news 2020

The revenue model that has sustained the newspaper industry for centuries no longer works in the digital age, but another age-old concept with some modern adaptations could be the answer to profitability, says a University of Michigan researcher. As newspaper and other similar content has gone digital over recent years, publishers have tried several funding models to strike the right balance between advertising, subscriptions and, in some cases, free content to lure readers.

From Alexa and Siri to translation programs and computer-generated news, anything seems possible these days.The Media Technology Center is searching for applications that could lend a hand with day-to-day editorial work. Every time you talk to Siri on your phone and ask a question or give a command, you are communicating with artificial intelligence.

Newspaper coverage of COVID-19 is at least as politicized and polarized as climate change coverage, say University of Michigan researchers. Both newspaper and network news COVID-19 stories were polarized in early coverage of the pandemic, which may have shaped pandemic attitudes, according to a new U-M analysis of U.S. media coverage from March to May 2020.

The Stanford Cable TV News Analyzer is an interactive tool that uses AI to search transcripts and calculate the screen time of public figures appearing on cable TV news. Cable TV news is a primary source of information for millions of Americans each day. The people that appear on cable TV news and the topics they talk about shape public opinion and culture.

When a story in the Los Angeles Times recently claimed that the novel coronavirus behind COVID-19 had mutated into a more contagious version, it was quickly amplified by other outlets and stoked fears that the virus was becoming more dangerous. The problem is, that wasn't necessarily true. Scientists quickly took to Twitter to point out the research paper the story was based on was a preprint - a first draft of scientific findings.

From newspapers to television, from the internet to social media, we experience an overload of information on the Covid-19 pandemic. Science journalism has become an important source to help individuals understand what is true and what is false. In this video Philip Di Salvo, a post-doc researcher at USI Institute of Media and Journalism, proposes four key words to comprehend what is happening to the media.

Recent economic news has certainly been gloomy. Studies confirm that negative economic news causes us to think more negative thoughts and can lead to a loss of confidence in the political system. Surprisingly, these effects are the same regardless of our age, work and education level. The content and tone of news items and relevant economic context are key: we are most susceptible to negative news before the start of an actual crisis.

Guidelines on reporting suicide are aimed at preventing further suicides and minimising distress to the bereaved. Here Dr Alexandra Pitman (UCL Psychiatry) writes about her research looking at how relatives of suicide victims respond to news, and speaks to others in the field. You are a junior reporter on a busy local newspaper.