Academic research exploring the intersection of artificial intelligence and journalism is booming, and Spain is currently leading the pack. However, a new study warns of significant “blind spots” in how the technology is being analysed.
A review conducted by researchers at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and the CEU Abat Oliba University analysed more than 200 English-language academic articles published between 2020 and 2024. They found that a quarter of all articles on the topic were authored by researchers in Spain, maintaining a leadership position throughout the five-year period.
Spain’s output accounted for 26 per cent of the total publications, almost double that of the United States in second place, and nearly triple that of third-place China.
“Finding Spain leading this area of research was an unexpected discovery,” said Michele Catanzaro, a lecturer in the Department of Journalism and Communication Studies at the UAB and co-author of the study.
An exponential rise
The findings, published in the Review of Communication Research, highlight a skyrocketing academic interest in how AI is reshaping newsrooms. In 2020, just 13 articles were published on the topic, but by 2024, that number had surged to 102 — representing half of the entire five-year total.
However, despite the growing volume of research, the study’s authors warn that current academic literature is heavily skewed and often fails to ask critical questions about the technology.
“Many articles present AI exclusively as a promising innovation and journalism as a sector that can do nothing but accept it, without questioning its cultural, political and epistemological implications,” noted Laura Cervi, co-author and UAB lecturer.
The researchers noted that much of the existing work is driven by “technological determinism” that sidesteps fundamental debates, such as how algorithms might interfere with journalistic judgment. Furthermore, while studies frequently mention ethical issues such as AI bias, there is virtually no monitoring of whether ethical codes and self-regulation are effective in practice.
Ignoring the Global South
The systematic review also exposed a stark geographical divide. More than half of the articles analysed (106) focused exclusively on Europe. Conversely, the Global South receives very little attention, with only 20 articles analysing the Middle East, 17 looking at Latin America, and just 10 focusing on sub-Saharan Africa.
Other pressing issues, such as the massive environmental impact of deploying generative AI models and the public’s perception of AI-generated journalism, have received little investigation.
The authors are now calling for a shift in the academic agenda to address these major gaps.
“The analysis of the gaps in current research sets an agenda for future research, with the aim of AI being at the service of journalism and not the other way around,” concluded Santiago Tejedor, co-author of the study and director of the UAB’s Communication and Education Office.
