Who controls the voice? The journalistic use and the informational domain in vocal transactors

Abstract

– This article aims to understand the transformations caused by new informational ecosystems in contemporary journalism. This analysis is performed based on news accessed through personal digital assistants embedded in smart speakers. As a methodological procedure, it adopts a multiple case study, defining the vocal transactors of Google (Nest Home/Google Assistant) and Amazon (Echo/Alexa) as its object. Therefore, this paper notes that the inclusion of algorithmic routines and the extension of news content to intelligent voice interfaces requires adaptation for the personalization of information, an ecosystem that is feedback by traditional vehicles, journalists, and people who interact with the artifacts.