Artificial Intelligence (AI), with its application of algorithm and big data analysis, has uniquely altered human behaviors in journalism and communication. Embedded in autonomous intelligent systems, operations like robotic writing, algorithmic targeting, information filtering and social media bots have exerted a deep influence on journalism, communication and public opinions. The research on the ethics of journalism under the backdrop of AI is currently an overlapping field between Philosophy, Law and Journalism studies. Related researches, have focused on AI and the ethics of AI at the macro level, and its ethical consequences on the ontology of journalism ethics in the AI age. There are extensive appearances of research outcomes on AI and its ethical consequences in the writings of Technical Ethics, Algorithm Ethics of and Engineer Ethics. Among them, critical understanding on the moral subject status of technology is one of the shared concerns. Despite polarized answers, a transition system of morality put forward by Floridi & Sanders (2004) distinguished accountability from responsibility in morality, essentially placing mind-less morality for consideration. In this way, a philosophical conundrum is turned into observables in reality. Studies on the ethics of journalism in the AI age aim towards addressing issues around news practices in the face of the emerging new technologies. With the monopoly of news edit and news dissemination being undermined by new technologies, ′information cocoons′, ′post-truth′, ′algorithmic prejudice′ and ′right to be forgotten′ triggered off numerous discussions. The long cherished ethical traditions of journalism, namely journalistic objectivity and functions of the journalists, are greatly challenged. Therefore, the crux of the issue lies in the conflicts between new media technologies and the expectations on social ethics. Through clarifying who are the responsible bodies of journalism ethics and through examining the dialectical relations between the structure and the core of journalism ethics, we might be able to provide further suggestions to the regulations of media industry and articulate the footing on which researches in this field are to be conducted. In summary, the research trends of journalism ethics in the AI age might be on three strands, Firstly, a finer unpicking on the logic of technological problems can be effective on opening the black box, revealing how AI technologies change the way a message is delivered in the society and what the consequences of its ethics are and specifying the growing curve of AI and the window period for human intervention in between. Secondly, studies on journalism ethics need to wheel slightly away from a much practice-oriented and resolution-oriented model and move towards the ethics of communication for expanding more communicative possibilities with Philosophy of Science, Computer Ethics, and Engineer Ethics. Last but not the least, the quality of inter-disciplinary researches should be enhanced for forming a balancing power from humanities and social sciences under the discourse systems of technological advance and economic development. In the AI age, the striking progress of mediatechnologies makes up a media-omnipresent society. Automatic systems penetrate into the production, communication and interaction of news. Unlike the mere focus of traditional ethics of journalism on the content of news, journalism ethics in the AI age encompasses elements like data and coding in its ethical structure. However, the main principles of journalism ethics such as truthfulness, objectivity and minimize harm remain relevant. For adherence to these principles in the new age, it involves collaboration and coordination from non-conventional units beyond the scope of the news media.
赵瑜. 人工智能时代新闻伦理研究重点及其趋向[J]. 浙江大学学报(人文社会科学版), 2019, 5(2): 100-.
Zhao Yu. Research Trends of Journalism Ethics in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. JOURNAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY, 2019, 5(2): 100-.