Keyword – journalism

Bayer, Judit:

Who Speaks When AI Writes?

The rapid integration of generative artificial intelligence into the media ecosystem marks a structural transformation of public communication. What began as algorithmic assistance in data-driven reporting—sports, finance, weather—has evolved into systems capable of producing persuasive, human-like text, images and audiovisual content across virtually any domain. This paper situates generative AI (GenAI) within the legal and ethical architecture of journalism, highlighting that the technology destabilises foundational assumptions about authorship, accountability and the nature of expression itself. The paper relies on a graduated model of AI involvement, distinguishing between assistive, transformative and fully generative uses. This spectrum is not merely descriptive but also normative, as legal responsibility and ethical expectations intensify with the degree of machine autonomy. Particularly in fully generative contexts, questions of liability, copyright and editorial accountability become acute. The apparent autonomy of AI, however, remains partly illusory: human input persists at every stage, from training via prompting to editorial oversight. The analysis identifies three interrelated areas of ethical challenge. The first is connected to journalistic ethics and consist of three elements: transparency that aims to preserve trust and accountability both in terms of training data and output disclosure; the journalistic standard of accuracy is systematically challenged by the heightened risk of misinformation, hallucinations and unverifiable sources, raising the duty of verification to a whole new level. The second area of ethical concern is bias and discrimination that persist within and get extrapolated by generative systems, reflecting structural inequalities embedded in training data. Finally, labour implications raise concerns about the displacement of journalists and the erosion of professional autonomy.

Keywords: AI Act, ChatGPT, generative AI, journalism, media

Pintér, Róbert:

Journalism and changing communication technologies

This paper reviews the most important changes in the relationship between journalism and communication technologies in the past 25 years, i.e. since the establishment of the Hungarian media studies quarterly Médiakutató (The Media Researcher). It argues that the most important changes have not occurred in the production of news content, but its distribution, the business models of the media and the transforming gatekeeping role of journalists. The rise of platforms, algorithmic mediation and the attention economy has exposed news media to new forms of dependency, while the fragmentation of the shared information space and the growing influence of newsinfluencers have created additional challenges for journalists, editorial teams, media companies and the democratic public sphere. This article also briefly summarises contemporary approaches to media effects, with particular attention paid to the concepts of filter bubbles, echo chambers, affordances and the attention economy. Finally, it outlines possible short- and long-term scenarios for the future of journalism, with a focus on the expanding role of generative artificial intelligence.

Keywords: algorithms, gatekeeper, information and communication technology, journalism, platform economy

Somlyai, Özge:

The Changing Scope and Role of Alternative Media in Countering Authoritarian Narratives in Turkey

This article examines how fear has been institutionalised in Turkey’s media environment under the Justice and Development Party (AKP) headed by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and how alternative news outlets, created and managed by professional journalists and including Bianet, Medyascope, and T24, exhibited resilience in countering the regime’s authoritarian narratives. It also explores AKP’s systematic efforts to transform mainstream media into propaganda tools through legal, economic, and regulatory measures. Relying on semi-structured interviews conducted with journalists from these news outlets, media scholars, and political scientists, it studies the evolving scope of alternative news media in Turkey. While Medyascope and T24 now view themselves as pioneering actors creating and shaping space for ‘new mainstream media,’ Bianet remains an important representative of alternative media in the country. By embracing digital platforms, fostering investigative practices, and amplifying voices unheard or suppressed, these outlets challenge the AKP Government’s fear-driven narratives and create space for democratic dialogue. Thus, this study contributes to broader debates on the role of media and more specifically on the role of professional journalists in sustaining (counter-)public spaces in authoritarian contexts by emphasising the resilience of journalists and the evolving nature of alternative media in Turkey.

Keywords: alternative, journalism, mainstream, media, Turkey

Tófalvy, Tamás:

Is journalism in a permanent crisis?

If one happened to be immersed in the professional and academic discourses on the nature of journalism, they would find that the debate on the assumed crisis of the profession is permanent. In the narratives discussing the potential causes of crisis there are, among other ones, economic, business, political and technological factors. This paper, focusing on the technology-centered narratives, attempts to reconstruct overarching rhetorical themes and framing patterns in crisis narratives, and tries to answer the question of whether it is possible that journalism is in a permanent crisis.

Keywords: crisis, journalism, narratives, professional norms, technology

Bátorfy, Attila – Bárdos, Kata Kincső:

Digital security awareness and device use among Hungarian journalists – research findings

Our online questionnaire and focus group research looked into the knowledge of Hungarian journalists and of newsrooms about digital security and digital safety. Our findings suggest that Hungarian journalists are little informed about digital security; some form of online harassment is the most frequent; 43 per cent of respondents do not use any tools for digital protection; and journalists are mainly not concerned about their own safety, but that of their sources, investigations and family; and most of them consider online harassment and attacks natural parts of their work.

Keywords: digital safety, harassment, journalism, security, surveillance

Bajomi-Lázár, Péter – Boldog, Dalma:

The telegraph and the internet

Media scholars studying the origins and impacts of the rise of the internet and exploring interactions between communication technology and society often seek historical analogies. The parallels offered by comparisons of the electronic revolution marked by the telegraph network and the digital revolution marked by the internet are particularly often remarked. This paper follows this tradition. Based on a critical review of the literature, it compares the histories of the telegraph and of the internet, the first and the last binary and digital networks. While finding a great number of similarities, it also suggests that they differ in their impacts upon journalism and its role in society, among other things.

Keywords: globalisation, internet, journalism, telegraph, technology history