Abstract

This chapter examines ethics regarding the automation of journalism as driven by the integration of algorithms, artificial intelligence, and related technologies, such as news-writing software, into the newsroom. It traces current approaches to journalism ethics that are primarily grounded in existing standards and codes for human journalists and fledgling efforts to address the shift in the role of technology from mediator to “author.” Taking the question, “Should machines write about death?” as provocation, this chapter demonstrates that existing journalism research and codes regarding automated technologies fall short in addressing the complication of machines as communicators in terms of the ontological assumptions underlying journalism theory and ethics. It then advocates for scholars to engage with scholarship within Human-Machine Communication and philosophy of technology to advance journalism ethics in a way that is responsive to the changing function and nature of technology associated with journalism automation.