AI Platforms and Journalism Research
Isaac Seiler's honors thesis analyzed AI, digital platforms, local journalism, democratic accountability, media policy, and newsroom labor through qualitative interviews.
Overview
My senior thesis is a qualitative honors project analyzing the structural decline of local journalism in Australia and its implications for democratic accountability, labor, and media policy.
Drawing on 17 in-depth interviews with current and former journalists, editors, newsroom owners, and industry experts, the study examines how economic contraction, platform dominance, newsroom consolidation, and emerging technologies are reshaping local and regional news ecosystems.
I designed and executed the research end-to-end, including literature review, interview recruitment, transcription verification, qualitative coding, and thematic analysis.
Core Outputs
- An original qualitative dataset with 17 semi-structured interviews and verified transcripts.
- Flexible coding and thematic synthesis on labor precarity, newsroom contraction, and platform dependence.
- Comparative evaluation of print, digital, hybrid, nonprofit, and subscription-based business models.
- Policy and platform assessment spanning bargaining codes, broadcasting, subsidies, and digital training programs.