Armenpress news agency has automated its daily economic newsfeed. From now on, bots will update information on the currency exchange, stock exchange, precious and non-ferrous metals, and oil prices. 

Armenpress news agency director Aram Ananyan said as much at the Tvapatum 2017 conference.

“In terms of quantity, our content has become richer, and production has accelerated; automation also ensures translation in three languages. To illustrate, with one click, 21 pieces are produced for the day (seven stories in three languages), which is a huge amount for the whole month and year,” says Ananyan. 

In his words, automating economic news creates an added value for the newsroom and their customers. Henceforth, journalists will spend their time not on publishing these news stories, but on producing analytical pieces, investigations, and interviews.

“There’s always a demand by media consumers for creative approaches, which bots can’t provide. We’re not doing this to cut back on journalists; we’re ensuring free time for them to create quality content,” he says. 

Ananyan says that there are already positive reactions. If this pilot program succeeds, in the future they will automate also coverage of statistical data and their comparisons, since the future of the media is inevitably leading us in that direction. 

In his words, the vehicle allows them to analyze a large amount of data according to products and economic sectors, which can become a very good tool for both journalists and investors. Annual, quarterly, and other such comparative analyses can be a source of many interesting developments.

“Never in history have technologies been so cheap; we’ve simply done technical work on algorithms. This isn’t really a revelation: many international media outlets have long been using automation in the market,” says the agency’s director, adding that the use of technologies is a good opportunity particularly for small newsrooms, where resources are limited.

Gayane Asryan