Automated News: Better than expected?. Issue 8 (14th September 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Haim, Mario; Graefe, Andreas
• Is Part Of: Digital journalism. Volume 5:Issue 8(2017)
• Page Start: 1044
• Page End: 1059
• Publication Date: 2017-09-14
• Subjects: automated news -- expectation–confirmation -- perception -- quality -- robot journalism; Online journalism -- Periodicals; 070.40285
• DOI: 10.1080/21670811.2017.1345643
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2167-0811

Abstract

Abstract : We conducted two experiments to study people's prior expectations and actual perceptions of automated and human-written news. We found that, first, participants expected more from human-written news in terms of readability and quality; but not in terms of credibility. Second, participants' expectations of quality were rarely met. Third, when participants saw only one article, differences in the perception of automated and human-written articles were small. However, when presented with two articles at once, participants preferred human-written news for readability but automated news for credibility. These results contest previous claims according to which expectation adjustment explains differences in perceptions of human-written and automated news.