A video recording of this program is now available on the Explore Content section of this website.
Alexa. Google Home. Siri. Bixby. Cortana. Voice assistants and smart speakers are on the rise and they already alter the way we engage with news from news flashes, to aggregated news to podcast streaming. As life gets faster and the world gets smaller, these technologies offer a way of bringing news into our homes, our cars and our day-to-day activities. With audiences now turning to technology companies for their news, media companies are now faced with the proposition to integrate.
In this program Nic Newman from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at The University of Oxford walks us through the opportunities and challenges smart speakers bring to journalism and news organizations. He will explain what Voice actually means, discuss the future developments on the horizon, and also provide insight on the constantly emerging media of Podcasts.
This discussion will be introduced and moderated by Eddy Borges-Rey, associate professor in residence at Northwestern Qatar.
[Image courtesy of Noma Bar/Dutch Uncle]
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Program credits
Nicholas Newman
Nic Newman is a Senior Research Fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University where he is lead author of the annual Digital News Report, the world’s largest on-going study of consumer behavior around news. He authors an influential annual report on media and technology trends and has published recent research on trust, paying for news, video, podcasts, and the rise of voice technologies. Newman was a founding member of the BBC News Website in 1997 where he led international coverage. As Head of Product Development and Engineering for BBC News he helped introduce innovations such as apps, blogs, and podcasting. Previously, he spent 15 years as a senior radio reporter, presenter and editor with the BBC and has a particular interest in the enduring value of audio formats.
Eddy Borges-Rey
Eddy Borges-Rey is associate professor in the Journalism and Strategic Communication Program at Northwestern Qatar. His area of academic expertise is digital journalism and emerging media, and his teaching includes courses on mobile journalism, data journalism and social media for journalists, amongst others. Prior to obtaining an MA and PhD in Media and Communication from the University of Malaga in Spain, Borges-Rey worked as a broadcast journalist, media producer and PR practitioner for almost 15 years. Borges-Rey has taught and carried out research in Venezuela, Spain, Vietnam and the UK. Whilst based in the UK, he acted as Associate Dean for Research in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, and the Programme Director of the MSc in Media and Communication Management (Vietnam) at the University of Stirling, Scotland.