Why Context Matters in Code Studies: Exploring Ways to Globalize/ Diversify Understandings of Algorithmic and AI Use in Journalism

Code studies have traditionally focused on how algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI) systems are used in news organizations leading in their adoption of AI, based often in North America and Western Europe. This commentary calls, crucially, for a more diversified understanding of code, stressing that it may be utilized in different ways in different sociopolitical and cultural contexts, to work for journalists operating within different types of democracies or authoritarian systems. These journalists may, in turn, embed values in these systems that are aligned with the brand of journalism they practice. It argues that what counts as "good journalism" may differ in different regions of the world, citing examples of Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. The key question to ask then is: "Are algorithms and AI being shaped to perform journalism in different ways and how best may these developments be explored?" This commentary then lays out how scholars can build "context" into their studies of code, by accounting for five factors: (1) the nature of the press system, (2) the nature of the political-economic environment, (3) the players writing the code, (4) the processes that utilize coding, and (5) the goals of writing the code.