Prof. Dr. Juliane Lischka delivers keynote on the role of AI awards in journalism

7. Juni 2025

Foto: privat

On 6 June 2025, Prof. Dr. Juliane Lischka was invited to give the closing keynote at the XXXI Congreso Internacional de la Sociedad Española de Periodística (SEP) at University of Nebrija in Madrid.

Her talk, titled “Celebrating Algorithms? The Role of AI Awards and Industry Associations in Shaping Journalism’s Future”, examined how artificial intelligence is increasingly celebrated in journalism through awards at industry-led conferences. While AI holds transformative potential for journalism, the field appears more focused on using it to cut costs and speed up production.

The talk raised a critical question: when AI systems receive jour733nalism awards, what exactly is being celebrated — meaningful journalistic innovation, or a narrowing, efficiency-driven vision of journalism’s future? Prof. Lischka argued that operational efficiency has become the most legitimate form of innovation, often eclipsing more creative or democratic uses of AI.

The keynote drew on institutional theory, particularly the idea that meta-organizations (such as professional journalism associations) shape entire fields by organizing field-configuring events like award ceremonies and conferences. These events, in turn, enact and reinforce dominant institutional logics — in this case, logics of technological solutionism and cost-efficiency.

The annual SEP congress brings together journalism and communication scholars, practitioners, and educators from across the Spanish-speaking world. This year’s edition was hosted by the Faculty of Communication and Arts at Nebrija University.