AI against news deserts: opportunities, limits and conditions to avoid automating absence
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3145/thinkepi.2026.e20a13Keywords:
Artificial intelligence, News deserts, Local journalism, Territorial coverage, Public serviceAbstract
Artificial intelligence is being incorporated into journalism at a time of structural weakening of local information. This note offers a reflection on its possible use by media organisations to strengthen coverage of territories and communities with low information density. Its main argument is that artificial intelligence can expand the capacity to detect, produce and distribute proximity information, but only if it is integrated into supervised, transparent and territorially responsible editorial models. Automating content is not the same as rebuilding information ecosystems. The challenge is to prevent technology from replacing journalistic presence, reproducing visibility biases or turning news deserts into spaces that are covered nominally, but not meaningfully.
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