VCU news

By VCU News staff

With its tremendous potential and criticism, artificial intelligence is swiftly redefining the modern landscape. At Virginia Commonwealth University, students pursuing a new academic minor used the fall semester to explore an angle that could be easily overlooked: how the media cover AI – and how they often are framed together.

VCU launched the interdisciplinary minor in practical AI this fall, allowing students to work with faculty from varied disciplines to examine the applications and ethical implications of emerging AI technologies. The curriculum combines theoretical knowledge with hands-on experience, with courses covering topics such as AI in mass media, the business applications of AI, machine learning and more.

In a new course this fall, Joshua J. Smith, an assistant professor in the Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture, led students in an in-depth exploration of how media outlets talk about AI – and how it correlates to broader discussions of industries like journalism and public relations.

“What I wanted students to see is that positive coverage of AI often highlights its benefits, such as improved efficiency or innovation,” Smith said. “Conversely, negative coverage tends to focus on risks like job loss or ethical issues, directly shaping public trust and how industries adopt these tools.”

His students analyzed articles, podcasts and other content to evaluate how discussions surrounding AI were framed. Every two weeks, they picked current events coverage from outlets such as the Associated Press, CNN and Forbes, and they broke them down with sentiment analysis tools to summarize content, connect articles to weekly objectives and rank how AI was portrayed. By the end of the semester, the class had compiled a dataset with 245 articles.

“The media journal assignment opened my eyes to the rapid developments in AI and its connection to mass media,” said Hannah Vaughan, a fourth-year interdisciplinary studies major. “It challenged me to think critically about how these technologies shape industries, and allowed me to tie real-world insights back to what I’m learning in class.”

Analysis of the student dataset highlighted how AI and the media industry are often framed similarly. A correlation analysis showed that when outlets framed AI positively, they often did the same for the media industry, while regression analysis showed that higher AI framing scores corresponded with higher industry framing scores. That indicates that the way AI is portrayed can shape broader perceptions of the media industry both positively and negatively.

Students found that some outlets were optimistic about both AI and the media industry, while others were critical of both. Some demonstrated mixed sentiment, with skepticism about AI but positivity toward the industry.

“This assignment offered me a unique opportunity to critically engage and understand what is going on in the world of AI,” said Carly Cooper, a fourth-year mass communications major. “It opened my eyes to the different interaction AI is having with content, platforms and technology, and how it will affect the future.”

Smith plans to continue the assignment in the spring semester and explore options to formalize the study for peer-reviewed publication. The project, with the support of the Robertson School’s developing Media + AI Lab, aims to evolve into a comprehensive student-research collaboration, furthering information about AI narratives and advancing media literacy initiatives.

“It is exciting to see the innovative work that Professor Smith and his students are doing,” said Marcus Messner, Ph.D., associate dean of the College of Humanities and Sciences. “This course is advancing the Robertson School into the critical and emerging field of artificial intelligence, laying the foundation for the school’s AI research focus and its developing Media + AI Lab. It also equips Robertson students with the skills they need to thrive in the rapidly evolving media landscape.”