Personalizing the war: Perspectives for the adoption of news recommendation algorithms in the media coverage of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine

The use of algorithmically tailored individual news feeds is increasingly viewed as an important strategy for accommodating consumers' information needs by legacy media. However, growing personalization of news distribution also raises normative concerns about the societal function of legacy media, in particular when dealing with personalization of traumatic and polarizing content. To extend the discussion of these concerns beyond the current focus on the role of news personalization in Western democracies, this article offers a conceptual assessment of perspectives for adopting personalization for conflict coverage in Ukraine and Russia, where media systems enjoy a lesser degree of press freedom. Using the coverage of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine as a case study, the article offers a conceptual framework for assessing the impact of personalization on the distribution of conflict-related news in a non-Western context.

Automated summary

The use of algorithmically tailored individual news feeds is seen as an important strategy for legacy media to meet consumers' information needs. However, this personalization of news distribution raises concerns about the societal function of legacy media, especially when dealing with traumatic and divisive content. This article provides a conceptual assessment of adopting personalization for conflict coverage in Ukraine and Russia, where press freedom is limited.