Abstract:
Our research is fuelled by the possibility to analyse two months of reporting on artificial intelligence in articles published by one mainstream UK news outlet which is publicly funded. Firstly, because mainstream news outlets represent a fundamental space in which technical views and expert advice can be provided to the public. Secondly, due to the fact that a systematic analysis of news coverage on AI facilitates a better understanding of who sets the agenda for public discussion as well as how expectations or fears surrounding AI are reflected in articles. Thirdly, analysing the extent to which AI has received news media attention may serve as a valuable indicator of what this innovative and intricate topic means to publics. Our framework of analysis relies on the “politics of representation/signification” and Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding model that pinpoints how meanings are negotiated between encoders (media texts producers) and decoders (media texts receivers). By drawing on the three hypothetical positions (dominant-hegemonic, negotiated and oppositional) that might arise when audience decode media texts, thus generating their own “readings”, we aim to explore from a social constructionist perspective how worldviews are put into social practices through technological progress.
