Reframing the future of news
The Moody College of Communication Honors Program provides a unique opportunity for undergraduate students. The program makes a space for students to go beyond traditional learning and become pioneers in their respective fields, going deeper and exploring uncharted territory in their classes.
The program culminates in the capstone year, where seniors typically demonstrate their learning through a semester-long project or academic thesis.
Students can cover just about any theme or topic in their capstone projects. Previous students have produced autobiographical video essays, screenplay outlines and critiques on government programs. Guan Soon Khoo, the Moody College Honors Program director, believes the variety of projects and research reflects how interdisciplinary communication is as a field.
For some students, this freedom can be overwhelming. Senior journalism major Casey McKee, however, walked into the capstone class with her eyes already set on her topic.
McKee’s thesis, titled “Malice in the Machine,” explores how AI can be incorporated into defamation law and examines the question of where fault lies if newsrooms defame someone using information sourced from AI.
“My hope is to really speak to newsrooms who are wary about this technology and tell them, ‘I know that this is a scary thing toward your profession and that it’s being integrated in ways that we as traditional journalists might not agree with, but this is our future,” McKee said. “It’s inevitable that in some way AI is going to shape our future, so where do we go from here and how do we minimize the risk?”
