[en] from news syntheses to smart speakers, briefings, challenges to local radio journalism

Abstract

This exploratory article seeks to outline the challenges to radio journalism, mainly local, in the face of the surge of smart speakers, voice-activated gadgets present in 18% of North American households, according to The Infinite Dial research released in March 2018 by Edison Research and Triton. According to the survey, 29% of the device’s owners – around 15 million people – listen to Flash/News Briefings, features in which news are presented through voice assistants. It is discussed to what extent this new form of media intermediation poses risks to the diversity of voices in the media ecosystem, due to the need for agreements between radio stations and manufacturers of smart speakers – gigantic companies such as Amazon and Google – to ensure an updated offer of these new forms of news synthesis.