JOURNAL

Action research at the BBC: Interrogating artificial intelligence with journalists to generate actionable insights for the newsroom

Bronwyn Jones and Rhianne Jones | Journalism

This paper provides reflections on an embedded action research project undertaken over a three-year period at the UK’s largest public service broadcaster, the BBC. The project was aimed at eliciting research insights about the role and understanding of AI in news production and facilitate change in the newsroom. This paper surface the messy realities of conducting this work, including challenges to funding such long-term and resource-intensive research and the difficulties of measuring impacts. Practical guidance is also provided, that highlights the need for researchers to cost in time for translational work for example. Overall, the authors emphasise the value of action research in journalism studies, arguing for approaches that retain critical perspectives while closing the gap between theory, critique and practice.