This Special Issue brings together twelve original articles that examine, from diverse disciplinary and geographic vantage points, how the media shapes narratives about technological innovation and how AI specifically is influencing media practice, public understanding, and social life more broadly. The contributions span computational communication research, journalism studies, media education, environmental communication, political economy, and cultural studies. They draw on studies conducted in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and across digital platforms that transcend national borders. The result is a comparative and multi-perspectival collection that resists both the techno-optimism that frequently characterises industry commentary and the undifferentiated techno-pessimism that sometimes characterises critical scholarship.

Abstract. This study investigated the impact of AI-driven automated publishing services (APSs) on the editorial character of news content disseminated via Facebook. While previous research suggests that human editors adapt news to social media logic, which often results in news softening, the specific influence of APSs on this process remains unexplored. As German newsrooms increasingly implement APSs, editorial decisions are partially transferred to algorithms that select, adapt, and publish news based on publishers’ content feeds. This automation raises concerns about potential erosion of journalistic standards and the systematic alteration of news content on social media platforms. Our analysis encompasses 2.6 million Facebook posts from 44 German news outlets; the posts were published between 2018 and 2023. We found that, in 2023, 57% of these outlets used APSs; however, they primarily used a semi-automated approach that allows manual oversight of topic selection and stylistic adaptation.

From 2 August 2026, Article 50 of the EU AI Act will introduce new transparency requirements for AI-generated and manipulated content in journalism. Audiences must be informed when artificial intelligence has played a significant role in producing or altering what they see, hear or read.

The European Union and its Member States are reinforcing their actions to counter efforts by actors who spread disinformation to destabilise our societies and democracies, try to exploit a crisis, and put citizens’ lives at risk.The European Union and its Member States are reinforcing their actions to counter efforts by actors who spread disinformation to destabilise our societies and democracies, try to exploit a crisis, and put citizens’ lives at risk.

The Audio-Technica AT2040 is a dynamic hypercardioid microphone designed to keep the speaker’s voice clear while reducing surrounding noise. For journalists, this makes it particularly useful for podcasts, recorded interviews, voice-overs and newsroom audio production. Its tight pickup pattern helps isolate the reporter’s voice even in rooms that are not acoustically treated.