Media startup has a newsroom with no reporters

A Japanese media startup runs its newsroom with robots instead of reporters.

A Japanese startup called JX Press Corp runs its newsroom using robots. Founded by Katsuhiro Yoneshige, JX Press became more widely known last year for its coverage on Kim Jong-Nam’s death. The assasination of Kim Jong-Nam, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un’s half-brother, took place in February 2017 in a Malaysian airport. Reporting the news of his death more than half an hour before any larger media companies, JX Press caught peoples attention. This small startup with no reporters has created a tool that allows them to report breaking news before other newsrooms. The tool enabling JX Press’ fast coverage uses artificial intelligence to scan social media for breaking news. This includes machine learning, deep learning and natural language processing technology. As well as discovering breaking news, the tool also writes reports.

JX Press offers two services – FASTALERT and NewsDigest app. FASTALERT is for companies, it sends out bulletins for critical situations such as accidents or natural disasters. JX Press delivers this information directly to Japan’s major television broadcast stations and most of the local broadcast stations. JX Press also offers an app called NewsDigest to its readers. With over 1 million downloads, the news app is Japan’s largest bulletin app. In addition to its popularity with readers, reporters are also utilising NewsDigest as a source of information.

Here at Springwise, we have previously published news innovations including a news app that diversifies the sources a reader is exposed to. Based in the US, this app offers readers articles from opposing angles to widen their views and prevent bias. Another media innovation is a news game created by researchers at Cambridge University in collaboration with a Dutch organisation. The game aims to educate people how to recognise fake news. How else can businesses utilize social media in the tools they create?