News organisations to develop Robot Journalists

In a development whose potential sinister consequences would be difficult to exaggerate, a number of major US news organisations have banded together in an alliance for the purpose of developing news gathering robots.

Organisations already signed up include Advance Publications Inc., A H Belo Corp, the Associated Press, Fusion, Gannett, Getty Images, NBCUniversal, The E W Scripps Company, the New York Times, Sinclair Broadcast Group, and the Washington Post.

Initially the plans call for the robot journalists to confine themselves to flying about in the skies overhead, in the fashion of US military surveillance drones and providing a similarly complete and unavoidable gaze. But there can't be much doubt that if this proves a success, the robot-journo plans will progress to include machines capable of voxpopping or door stepping members of the public, ones capable of going through people's bins etc. And of course the operatives of the machine media might find various electronically based questionable tactics especially suitable.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/06/major_us_news_organisations