AI is opening new practices in almost every domain of economic life and also in the media economical perspective the effect on journalistic working practices is reshifting existing job profiles while creating needs for alternative and new job specifications and toolkits.  As it is clear that there will be a large impact in this domain, it remains unclear how these changes can be framed. From a positive perspective, one can hope for more efficient working practices reducing costs and augmenting benefits for media owners while from a more critical perspective  one could fear more homogenisation in news content, quality loss, more explicit risk of tabloidisation, or downsizing of merely journalistic jobs. It reamins thusfar unclear if AI will induce a process of optimilisation for media profits for owners as well as a quality boost for traditional media products and therefore a benefit for news consumers.  To what extent can the economical benefit for media owners be equaled by a positive effect for news quality/diversity in general for news as public good and a raised quality experience for the media user.

While focusing on the transformation process induced by AI in the journalistic working circumstances and relatied functional journalistic profiles we will reveal how specific profiles are impacted by fading out while other profiles are rising. In the analysis of this transformation process the researchers also reflect on the different stages of this process and the dialogue between the different function profiles. how are those new profiles intertwined with new formats of toolkits for journalistic working practices. And to what extent our journalstic academic curricula can offer elements to sustain future journalists in the very competitive environment.  In the description of the transformation process the researchers have focus on the dialogue between older and newer function profiles; can we detect patterns in the exchange of information and of skills and are those related to secific news organisations.

Next to the media economical prespective, the research also reflect on the impact of AI on the traditional practices of integrating elements of self regulation in the news production. Based on the quantitative data of the journalist survey 2023 this research will adhere a qualitative turn. We will use a series of semi structured interviews for the major news organisations in Flanders, both public and commercial broadcasters, legacy media and digital only media. The selection of participants is partly from a managerial perspective als partly from the journalists producing content. For the latter, we focus on these journalists already experimenting with newer formats of the digital toolkit as junrlaists who link data analysis with storytelling, or specialized journalists in innovation, science and technology.