Integrating Chatbot Media Automations in Professional Journalism: An Evaluation Framework

Abstract

Interactivity has been a very sought-after feature in professional journalism ever since the media industry transitioned from print into the online space. Within this context, chatbots started to infiltrate the media sphere and provide news organizations with new and innovative ways to create and share their content, with an even larger emphasis on back-and-forth communication and news reporting personalization. The present research highlights two important factors that can determine the efficient integration of chatbots in professional journalism: the feasibility of chatbot programming by journalists without a background in computer science using coding-free platforms and the usability of the created chatbot agents for news reporting to the audience. This paper aims to review some of the most popular, coding-free chatbot creation platforms that are available to journalists today. To that end, a three-phase evaluation framework is introduced. First off, the interactivity features that they offer to media industry workers are evaluated using an appropriate metrics framework. Secondly, a two- part workshop is conducted where journalists use the aforementioned platforms to create their own chatbot news reporting agents with minimum training, and lastly, the created chatbots are evaluated by a larger audience concerning the usability and overall user experience.