Felix Simon (Balliol 2016, DPhil in Information, Communication & Social Sciences) has won the Hans Bausch Media Prize 2023 for his study ‘Uneasy Bedfellows: AI in the media, platform companies and the question of journalistic dependency’.
The Hans Bausch Media Prize is awarded by the German public broadcaster SWR in cooperation with the Institute for Media Studies at the University of Tübingen for a scientific work of outstanding quality, in order to promote science, research and innovation in the media sector. It is judged by a jury of experts from media practice and research.
In ‘Uneasy Bedfellows’, which was published in the journal Digital Journalism in 2022, Felix argues that the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) in journalism, despite all its advantages, carries the risk that the media will become even more dependent on the large platform companies such as Microsoft, Google or Amazon.
‘Felix M. Simon illustrates how artificial intelligence is also gaining relevance in journalism and how this can create new infrastructural dependencies,’ explains the SWR press release. ‘He describes the danger of a creeping undermining of the autonomy of the media, for example, if they move into technological “black boxes” or orient themselves even more strongly to the values and logic of the platform companies. Simon further shows that an expansion of the power of platform companies through artificial intelligence in journalism could lead to media houses being further weakened in their position as important gatekeepers to the public sphere and thus becoming increasingly unable to fulfil their democratic function.’
Congratulating Felix, the Rector of the University of Tübingen, Professor Karla Pollmann, said: ‘With his research, Felix M. Simon makes an important contribution to the debate we need to have now: Only if we understand what opportunities as well as risks digitalisation holds for our society and democracy can we deal with it appropriately.’
Felix said it was an honour to receive the award and thanked the Oxford Internet Institute, where he is a doctoral candidate, the University of Oxford and Balliol College, who ‘were pivotal here, with institutional and financial support from them allowing me to do my research in peace’. There is more information about Felix and his work here.