For those of you optimistic types who believe that newspapers will survive this current era of journalism evolution, your days of being a bright-eyed doe, are numbered.
Last year, the Washington Post considered using automated writers to cover their local preps beat. Yes, “automated writers” means, essentially, robots.
From Poynter:
Last year, The Washington Post considered using automated writing to cover the region’s many high-school sports, Brook Silva-Braga reports. Currently, the paper has four reporters on that beat, and deputy high school sports editor Matt McFarland estimates the paper would need “like 300″ to stay on top of all prep sports in the region.
Asked by Silva-Braga if he worried about the rise of robot sportswriters, McFarland said, “If a computer can do my job better than me, I need to go somewhere else.”
