Doing research in the online-offline nexus

How an 'essay writing robot' is echoing the voice of its creators

Column
Inge Beekmans
11/09/2020
9 minutes to read

The essay that was written by language generator GPT-3 and edited by The Guardian might teach us more about our own fears and hopes for the future of technology than about the objectives and intentions of Artificial Intelligence. 

Breaking News: the design of the MH17 crash story

Paper
Andreea-Diana Dobrescu
30/10/2019
11 minutes to read

An analysis of the first twenty-four hours of news reports on the MH17 tragedy presented as Breaking News on CNN. This article zooms in on the gradual design of the breaking news story

The design of breaking news on the Hong Kong protests

Article
Nurbanu Aslan
26/09/2019
16 minutes to read

The Hong Kong protests have caught non-stop media attention for over 100 days. But how do audiences perceive the protests? This article will show you how the story of the protests is designed, narrated, and framed.

hurricane dorian, sharpiegate, immigration, media

Hurricane Dorian: Making news out of breaking news

Article
Vinicio Ntouvlis
25/09/2019
11 minutes to read

A breaking-news event like Hurricane Dorian can stir up public debate on political and social issues through its media coverage. In this case study, we examine how both mainstream and "new" media played a role in shaping such debates around Dorian.

Oslo city after the 2011 bombing

BREAKING: 'Devastating Al-Qaeda attacks in Norway'

Article
Mijke Akkermans
25/09/2019
12 minutes to read

This article investigates how news media worked through the 'breaking news' format in their reports about the 2011 Norway attacks by looking at the presence of experts and witnesses, and the use of the 'muslim-terror' format and its societal effects.