Abstract

News evolution has rapidly embraced technology-driven, quantitative-oriented production and consumption processes, prioritizing fast, automated, and easily digestible content. While AI can enhance journalism within news making, concerns arise about de-professionalization, loss of autonomy, societal value of journalists and flattened news. Our research explores how AI impacts Italian journalism, scrutinizing threats and opportunities within the slow-fast news spectrum according to professionals. Following a qualitative analysis, the study aims to evaluate the intricate effects of journalistic automation using Ritzer’s Integrated Sociological Paradigm to frame the tension between the nonhuman rapid AI-driven news and the emerging demand for a slower, more humanized journalism.