Fragile and antifragile
The two conditions exist together, feeding off each other.
Antifragility is the ability of some systems to change and improve when subjected to stress, volatility, and disorder. This principle was introduced and extensively described by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his book Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (Il Saggiatore, 2012).
All the stress, disorder, and pressures we face as a society—and as individuals—will eventually reveal whether we are fragile or antifragile; but I am beginning to think that these two conditions often coexist. In the circles I frequent, one of the systems that has demonstrated both fragility and antifragility at the same time is journalism.
Journalism is fragile in its mainstream essence, which I will refer to as if it were a character, a fetish, generalizing a bit. This kind of journalism is always tied to the privilege of those who produce it, yet it reflects very little on this natural condition. Who can really afford to do journalism? Can mainstream journalism truly represent the interests of the voiceless? And how?
During meetings at Universidad del Norde in Barranquilla, we discussed how to teach journalism and what we should consider. Professor Carlos A. Cortés-Martínez, Director of the Grupo de Investigación PBX, told me, “Writing has always been a privilege. In our history, only a few people knew how to write and read, compared to the rest of the population. Today, literacy rates are higher among the privileged (both countries and individuals). The writer Martín Caparrós, at the 2019 International Book Fair in Bogotá, explained that El País, one of the most important newspapers in Spain, reached its peak circulation in the 1990s with 400,000 subscriptions. That number represented 1% of Spain’s population. Written journalism, therefore, speaks to a very small and specific group of readers within our democracies.”
As if that weren’t enough, the general crisis journalism is going through—a crisis of trust, which leads to all the others, including the business model crisis—shows its fragility.
It hasn’t been able to adapt to the dissolution of the information oligopoly, which was first undermined by the reduction in content production costs, and then by the reduction in distribution costs. It hasn’t been able to adapt to disintermediation, except in a disjointed manner, clinging to the principle of auctoritas, lamenting the offense to its dignity by those who dare to do things differently. It thought it could respond to the unstoppable proliferation of content by increasing production quantity and speed, without realizing that this was not the field on which it could compete.
But, at the same time, journalism can also be antifragile. This is especially true in the independent sprouts that emerge all over the world, continuing to do the one thing journalism must do. The one thing that sets it apart from the rest of content production: the method of verification.
The fragility and antifragility of journalism are represented simultaneously, for example, by a recent investigation published by IRPI and carried out by Francesca Candioli, Roberta Cavaglià, and Stefania Prandi, on the harassment suffered by female students in Italian journalism schools. The behaviors documented involve people from the journalistic and academic world—related to how we teach journalism. These are privileged individuals, who take advantage of their role and position to replicate toxic, violent, and machista behaviors, which we see in other hierarchical work environments but too often ignore, pretend not to see, or fail to report out of laziness, convenience, or tacit collusion. Yet it is precisely from journalism itself that the antidote to this system arises. Antifragility exists alongside fragility, and perhaps in some way, it feeds on fragility. We tend to think that what is fragile must be protected: in some cases, that’s true. In others, however, when that fragility is tied to the privilege of a few, the exact opposite might be true. We have the duty and the opportunity to be antifragile and to act to create antibodies. This is a long, slow process, which can take place in all fields of work, not just journalism. The transparency that is an integral part of the digital ecosystem—despite all attempts to make it opaque—can simultaneously be the tool to reveal the fragility of a system, to deconstruct and dismantle what needs to be left behind, and thus to become antifragile.
Antifragility, however, is not a condition that is reached definitively, nor is it a final destination: it is the journey. The path that independent journalism is taking in various parts of the world, focusing on the relationship between newsrooms and readers—relationality and care are two activities that cannot be delegated to machines—is precisely the antifragility we are seeking.
💎 Join the Atex Challenge
The Atex Challenge deadline has been extended to Sunday, November 17, 2024: we will discuss it further in Varese, at Glocal. If you work in the journalism field and have an idea related to artificial intelligence, this is the time to give it a shot. It’s an initiative by Atex, which has been active for years in the journalism world with its CMS called MyType.
Who can participate?
Journalists, newsrooms, publishers
Journalism schools and master’s programs
Associations and organizations active in journalism
What do you need to participate?
An idea to develop in the journalism world through artificial intelligence.
What do you get if your idea is selected?
Funding in AI credits, technical and project resources to create pilot projects and assess the feasibility and impact of the ideas. The various phases will be supported by Atex, from proposal analysis to co-design, all the way to initial development and integration.
More info? Here
Where to participate? Fill out this form.
💰 Upcoming Journalism Grants Deadlines
2024 October 24 - Environmental Investigative Journalism, Journalism fund
2024 November 7 - European Cross Border Grant, Journalism fund
2024 November 7 - European Local Cross Border Grant, Journalism fund
2024 November 7- Microgrants for Small Newsrooms, Journalism fund
2025 January 25 - Fund for Investigative Journalism
🧑🎓 Free Training
Sign up for the free newsletter course AI for Journalists and Newsrooms, which I created for The Fix Media.
📚 Paid Courses
If you want to learn more about artificial intelligence, check out Pronto Soccorso AI, the course I co-created with Mafe de Baggis (in Italian, for now).
⚡ Prompting Techniques
To start working with generative artificial intelligences, you need to familiarize yourself with prompting, the way commands are given to AIs. Let's explore different types of prompts.
Direct prompting
This is the basics: it's the simplest way to use an AI that responds to text commands. All you need to do is ask the machine something in natural language. It could be a question or a request. I always suggest starting by playing around with the AI you’ve chosen (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or others) by asking: "What can you do for me?" It’s a great way to break the ice.