AI Journalists and Reduction of Perceived Hostile Media Bias: Replication and Extension Considering News Organization Cues

Abstract

As news organizations struggle with issues of public distrust, artificially intelligent (AI) journalists may offer a means to reduce perceptions of hostile media bias through activation of the machine heuristic—a common mental shortcut by which audiences perceive a machine as objective, systematic, and accurate. This report details the results of two experiments ( n = 235 and 279, respectively, U.S. adults) replicating the authors’ previous work. In line with that previous work, the present studies found additional support for the argument that AI journalists’ trigger machine-heuristic evaluations that, in turn, reduce perceptions of hostile media bias. Extending that past work, the present studies also indicate that the bias-mitigation process ( if AI, then machine-heuristic activation, therefore perceived bias reduction) was moderated by source/self-ideological incongruity—though differently across coverage of two issues (abortion legalization and COVID-19 vaccine mandates).