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Total Journalism pp 255–270Cite as

Apocalypse or Redemption: How the Portuguese Media Cover Artificial Intelligence

Part of the Studies in Big Data book series (SBD,volume 97)

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) occupies an increasingly important place in the contemporary societies. One of the most visible aspects is the personalization of online content, news or advertising, but the emergence of personal assistants and autonomous vehicles are phenomena that also attracts the attention of the media and, by this way, reach the population. This article studies the Portuguese reality by analyzing the coverage of artificial intelligence by five national newspapers. The conclusions allow us to say that, although it was considered huge, the coverage proved to be superficial, with a high rate of reuse of sources from other texts, presents little diversity in opinions, and does not stimulate debate in society. Among the most common approaches are economics and political. The coverage was positive in most cases, especially in the health area, where the media never criticized the effects of AI.

Keywords

  • Artificial intelligence
  • Journalism
  • Technology
  • Public debate

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade da Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal

    João Canavilhas

  2. Universidade Fernando Pessoa, Porto, Portugal

    Renato Essenfelder

Authors
  1. João Canavilhas
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  2. Renato Essenfelder
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to João Canavilhas .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Communication Sciences, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Jorge Vázquez-Herrero

  2. Faculty of Communication Sciences, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Alba Silva-Rodríguez

  3. Faculty of Communication Sciences, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    María-Cruz Negreira-Rey

  4. Faculty of Communication Sciences, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Ph.D. Carlos Toural-Bran

  5. Faculty of Communication Sciences, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Prof. Dr. Xosé López-García

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Canavilhas, J., Essenfelder, R. (2022). Apocalypse or Redemption: How the Portuguese Media Cover Artificial Intelligence. In: Vázquez-Herrero, J., Silva-Rodríguez, A., Negreira-Rey, MC., Toural-Bran, C., López-García, X. (eds) Total Journalism. Studies in Big Data, vol 97. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88028-6_19

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