This article details Finnish news organizations’ adoption of drones for journalistic purposes from 2011 to 2020. The theoretical starting point of the article is Rogers’ (1962) diffusion of innovations theory, which explains how new ideas and technologies spread in societies. The main empirical data for the study were derived from a phone survey conducted among the 80 most popular newspapers in Finland. The findings reveal that drone journalism in Finland has already diffused from a few pioneering organizations to a large number of newsrooms, including regional, mid-sized newspapers. Most of the newspapers are either using in-house drones, buying commissioned images, or using both strategies. The frequency of use was found to be much higher for those newsrooms using their own drones. Finally, the article ponders possible explanations for different trajectories in the adoption of drones in various countries based on the Finnish case.

Uskali, Turo; Pasi Ikonen, Ville Manninen and Hokkanen Jere. 2020. “Diffusion of Drone Journalism: The Case of Finland, 2011-2020” Media and Communication 8 (3): 75-84. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17645/mac.v8i3.3075

The shift toward digital distribution has led newspapers to adopt data collection and sharing practices with unexplored ethical consequences. Analysis of the privacy policies of the 15 largest U.S. newspapers reveals what is permitted with regard to the capture of newsreader data and the sharing of such data with advertisers, affiliated companies, and social media. These practices and the related news metrics and analytics are critiqued in light of journalism’s democratic role and traditional support of citizenship. The conclusion offers six recommendations to begin to address these ethical dilemmas through greater transparency and more reader control over data handling.

Adams, Paul. 2020.“Agreeing to Surveillance Digital News Privacy Policies.” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699020934197

This article examines the digital tool INJECT, that helps journalists discover new story angles by offering insight, not search results. The analysis highlighted three important results. (1) That journalists identified more with digital tools to support them when discovering and generating new angles on stories more quickly than now, (2) different creative search algorithms applied to news informations operationalized the strategies for discovering new angles and (3) evaluations of the INJECT digital tool in three newsrooms revealed that it increased the novelty of stories written by journalists, but younger journalists more open to new technology and working more autonomously were more likely to use the tool.

Maiden, Neil et.al. 2020. “Digital Creativity Support for Original Journalism.” Communications of the ACM 63 (8) : 46-53. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3386526

New media synthesis technologies are rapidly advancing and becoming more accessible, allowing users to make video and audio clips (i.e. deepfakes) of individuals doing and saying things they never did or said. Deepfakes have significant implications for the integrity of many social domains including that of elections. Focusing on the 2020 US presidential election and using an anticipatory approach, this article examines the ethical issues raised by deepfakes and discusses strategies for addressing these issues. Eight hypothetical scenarios are developed and used as the basis for this analysis, which identifies harms to voters who view deepfakes, candidates and campaigns that are the subjects of deepfakes, and threats to electoral integrity. Four potential forms of intervention are discussed with respect to multi-stakeholder responsibility for addressing harms, including education and media literacy, subject defense, verification, and publicity moderation.

Diakopoulos, Nicholas, and Deborah Johnson. 2020. “Anticipating and Addressing the Ethical Implications of Deepfakes in the Context of Elections.” New Media & Society : 1-27. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820925811

In this article published in Journalism Practice, Anja Salzmann, Frode Guribye and Astrid Gynnild explore a global network of mobile journalists and media practitioners. The Mojo Community is dedicated to exploring, learning and keeping track of mobile technologies to create multimedia content for journalistic purposes. Based on a qualitative approach the study identifies the community`s domain, structure and role in the context of journalism innovation and change. The core group of "mojo pioneers" comprise "tech-savvy" journalists affiliated with Western legacy broadcast organizations. Members´ mojo engagement is mainly driven by perceived organizational reluctancy towards fast-evolving technological advancements and uncertain job prospects.

Salzmann, Anja, Frode Guribye and Astrid Gynnild. 2020. “We in the Mojo Community: Exploring a Global Network of Mobile Journalists”. Journalism Practice : 1-18. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2020.1742772