AI is used in Swiss corporate newsrooms
Corporate newsroom structures are on the rise in Switzerland. A study by the University of Bern, in collaboration with Newsroom Communication, sheds light on the current key areas of focus.
More and more companies and organizations in Switzerland are organizing their communication in the style of a newsroom model. The establishment and expansion of corporate newsrooms has been accompanied by a series of technological innovations in recent years, not least in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). The Institute of Communication and Media Studies (IKMB) at the University of Bern has taken this development as an opportunity to examine corporate newsroom structures in Switzerland in an exploratory study. The study sheds light on the developments and challenges of newsroom-based corporate communication in the age of artificial intelligence (AI).
The study conducted in collaboration with the Bern-based agency Newsroom Communication shows, among other things, that AI is already being used in many corporate newsrooms for routine tasks and experimental pilot projects. Applications range from idea generation, text production and translation to automated indexing and impact measurement. A large number of the organizations surveyed plan to introduce comprehensive guidelines and institutionalized use of AI technologies by the end of 2024.
A learning organization with its own identity
The introductory phase of a newsroom structure is often concerned with finding its own culture and identity within the organization. Only after a certain period of time does it show its full impact, as study director Tobias Rohrbach explains: "In the first two years or so after introduction, newsrooms mainly strive to secure their internal positioning within the company; only afterwards does the focus turn to the external communication effect." The study came to the conclusion that corporate newsrooms function as learning organizations that continuously adapt to specific requirements and technological change. Clear topic orientation, central control and agility play a central role in this.
Need to catch up in impact measurement
Newsroom organizations still have some catching up to do when it comes to impact measurement. The tools used to measure the impact of communicated content still mostly follow the classic channel logic. This presents newsrooms with the challenge of drawing conclusions from fragmented metrics for cross-channel planning that still takes into account the specifics of individual channels. When selecting a suitable editorial tool, it was found that existing project management programs do not fully do justice to topic-oriented planning. This is where dedicated topic management tools can provide a remedy.
The results of the study were presented on Wednesday as part of a newly launched series of events. "Newsroom Insights" was presented to 30 newsroom users from Swiss companies in Bern. The results of the study are available at Newsroominsights.ch/#study retrievable.
