188宝金博页面版

International Journal of Communication 20(2026), 264–284 1932–8036/20260005 Reframing Datafication: News Media Discourses on Big Data and AI MARIA CRISTINA PAGANONI 1 Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy GASTÓN BECERRA Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Argentina This article examines how the news media reshape discourses on technology, focusing on datafication between 2019 and 2024—from the decline of big data to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and generative tools such as ChatGPT. Media narratives now emphasize AI-driven technologies across multiple sectors, framed through diverse perspectives. To assess the discursive impact of AI datafication, two news corpora—English and Spanish—are analyzed using a critically informed, mixed approach combining topic modeling, linguistic framing, and critical discourse studies. The analysis identifies six key narratives: AI versus human, popularization of AI, technology as business, surveillance, data politics, and the datafied society. The study traces how discourses have evolved in the transition from big data to AI, revealing shifting meanings and power dynamics. Ultimately, it contributes to debates on technological governance by showing how news narratives engage with critical perspectives on datafication. The move from data to information raises epistemological and ethical challenges, redefining the risks and promises of innovation in society. Keywords: artificial intelligence, big data, critical discourse studies (CDS), datafication, linguistic framing, topic modeling Study Background The news media’s portrayal of technological innovation such as big data and artificial intelligence (AI) shapes public perceptions of their benefits, risks, and impact. It is therefore crucial to analyze how news discourse amplifies perspectives and voices (of politicians, corporations, scientists, practitioners, and Maria Cristina Paganoni: mariacristina.paganoni@unimi.it Gastón Becerra: gaston.becerra@sociales.uba.ar Date submitted: 2024-09-26 1 This article was jointly conceived and coauthored. Maria Cristina Paganoni compiled the English news corpus and led the linguistic framing, metaphor analysis, and CDS components, while Gastón Becerra compiled the Spanish corpus and led the topic modeling and related analyses. The interpretations and conclusions reflect the authors’ collective work. Copyright © 2026 (Maria Cristina Paganoni and Gastón Becerra). Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd). Available at https://ijoc.org.