technology. The recent news that Press Association are about to start employing robot reporters will do little to elevate fears of job security in newsrooms up and down the country.

Speaking at the Society of Editors conference in Carlisle, Pete Cliffton, PA’s editor-in-chief, said: “This won’t be replacing any of our fantastic journalists, it will be more a case of offering an extra level when it comes to short market reports, election results and football reporting.”

He continued: “Will it take over from proper journalists? Of course it won’t. We won’t have a robot going to a big fire or covering a crown court case.”

Addresses the question of accuracy and potential to be spoofed by pranksters, Cliffton said: “We will be taking very small steps in this area.”

He also suggested that trials in Denmark showed that robot reporters were more accurate than a human trying to write too many short stories on their own.

In other technology-related news from the conference, BBC Academy trainer, Marc Settle, spoke about how smart phone technology was changing the media’s expectations of what a journalist should now be capable of delivering.

Settle said: “When you have got a smartphone in your pocket it is remiss of your employees and you as editors not to know how to take advantage of it and use it to its full capacity.”

Settle suggested that a journalist equipped with the right apps and a small pack of accessories (an external microphone, a light and a small tripod) could transform the way audio and video news coverage is covered.

However, not all attendees at the conference were so welcoming the technological change.

Catherine Houlihan, managing editor of ITV Border, would prefer to exercise a little restraint and said: “We embrace it but I think it’s keeping everything in proportion.”

She continued: “It will be foolhardy to ignore how technology is changing and how that’s changing how we provide news and services but equally we should take comfort in what we do best, which is making regional television and enhancing that with an online edge.”