From “algorithmic myth” to “algorithmic mediation”: The practical limits of the principle of news transparency in the feld of algorithmic news distribution

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Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication ›› 2020, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (7) : 6-25.

From “algorithmic myth” to “algorithmic mediation”: The practical limits of the principle of news transparency in the feld of algorithmic news distribution

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Abstract

At present, the academic community generally believes that algorithms have a critical “informing” effect on news production, meanwhile, algorithms are discussed inside the ontological framework of the binary opposition between humans and technology, which shows a contradictory and dual “algorithmic myth”. This thesis is in favor of the concept of technology as the intermediary between human beings and the world, and proposes to switch from an “algorithmic myth” to an “algorithmic mediation” to observe whether news transparency is facing obstacles in the feld of algorithm-led news distribution. Through observation and indepth interviews, this paper fnds that the organizational structure and spatial, physical barriers of the platform bring challenges to the grounding of news transparency. Human and algorithm, as the cognition and practice of “human-technology associations”, constitute the actual “black box”, and users are also gradually being “datalized” under the in?uence of algorithm. Based on the above situation, this research, along the thinking of “technological moralization”, proposes several ways to solve the problems, including incorporating news transparency into the “routine” of algorithm design, strengthening algorithmic stakeholders’ democratic cooperation, and readjusting the relationship between human and algorithm through dialogue rather than confrontation.

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News transparency / algorithm / technical mediation / news distribution / human-technology associations

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. From “algorithmic myth” to “algorithmic mediation”: The practical limits of the principle of news transparency in the feld of algorithmic news distribution. Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication. 2020, 42(7): 6-25

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