Disinformation and Artificial Intelligence: the Case of Online Journalism in China

Daniel Barredo Ibañez; Sadia Jamil; Daniel Javier de la Garza Montemayor

doi:10.5209/esmp.88543

Daniel Barredo Ibañez University of Malaga; Fudan University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2259-0756
Sadia Jamil The University of Nottingham https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0524-7355
Daniel Javier de la Garza Montemayor Universidad de Monterrey https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6962-9059

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Intelligence, Journalism, China

Agencies: This article has been co-financed by the research project “App-Andalus,” with reference number EMC21_00240, funded by the General Secretariat for Research and Innovation, Government of Andalusia (Spain), thanks to the Emergia Program

Abstract

AI has been identified as a factor that can amplify disinformation, which is information similar in appearance, but created and distributed with a malicious intent. Despite its potential negative effects, AI is transforming the media landscape along with other technologies. This article explores the relationship between AI and disinformation in the context of Chinese online journalism. The Chinese cybersphere can be explained through opposing definitions. For example, China is a country where mass media, especially news media, is under government surveillance, and where there is no polarized media, unlike Western democracies. After conducting a systematic literature review on the relationship between AI, journalism, and disinformation in China, gaps detected in the literature include the self-regulated initiatives performed by AI within media outlets, the impact of AI on specialized journalism, the assessment of texts produced by AI, and the effects of echo chamber campaigns and products among the Chinese population

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Author Biographies

Daniel Barredo Ibañez, University of Malaga; Fudan University

Dr. Daniel Barredo Ibáñez is a Researcher at the University of Malaga (Spain), thanks to the Emergia Program funded by the Ministry of University, Research and Innovation of the Andalusian Government. His interdisciplinary work explores three lines of research: studies on public opinion, technology and media, studies around violence against journalists or vulnerable groups, and international studies in comparative key. He holds a PhD in Journalism from the University of Malaga since 2013, as well as a master's and an expert in Communication and a degree in Hispanic Philology and Audiovisual Communication from the University of Granada. Since 2020 he is an Invited Researcher at the Fudan Development Institute of Fudan University (China).

Sadia Jamil, The University of Nottingham

Dr. Sadia Jamil is an Assistant Professor at the School of International Communications, The University of Nottingham, Ningbo, China. She earned a PhD in Journalism (University of Queensland, Australia), a Master of Science in Media Management (University of Stirling, Scotland), and a M.A. in Mass Communication (University of Karachi). She has taught courses at the Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi and in the past, at the University of Queensland, Australia. She is currently doing research on Artificial Intelligence in News Media Industry, Sustainability Education and Sustainable Development.

Daniel Javier de la Garza Montemayor, Universidad de Monterrey

Dr. Daniel Javier de la Garza Montemayor is a Doctor of Philosophy with an orientation in Political Science from the Autonomous University of Nuevo León (UANL). He received the SummaCumLaude distinction in defense of his doctoral thesis, and the José María Parás Ballesteros Medal, in the category "Graduate Academic Merit" from the Faculty of Political Sciences and Public Administration of the UANL. He also has a Law Degree and a Master in Business and Technological Innovation from ITESM, obtaining in this last degree an additional degree in Master of Science in Management from Babson College. He currently works as a full-time Professor at the University of Monterrey (Mexico).

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