Digital Tools Enhance Quality Journalism and Expose Fake News
科技正在改变新闻业。其改变方式是1912年哥伦比亚大学新闻学院成立之时，人们所完全不能想象的。在这个全新的信息生态系统中，算法、机器人和舆论煽动只是影响我们获取新闻的一部分复杂因素。
Technology is changing journalism in ways no one could have imagined when Columbia Journalism School opened in 1912, and the algorithms, bots and trolls that affect how we get news today are just some of the complicating factors in the new information ecosystem.
新闻自动化已经来到我们身边。《美联社》正在使用由Automated Insights公司的一款软件，来撰写有关公司盈利的文章。《华盛顿邮报》使用可以自动撰写新闻的机器人Heliograf，来报道当地高中的橄榄球比赛。
Automation is already here. The Associated Press now uses software from a company called Automated Insights to construct articles about corporate earnings. The sports pages of The Washington Post feature content from a bot called Heliograf, an automated story-telling technology that covers local high school football games.
皮尤研究中心（Pew Research Center）的一项研究表明，67%的美国人或多或少地会从社交网络上（例如Facebook及Twitter）获取新闻。社交网络平台上充斥着来自多种渠道的大量新闻，令读者难辨真伪。“社交媒体常常打破不同素材间的传统界限，并以此赚钱。过去，我们可以区分宣传、新闻公告、新闻报道和广告，但现在我们只有‘信息’。”艾米丽·贝尔在《卫报》（The Guardian）近期写道，她是一名英国记者，也是哥伦比亚大学陶氏数字新闻中心（Columbia’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism）的创始主任。
And according to the Pew Research Center, 67 percent of Americans get at least some of their news from social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, an avalanche of news from a multitude of sources that can make it hard for readers to determine what’s true. “Social media has made apractice—and a fortune—out of erasing traditional boundaries between different types of material. Where once we had propaganda, press releases, journalism and advertising, we now have ‘content,’” Emily Bell, a British journalist who is the founding director of Columbia’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism, wrote recently in The Guardian.
乔纳森·奥尔布赖特是陶氏中心的研究主任。2017年10月，他发布了一项研究，揭示了在2016年美国大选期间，六个现已关闭的、俄罗斯控制的Facebook账号是如何向数百万美国人传播消息的。“这是一场攻击，这是一种武器。并且，我们无法判断这场行动的来源或雇主。”他说道。
Jonathan Albright, the center’s research director, published research last October showing how six now-closed Russian-controlled Facebook accounts spread content to millions of people in the U.S. during the 2016 election campaign. “It was an attack, it was a weapon, and there was no clarity in where it came from or who had paid for it from the get-go,” he said.
由于大量的数据集触手可及，新型的新闻业应运而生，这会带来好处，同时也暗藏风险。“你可以（利用数据和技术）发现规律、联系，甚至是因果关系，而这是人类所不能做到的。”周以真教授说道，她是哥伦比亚大学数据科学研究所Avanessians所长和计算机科学教授。但是这其中也充满陷阱，她补充道，因为社会偏见可能会影响信息模型的建立。
The availability of massive datasets has created a new kind of journalism, with benefits as well as risks. “You can discover patterns, correlations and maybe even causal relationships that would be impossible to do manually,” said Jeannette Wing, the Avanessians Director of Columbia’s Data Science Institute and a professor of computer science. But there are pitfalls as well, she added, because there may be social bias in constructing the models used to analyze the information coming in.
从这个夏天起，哥大新闻学院将开设一个三学期的数据新闻硕士项目。课程包括编程技术，数据库管理，以及利用算法来形成话述。这是新闻学院的几项计划之一。这些计划大都是跨学科的，以帮助学生们应对数字时代。2011年，新闻学院开启了第一个计划：与哥大工程学院合作的新闻和计算机科学的双硕士项目。
Starting this summer, the Journalism School will offer a three-semester master’s degree in data journalism, with courses in the foundations of computing, database management and using algorithms to build a narrative. It is one of several initiatives by the school, many of them interdisciplinary, to prepare students for the digital future. The first, in 2011, was a dual-degree master’s program in journalism and computer science with Columbia Engineering.
“我们生活中的太多东西、太多经验都正被转化为数据，”马克·汉森说道，他是布朗媒体创新研究所（Brown Institute for Media Innovation）的（美国）东海岸地区负责人，该研究所由哥大新闻学院和斯坦福工程学院共同出资建立，“现在非常重要的事情是，我们需要确保即将毕业的记者们接受过数据方面的训练。每个人都应知道如何编程，哪怕只会一点点，以便更好地理解那些为我们处理信息的系统。”最近，布朗媒体创新研究所帮助哥伦比亚大学建筑、规划与保护研究生院（Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation of Columbia University）设立了一门课程，教授学生利用地图作为报道工具，并利用它组织构建知识。同时，哥大新闻学院和计算机科学系联合将开办一个暑期项目，训练学生利用数据、编程和算法提升新闻写作能力。“这就是身处世界级研究机构的好处。”汉森说道。
“So much of the world around us, so much of lived experienceis being transformed into data,” said Mark Hansen, east coast director of the Brown Institute for Media Innovation, a joint venture of the Journalism School and Stanford’s School of Engineering. “It is extremely important now that we make sure the journalists graduating have some training in data. Everybody ought to know how to code, even a little, to better understand how the systems we rely on to bring us information work.” Recently, the Brown Institute helped develop a course with the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation that teaches students how to use maps as a reporting tool and as a way to structure and organize knowledge. And a joint summer program offered by the Journalism School and the Department of Computer Science will offer hands-ontraining in using data, code and algorithms to enhance storytelling. “It’s the benefit of being part of a world-class research institution,” said Hansen.
与此同时，布朗媒体创新研究所还为探索新闻从业新方式（的机构或个人）提供价值 15万美元的“魔法拨款”（Magic Grants）。今年，哥大的气候和社会国际研究所正在研究卢旺达因1994年起的内战和大屠杀而失去气象站的影响。哥大新闻学院专业实践教授玛格丽特·霍洛韦则得到了一笔拨款来设计一种算法，帮助记者组织语言，介绍最新的科学研究。她所在的（另一个）团队致力于利用数据，记录纽约市老鼠的活动，该团队获得了陶氏数字新闻中心的资金支持。
The Brown Institute also awards one-year “Magic Grants” of up to $150,000 to explore new ways of practicing journalism. This year, Columbia’s International Research Institute for Climate and Society is studying the impact of losing weather stations after Rwanda’s 1994 civil war and genocide. Marguerite Holloway, a professor of professional practice at the Journalism School, received a grant to develop an algorithm to help journalists put new scientific research in the proper context. She also is part of a team that received funding from the Tow Center to use data to chronicle the movement of New York City’s rats.
同时，哥大也与位于纽约市的其他五所大学合作，共同支持、保卫美国新闻业及美国新闻媒体自由。今年春天，一场活动将正式开启他们的合作。该活动与媒体创新和创业相关，使新闻、设计、工程、技术的研究生们汇聚一堂。每一个参与的学院都会举办研讨会以及系列讲座，邀请媒体和科技行业的领导者们出席。现今，我们拥有大量的新闻，但这并不意味着人们掌握了更准确的信息，奥尔布赖特说道。
Columbia also is partnering with five other universities in New York City to support and defend journalism and independent news media, starting with an event in spring on media innovation and entrepreneurship that will bring together graduate students in journalism, design, engineering and technology. Each of the participating schools will have workshops and a lecture series featuring leaders in the media and technology industries. The abundance of news today doesn’t mean people are better informed, said Albright.
实际上，这样的现状制造出了一种“回音室”效应。人们只阅读那些他们认同的新闻故事。由于社交网络平台（例如Facebook和Twitter）的商业模式依靠于广告收入，这切断了新闻机构与其受众之间的直接联系。“新闻变成了一个商品，来获取人们的个人信息，”他说道，“在很多情况下，撰写新闻的目的是让人们生气、引起反应，并让人们访问那个网站。”
Rather, it can create echo chambers as people read only stories they agree with and may be used to circulate propaganda. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, whose business model depends on advertising revenue, disrupt the direct link between news organizations and their audience. “What it’s done is turn news into a commodity to capture people’s personal data,” he said. “In many cases stories are written specifically to make people angry, to cause a reaction and get people to come to that site.
“重要的是，我们应该传达新闻核心的价值以及可靠新闻来源和批判性思维的重要性。”奥尔布赖特说道，“我们将接触的许多事情都将被非人类的事物所决定。”
“It’s important to communicate the value of the core tents of journalism, why trusted sources are good and why human critical thinking is good,” Albright said. “A lot of the things that are going to reach us will be determined by things that aren’t human.”
The translation is for your reference only.
Please click 'Read More' to retrieve the original page.
译文仅供参考，内容以英文为准
联系客服
