Constructive journalism, networked journalism and AI-based journalism: A critical approach to reform trends in the news media field

PDF
Published: Mar 4, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/scad.44792
Keywords:
Constructive journalism, networked journalism, AI-driven journalism, postindustrial journalism model, journalism reform movements, journalism culture
Achilleas Karadimitriou
Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences,Athens, Greece
Abstract

This chapter critically examines the evolving role of journalism in the twenty-first century, focusing on three reform “movements”: constructive journalism, networked journalism, and AI-driven journalism. It is argued that transforming journalism culture depends on gradual social change rather than solely on technology. The “movements” discussed play dynamic roles that enhance, rather than undermine, journalists’ professional identities, fostering new models for information dissemination and social change. These trends indicate a shift towards a «postindustrial» model of news production.

Article Details
  • Section
  • Articles
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g. post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (preferably in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
Author Biography
Achilleas Karadimitriou, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences,Athens, Greece

Dr Achilleas Karadimitriou is an Assistant Professor of Journalism and News Content Production
in the Department of Communication, Media and Culture at Panteion University. He conducted
postdoctoral research on the digital platforms of public service media (Department of
Communication and Media Studies—ΕΜΜΕ, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens—
NKUA), holds a PhD on public service broadcasting policy in Europe and Greece (ΕΜΜΕ, NKUA),
completed postgraduate studies in television production and news reporting in the United
Kingdom (Aberystwyth University), and has been a research associate of the ΕΜΜΕ Department
since 2010. In parallel, he works as a journalist/fact-checker at the platform Check4facts.gr, led
by the National Centre for Social Research (EKKE), and is the co-creator and scientific coordinator
of the website politikometro.gr. He has participated in several European research projects
addressing cutting-edge issues in the evolution of media, journalism, and communication. His
research interests and publications mainly focus on how news and information are framed by
news media organisations and social media platforms, journalistic professionalism and practices,
the policy and organisation of the broadcasting sector, and fact-checking techniques within
the context of the platformisation of communication. From April 2018 to June 2024, he served
as an adjunct lecturer and academic fellow (NSRF) in the Department of Communication and
Media Studies at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Since October 2014, he has
also worked as a lecturer–research associate in the Master’s Programme “Journalism and New
Media” within the same Department. He joined the teaching staff of the Hellenic Open University
Master’s Programme “Contemporary Journalism Studies” in October 2025. E-mail: achillesk@
panteion.gr

References
Aitamurto, T., & Varma, A. (2018). The Constructive Role of Journalism: Contentious metadiscourse on constructive journalism and solutions journalism. Journalism Practice, 12(6), 695–713. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2018.1473041
Anderson, C.W., Bell, E. & Shirky, C. (2012) Post-Industrial Journalism: Adapting to the Present. New York: Tow Center for Digital Journalism.
Banafi, W. (2024). A review of the role of artificial intelligence in journalism. Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology, 8 (6), 3951-3961. https://doi.org/10.55214/25768484.v8i6.2865
Beckett, C., Mansell, R. (2008). Crossing Boundaries: New Media and Networked Journalism. Communication, Culture and Critique, 1, (1): 92–104, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-9137.2007.00010.x
Beckett, C. (2010). The Value of Networked Journalism. Research Paper in Economics. Report researched and written by Charlie Beckett with Polis interns Jaime Herve-Azevedo, Kyle Moughan, David McDougall, Daniela Moreira, Bjork Kjaernested, and Sachi Doctor. Polis Journalism and Society & The London School of Economics and Political Science. Retrieved from https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/31050/1/Beckett_Value_networked_journalism_2010.pdf
Benkler, Y. (2006). The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom. Yale University Press.
Bro, P. (2018). Constructive journalism: Proponents, precedents, and principles. Journalism,
(4), 504-519. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884918770523 (Original work published
.
Bro, P., and C. Gyldensted (2021). “Constructive Journalism: Portraying the World Accurately
Through Positive Psychology reporting.” In McIntyre Hopkinson, K. and Dahmen, N. S.
(Eds), Reporting Beyond the Problem: From Civic Journalism to Solutions Journalism, 31-48.
New York: Peter Lang.
Chadwick, A. (2013). The hybrid media system: Politics and Power. Oxford University Press.
Chan, J. M. (2018). From networked commercialism to networked authoritarianism:
The biggest challenge to journalism. Journalism, 20 (1), 64-68. https://doi.
org/10.1177/1464884918806741 (Original work published 2019)
Chouliaraki, L. (2010). Ordinary witnessing in post-television news: towards a new moral
imagination. Critical Discourse Studies, 7 (4), 305–319. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904
.2010.511839
Dennis, J. (2024). How News Found the Avoiders: The Changing News Routines of Infodemically
Vulnerable Young People in England During Covid-19. Journalism Studies, 25 (12),
–1534. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2024.2309911
Deuze, M., & Witschge, T. (2017). Beyond journalism: Theorizing the transformation of
journalism. Journalism, 19 (2), 165-181. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884916688550
(Original work published 2018).
Dodds, T., Zamith, R., & Lewis, S. C. (2025). The AI turn in journalism: Disruption, adaptation,
and democratic futures. Journalism, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/14648849251343518
Diakopoulos, N. (2014). Algorithmic Accountability: Journalistic investigation of computational
power structures. Digital Journalism, 3(3), 398–415. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.20
976411
Fölscher-Kingwill, B. & Wasserman, H. (2024): The Ideal and Practice of Constructive Journalism:
How South African Journalists Perceive Their Roles, Journalism Practice, DOI: 10.1080/1751
2024.2362802
From, U., & Kristensen, N. N. (2018). Rethinking Constructive Journalism by Means of Service
Journalism. Journalism Practice, 12(6), 714-729. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2018.1
Gyldensted, C. (2015). From Mirrors to Movers: Five Elements of Positive Psychology in
Constructive Journalism. Lexington, KY: Ggroup Publishing.
Haagerup, U. (2014). Constructive News: How to Save the Media and Democracy with
Journalism of Tomorrow. New York: InnoVatio Publishing.
Κοινωνικη Συνοχη και Αναπτυξη
Haagerup, U. (2017). Constructive News: How to save the media and democracy with journalism
of tomorrow (2nd ed.). Aarhus University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv62hhq4
Haak, B.V., Parks, M., & Castells, M. (2012). The Future of Journalism: Networked Journalism.
International Journal of Communication, 6 (16): 2923-2938.
Hermans, L. & Drok, N. (2018). Placing Constructive Journalism in Context. Journalism Practice,
(6), 679-694. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2018.1470900
Helberger, N. (2019). On the Democratic Role of News Recommenders. Digital Journalism, 7 (8),
–1012. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2019.1623700
Helberger, N. (2024). FutureNewsCorp, or how the AI Act changed the future of news.
Computer Law & Security Review, 52, Article 105915. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
clsr.2023.105915
Jarvis, J. (2007). Networked journalism. Retrieved July 19, 2007, from http://www.buzzmachine.
com/2006/07/05/networked-journalism/
Kalyango, Y., Hanusch, F., Ramaprasad, J., Skjerdal, T., Hasim, M. S., Muchtar, N., Ullah, M.
S., Manda, L. Z., and Kamara, S. B. (2017). Journalists’ Development Journalism Role
Perceptions: Select countries in Southeast Asia, South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa.
Journalism Studies, 18 (5), 576–594. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2016.1254060
Kevin-Alerechi, E., Abutu, I., Oladunni, O., Osanyinro, E., Ojumah, O. & Ogundele, R. (2025). AI
and the Newsroom: Transforming Journalism with Intelligent Systems. Journal of Artificial
Intelligence, Machine Learning and Data Science, 3(1), 1930-1937. DOI: doi.org/10.51219/
JAIMLD/Elfredah-Kevin-Alerechi/426
Lough, K., and McIntyre, K. (2021). Transitioning to Solutions Journalism: One Newsroom’s
Shift to Solutions-Focused Reporting. Journalism Studies 22 (2): 193–208. https://doi.
org/10.1080/ 1461670X.2020.1843065
McIntyre, K. (2019). Solutions Journalism: The Effects of Including Solution Information in News
Stories about Social Problems. Routledge.
McIntyre, K., Hopkinson, R., & Dahmen, N. S. (2021). Solutions Journalism: The Effects of
Including Solution Information in News Stories about Social Problems. Journalism & Mass
Communication Quarterly, 98(1), 130–150.
McIntyre Hopkinson, K., and Dahmen, N. (2021). Reporting Beyond the Problem: From Civic
Journalism to Solutions Journalism. Peter Lang: New York.
McIntyre, K. E., & Gyldensted, C. (2017). Constructive Journalism: Applying Positive Psychology
Techniques to News Production. The Journal of Media Innovations, 4: 20-34.
https://doi.org/10.5617/jomi.v4i2.2403
McIntyre, K., and Gyldensted, C. (2018). Positive Psychology as a Theoretical Foundation for
Constructive Journalism. Journalism Practice, 12 (6): 662–678. https://doi.org/10.1080/
2018.1472527
Natale, S., Bory, P. & Balbi, G. (2019). The rise of corporational determinism: digital media
corporations and narratives of media change. Critical Studies in Media Communication,
(4), 323-338. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2019.1632469
Social Cohesion and Development [107]
Oh, S., & Jung, J. (2025). Harmonizing Traditional Journalistic Values with Emerging AI
Technologies: A Systematic Review of Journalists’ Perception. Media and Communication,
, Article 9495. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.9495
Opdahl, A. L., Tessem, B., Dang-Nguyen, D.-T., Motta, E., Setty, V., Throndsen, E., Tverberg, A.,
& Trattner, C. (2023). Trustworthy journalism through AI, Data & Knowledge Engineering,
Papp, J. T. (2024). Adapting to change: AI’s potential impacts on journalism. Pázmány Law
Review, 11(1), 17–31. https://doi.org/10.55019/plr.2024.1.17-31
Pavlik, J. V. (2023). Collaborating With ChatGPT: Considering the Implications of Generative
Artificial Intelligence for Journalism and Media Education. Journalism & Mass
Communication Educator, 78(1), 84-93. https://doi.org/10.1177/10776958221149577
(Original work published 2023)
Rosen, J. (1999). What are journalists for? Binghamton, NY: Vail-Ballou Press.
Simon, F. (2024). Artificial intelligence in the news: How AI retools, rationalizes, and
reshapes journalism and the public arena. Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Columbia
University. Retrieved from https://towcenter.columbia.edu/content/publications0#!#%2Ffilter%2Fyear%2F2024 (Accessed June 15th, 2025).
Skovsgaard, M., & Andersen, K. (2019). Conceptualizing News Avoidance: Towards a Shared
Understanding of Different Causes and Potential Solutions. Journalism Studies, 21 (4),
–476. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2019.1686410
Sonni, A. F. (2025). Digital transformation in journalism: mini review on the impact of AI on
journalistic practices. Front. Commun. 10:1535156. doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2025.1535156
Thier, K., Abdenour, J., Walth, B., & Dahmen, N. S. (2019). A narrative solution: The relationship
between solutions journalism, narrative transportation, and news trust. Journalism, 22(10),
-2530. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884919876369 (Original work published 2021).
van Antwerpen, N., R. A. Searston, D. Turnbull, L. Hermans, and P. Kovacevic (2022a). The
Effects of Constructive Journalism Techniques on Mood, Comprehension, and Trust.”
Journalism, 146488492211057. https://doi.org/10.1177/14648849221105778.
van Antwerpen, N., Turnbull, D. and Searston, R. A. (2022b). Perspectives from Journalism
Professionals on the Application and Benefits of Constructive Reporting for Addressing
Misinformation. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 194016122110727. https://doi.
org/ 10.1177/19401612211072782
van Der Haak, B., Parks, M., & Castells, M. (2012). The Future of Journalism: Networked
Journalism. International Journal of Communication, 6 (16): 2923-2938. Retrieved from
https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/1750/832
van Haak, B., Parks, M. & Castells, M. (2013). The Future of Journalism: Networked Journalism.
Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication. 2013, 35(1): 53-66
Vrijenhoek, S., Kaya, M., Metoui, N., Möller, J., Odijk, D., & Helberger, N. (2021).
Recommenders with a mission: Assessing diversity in news recommendations. In
Proceedings of the 2021 Conference on Human Information Interaction and Retrieval
(CHIIR ‘21). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 173–183. https://
doi.org/10.1145/3406522.3446019
Κοινωνικη Συνοχη και Αναπτυξη
Waisbord, S., & Russell, A. (2020). News Flashpoints: Networked Journalism and Waves of
Coverage of Social Problems. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 97(2), 376-
https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699020917116 (Original work published 2020)
Yu, X., Haroon, M., Menchen-Trevino, E. & Wojcieszak, M. (2024). Nudging recommendation
algorithms increases news consumption and diversity on YouTube, PNAS Nexus, 3 (12):
-11, https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae518