Colin Porlezza

BBC News to create AI department to offer more personalised content Boss says BBC News’s reach is ‘defying gravity’ and it must use AI to ‘support and accelerate our growth’

BBC News has told staff it is creating a new "growth, innovation and AI" department focused on under-25s and news avoidance, with measures that "could include deploying AI to curate stories for users on their phones based on their previous consumption"
www.theguardian.com/media/2025/m...

Many thanks, Aske!

I’m thrilled to share that I’ve been elected as the new director of the Institute of Media and Journalism at my university. It’s a pleasure to take on this role in an institute that’s not only a hub of academic excellence, but also a community of exceptional people, and I’m grateful to be part of it

Swiss president: Vance speech a ‘plea for direct democracy’ Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter has described US Vice President JD Vance’s speech at the Security Conference in Munich as a “plea for direct democracy”.

There are similar trends in Switzerland, but in our case it was the current Swiss president(!) stating that Vance’s speech was “a plea for direct democracy”…

This is even more important to remember in the light of Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter’s absurd statement that Vance’s speech was a “plea for direct democracy”, admitting that she shares many of the values mentioned by Vance.

«Schadet der Schweizer Wirtschaft»: Universitäten wehren sich gegen die Sparpläne des Bund Wegen der angespannten Wirtschaftslage will der Bundesrat bei Forschung und Bildung rund 460 Millionen Franken jährlich einsparen. Jetzt haben sich die Universitäten zusammengeschlossen und richten si...

The Federal Council aims to save 460 million CHF annually in research & education and to this end is pushing universities to drastically increase tuition fees. Apart from undermining equal opportunities, it’s short-term thinking, it endangers🇨🇭innovation and further increases pressure on scientists.

Swiss government wants to adopt Council of Europe AI conventions The Swiss government wants to incorporate the Council of Europe's conventions on artificial intelligence (AI) into Swiss law.

This is interesting because where legislative amendments are necessary, they should be as sector-specific as possible. Curious to see how that will evolve in the media sector. www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-po...

Congrats also to all the other excellent new members of the editorial board of @digitaljournalism.bsky.social @richardfletcher.bsky.social @hannescools.bsky.social @tomasdodds.bsky.social @felixsimon.bsky.social @anninac.bsky.social @luciamesquita.bsky.social Dariya Orlova, Chris Chao Su, Tian Yang

Thrilled to join the editorial board of Digital Journalism, a key venue for digital journalism studies. Grateful to @oscarwestlund.bsky.social and the team for the opportunity. I look forward to collaborating with all the colleagues to contribute to the journal’s ongoing impact in the field.

Likewise! 😉

2 week’s until Sanremo and this is what I see…it’s gonna be ruthless out there.
Explanation for the mainstream audience in the 🧵

This looks like an incredible report by @damianradcliffe.bsky.social Excited to dive into it and explore the opportunities and challenges of AI in journalism across the Global South and emerging economies.

Today at the University of Cagliari I talked about the way news organizations and professional bodies understand a responsible use of AI in journalism - referring often to transparency - using findings from different research projects, including our ongoing Diacomet project.

An update on Generative AI (Gen AI) at the BBC

The BBC introduced new guidelines for staff for disclosing gen AI use. The BBC now also labels gen AI use in its content where there’s any risk that audiences might feel misled and it discloses ‘behind the scenes’ use of AI where it has a significant impact.

www.bbc.com/mediacentre/...

Many thanks @andrewchadwick.com for mentioning your interview with @adierussell.bsky.social that @philipdisalvo.bsky.social and I published in a special issue of SComS: www.hope.uzh.ch/scoms/articl... the interview foreshadowed some of the current issues as we head into the Trump 2.0 inauguration…

Key AI concepts to grasp in a new hybrid journalism era: transparency, autonomy, and authorship When we bring generative AI into the news production cycle, we must grapple with a new understanding of autonomy and authorship, argues Austrian fellow Katja Schell.

#KI-Kennzeichnung im Textjournalismus, was, wie?
Ich hab darüber im Herbst am @reutersinstitute.bsky.social in Oxford nachgedacht. Und ein Paper geschrieben, das heute veröffentlicht wurde!

Download hier - die deutsche Version folgt ASAP
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/key-ai-conce...

Social Media und Suchmaschinen: Einseitige Meinungsbildung: Fachleute empfehlen ganzheitliche Strategie für Online-Plattformen Die Medienkommission empfiehlt, die Regulierung von sozialen Medien und Suchplattformen müsse weiter gehen als das vom Bundesrat geplante Gesetz über Kommunikationsplattformen.

Fachleute empfehlen ganzheitliche Strategie für Online-Plattformen

www.tagesanzeiger.ch/social-media...

Meta is ending its fact-checking program in favor of a 'community notes' system similar to X Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a series of major changes to the company's moderation policies and practices, saying that the election felt like a "cultural tipping point."

The result of the elections become immediately visible, with platform companies significantly altering their moderation policies. www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-...

‘Nobody was tricked into voting for Trump’: Why the disinformation panic is over Eight years ago, Trump and Brexit sparked fears social media was corroding reality. Now, that narrative is crumbling.

Relevant article about the empirical issues of dis- and misinformation research. ‘Nobody was tricked into voting for Trump’: Why the disinformation panic is over. www.politico.eu/article/nobo...

How we were deepfaked by election deepfakes The panic over AGI disinformation in this year’s political cycle seems to have been overblown

Grounded on empirical evidence, concerns about deepfakes are overstated, at least for the moment. www.ft.com/content/62d8...

Interesting study on how “political elites” in far-right parties impact anti-immigrant voting. Test area: Ticino! Far-right parties aren’t so much listening to the wishes of citizens in immigrant areas as they are scaring them so they end up voting in their favor. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

The evolution of X: How Musk transformed the social media giant in 2024 New users? New algorithms? Or something else going on behind the scenes? The story behind the new changes on the social media site

www.bbc.com/news/article...

An authoritarian anti-journalism playbook "The best, most rigorous journalism in the world is powerless to effect change unless it reaches and is trusted by the wider public — however profitable it may be to serve a niche, hyper-engaged subse...

“The best, most rigorous journalism in the world is powerless to effect change unless it reaches and is trusted by the wider public — however profitable it may be to serve a niche, hyper-engaged subset of the public.” Niche is nice, but not enough. www.niemanlab.org/2024/12/an-a...

„Newsrooms could benefit from an internal culture of transparency with regards to AI, suggests Martin. For example, being clear about where the AI they use comes from and how it was developed.“ #AI #journalism

What an incredible end to the world championship.

The mainstream media will lose its last grip on relevancy "The gap between mainstream media readers, people who get most of their news through influencers or partisan social media, and people who barely think about news at all will create a fundamental schis...

Once again, the relevance of journalism is a current issue since some people just don‘t think about the news: „The mainstream media will lose its last grip on relevancy, and the fundamental gap in understanding between partisan Americans will widen. www.niemanlab.org/2024/12/the-...

Wie Künstliche Intelligenz den Journalismus beeinflusst Automatisierter Journalismus ist in der Schweiz auf dem Vormarsch. Was macht KI bereits heute und wo liegen die Grenzen?

Automatisierter #Journalismus ist in der Schweiz auf dem Vormarsch. #KI #AI www.srf.ch/news/schweiz...

AI inspires innovation in journalism education "It will be the educators' job to direct students in the most effective ways to use AI to extend their capabilities, not replace them."

"While many lament the possibilities for AI to replace both journalists and educators, I feel that there are approaches to AI that can achieve improved outcomes for both teachers and learners," @cindyroyal.bsky.social
writes.

Tonight I will be a guest on the Actually podcast by Will Media to discuss the changes and challenges AI is bringing to the world of journalism. The podcast is part of the #AIWeek organised by the city of Lugano in collaboration with the Università della Svizzera italiana.

@philipdisalvo.bsky.social sul moral panic nei media quando si parla di intelligenza artificiale.