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Felix M. Simon

DPhil Student

Felix M. Simon

DPhil Student
(He/him)

About

Felix M. Simon is a communication researcher and doctoral student at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), a Knight News Innovation Fellow at Columbia University’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism (2021-2024), and an affiliate at the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life (CITAP) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also works as a research assistant at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) and regularly writes and comments on technology, media, and politics for various international outlets.

As a former journalist and member of the Leverhulme Doctoral Centre “Publication beyond Print”, he has been researching the implications of AI in journalism and the news industry since 2019, jointly supervised by Prof Ralph Schroeder and Prof Ekaterina Hertog and formerly supervised by Prof Gina Neff. His doctoral project is generously funded by the Leverhulme Trust and two OII-Dieter Schwarz Foundation Fellowship awards and he has won additional competitive grants from the Minderoo-Oxford Challenge Fund, the Tow Center at Columbia University, Balliol College, among others, for this research on AI, news, and information.

More specifically, his research seeks to understand the structural implications of artificial intelligence, including forms of generative AI such as ChatGPT and DALL:E, for news organisations’ gatekeeping processes—the production and distribution of news—and the public arena.

Studying these questions will not only enhance our understanding of how news organisations and journalists think about, adapt to and deal with a technology that, at first glance, seems to be all about de-emphasising their role in the news; it will also inform our theories of what a future of the news and information environment could look like as the industry is battling uncertainty on several fronts. Ultimately, this project also hopes to provide answers about AI’s effect on journalism’s business models and viability as well as its wider ramifications on the public arena of news, and thus society and democracy.

Felix has published widely, among others, in New Media & Society, Digital Journalism, Journalism StudiesJournalism Practice, The Information SocietyInternational Communication GazetteHarvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review, International Journal of Press/Politics, the International Handbook of Internet Research and Transformative Works and Cultures and has co-authored various research reports on topics ranging from innovation in the media to COVID-19 misinformation.

He has presented work at various conferences, including ICA and the International Journalism Festival and is an experienced moderator of academic and industry panels. His research and commentary has appeared, among others, in The GuardianThe Washington PostPoliticoFinancial TimesSüddeutsche ZeitungNatureNew Statesman, Business Insider, WIRED, CNN, and the BBC. He has given evidence to inquiries of the UK House of Lords and House of Commons, press regulator IMPRESS, and the United Nations, and frequently advises media organisations on AI.

In May 2023, he was awarded the Hans Bausch Media Prize by German public broadcaster SWR in cooperation with the Institute for Media Studies at the University of Tübingen for his work on AI and news.

His past and current research focus on AI in the news, the political economy of AI and news, political communication and democracy in the digital age, as well as the changing nature of journalism and the media in the 21st century. In addition, he takes an active interest in populism and the future of mis- and disinformation studies. He regularly reviews articles for a range of journals, including for Digital Journalism, New Media & Society, or the International Journal of Communication.

Felix graduated with a BA in Film and Media Studies as well as English Studies (Distinction) from Goethe-University Frankfurt, and he holds an MSc in Social Science of the Internet from the OII. During his previous studies, he was funded by the renowned journalism programme of the German Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation. He is currently a fellow at the Salzburg Global Seminar and an Associate Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy and sits on the AI and Local News Steering Committee of Partnership on AI.

Before returning to the OII for his doctoral studies, Felix worked as a journalist, editor and researcher in London. Past work experience also includes the BBC and Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) in London and Innsbruck.

Current Positions and Affiliations

  • Research Assistant, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, March 2017-Present
  • Fellow at the Salzburg Global Seminar, 2018-Present
  • Knight News Innovation Fellow, Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Columbia University, March 2021-Present
  • Graduate Affiliate, Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, August 2022-Present
  • Member of the Advisory Committee, Center for News, Technology & Innovation, March 2023-Present
  • Guest lecturer, Cultural Analytics, OII, 2019-2023

Research Interests

Journalism, News, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Generative AI, Political communication, Media and cultural industries, Populism, Mis- & Disinformation.

Positions at the OII

  • DPhil Student, October 2019 -
  • Teaching Assistant, October 2019 - January 2023
  • MSc Student, October 2016 - September 2017

Research

Integrity Statement

My research and doctoral work is currently supported by the Leverhulme Trust, the OII-Dieter Schwarz Foundation award, Columbia University’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism, the Minderoo-Oxford AI Governance Challenge Fund, and the Balliol Interdisciplinary Institute. In the preceding five years I have also worked as a research assistant or researcher on projects supported by the Deutsche Telekom Foundation, European Broadcasting Union, European Journalism Observatory, Google News Initiative, Facebook Journalism Innovation Project, IPPI/Heinrich Böll Foundation, and the Nuffield Foundation.

During this period, I have also engaged unpaid consultations with several organisations including the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation, the UK House of Lords and House of Commons, IMPRESS, the United Nations, TUM School of Management, Goethe-University Frankfurt, the Tow Center at Columbia University, the BBC, the Daily Telegraph, Meta, The Guardian, and the Associated Press.

I sit on the AI and Local News Steering Committee of Partnership on AI, which is funded from philanthropy and corporate entities and for which I receive an honorarium. In 2023, I participated in an expert survey run by YouTube for which I received an honorarium. I sit on the Advisory Committee of the Center for News, Technology & Innovation.

I conduct my research in line with the University’s academic integrity code of practice.

Recordings

38756724367723315124256

News & Press

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