An automatic data-analysis tool for monitoring news diversity. The News Source Diversity Meter reveals who gets their voices heard in Journalism.

The News Source Diversity Meter has been developed in two multidisciplinary research projects at Tampere University, Finland, during 2021-2023, in a close cooperation with The Finnish Association for Conciliatory Journalists (Sopiva). These research projects have brought together research in Journalism and Information Technology studies, three media companies and a cross-sectoral steering group. Projects have been funded by The Media Industry Research Foundation of Finland and the Strategic Research Counsil (SRC).

The meter has been tested in three media houses: Finnish News Agency STT, the regional newspaper Kaleva and the national Public Service Media YLE. These newsrooms have also given their valuable insight into the development process.

The News Source Diversity Meter uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies to identify the people mentioned in the news texts, and several kind of other information related to these people. The unique feature of this meter is that it doesn’t only recognize the people mentioned in the texts, but also identifies the people quoted in the text, either directly or indirectly. This means that the meter can monitor news sources directly.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE METER

The demo version of the meter was developed by Sopiva, the Finnish Association for Conciliatory Journalists, whose roots lie in a research project on conciliatory journalism at Tampere University. The Sopiva team entered the meter into the 2019 Uutisraivaaja Media Innovation Challenge run by the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation, and the project finished among the five finalists.

During 2021-2022 The News Source Diversity Meter was developed as part of a research project at Tampere University, together with two mediahouses STT and Kaleva. The research team consisted of Professor Jyrki Nummenmaa and Research Assistant Tuomas Mäkelä from Computing Sciences Unit, and Doctoral Researcher Matleena Ylikoski and Associate Professor Laura Ahva from Communication Sciences Unit at the Faculty on Information Technology and Communication Sciences.

During 2023 the meter was further developed and tested in YLE (PSM), as a part of DECA project which explores the democratic epistemic capacities in the age of algorithms.

After these research projects the meter is available to both developers, Tampere University and The Finnish Association for Conciliatory Journalists and can be utilized also on a commercial basis via Neuwo.

CONTACT US

Doctoral Researcher Matleena Ylikoski, University of Tampere matleena.ylikoski(at)tuni.fi

Illustrations: Meeri Hentilä

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