Hosting description

The University of Navarra (UNAV) is a non-profit private university founded in 1952 based in Pamplona, Spain. It confers 56 official degrees and administers more than 90 postgraduate programs (including 20 doctoral programs and 42 master’s programs) through 10 schools, two superior colleges, the IESE Business School and its 5 comprehensive Research Centres: CCUN (Cancer Centre Clínica Universidad de Navarra), BIOMA (Biodiversity and Environment Institute) and DATAI (Institute of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence), ICS (INSTITUTE FOR CULTURE AND SOCIETY and CIN (Centre for Nutrition Research).

UNAV has more than 14.000 students in 5 campuses: Pamplona, San Sebastian, Madrid, Barcelona and New York with a wide network of international universities and research centres.

UNAV has a sound track record in participating in European Research Programs. The university has participated in 126 European projects from FP4 to Horizon Europe, including LIFE, ERASMUS+ and INTERREG Programs; of which 22 projects were coordinated by the university. The University also counts with a thorough experience in MSCA and ERC grants with over 26 signed grants.

UNAV been awarded with the HR Excellence in Research quality seal (HRS4R) that guarantees the implementation of the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers.

Offer description

Media and democracy:  AI and the proposal of constructive journalism combating hate speech.

We are looking for a candidate to explore the ways journalism can contribute to combat hate speech in public opinion. First, It will study the role of AI in the journalist’s activity of selection, edition, and dissemination of news. Activities through which AI, at the end, contributes to shape public opinion, sometimes with biased features reinforcing misconceptions about social groups, increasing political polarization, and so on. The second area of study will be the so-called constructive journalism. That means, “a form of journalism that is public-oriented, solution-oriented, future-oriented and action-oriented, trying to avoid a bias towards negativity in the news” (Hermans & Drok, 2018:679). Where supposedly the combat against hate speech could find a solid theoretical and pragmatic support.

Our purpose is in line with the European Union “Proposal of the Artificial Intelligence Act” (2021) and the “White Paper on Artificial Intelligence “(2020); particularly looking for technologies helping journalists in the aim of  freedom of expressions and other  fundamental rights. Nevertheless, we share the idea that technological inputs are insufficient getting any social or political purpose if there is not a driver conviction behind; in this research, the conviction means the possibility of doing a constructive journalism.

Having all these things in mind, the research questions of this project are: 1.Could both, AI applied to newsrooms and constructive journalism, contribute to combat hate speech? 2. In which ways?  3. In which sense can AI neutralize bias and political polarization on the news? 4. Talking in terms of digital literacy, what kind of guidance, training and support could be offered for journalists?

Key words

AI in Journalism. Constructive journalism. Hate speech. Media Literacy

Research Field

Journalism and Media Law

REQUIREMENTS OF THE CANDIDATE

Main research field

Social Sciences

Specific requirements

Communication

Language

Spanish and/or English.

Level 

English C1, some Spanish is an advantage

Required research Experience

PhD level of experience

• No more than 8 years since the date of PhD defense at date 2024 September 11.
• The candidate must not have lived or worked in Spain more than 12 months in the last 36 months calculating from 2024 September 11.

Applications: documents to be submitted 

 CV and letter of motivation