Diffusion, Logics, and Boundaries: How Journalists in Marginalized Media Markets Negotiate AI in Newsrooms

Dren Gërguri, Jennifer Sorrells, Gheorghe Anghel, Maximiliano Frías, Antonia Matei, Ramadan Çipuri, Stela Lechpammer, Emel Arık and Irena Lovrenčič Držanič
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Dren Gërguri: Department of Journalism, University of Prishtina, Kosovo
Jennifer Sorrells: School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, USA
Gheorghe Anghel: Faculty of Journalism and Communication Studies, University of Bucharest, Romania
Maximiliano Frías: Faculty of Social Science, University of Salamanca, Spain
Antonia Matei: Faculty of Journalism and Communication Studies, University of Bucharest, Romania
Ramadan Çipuri: Department of Journalism and Communication, University of Tirana, Albania
Stela Lechpammer: Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, Croatia
Emel Arık: Faculty of Communication, Akdeniz University, Turkey
Irena Lovrenčič Držanič: Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Maribor, Slovenia

Media and Communication, 2026, vol. 14

Abstract: Literature on artificial intelligence (AI) and its role in journalism is expanding rapidly. Yet it remains disproportionately focused on Western contexts, ignoring how AI is perceived and negotiated in marginalized or semi-peripheral markets. This article focuses on how journalists in Albania, Croatia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Romania, Slovenia, and Turkey perceive, apply, and challenge AI technologies. Drawing on theories of diffusion of innovations, institutional logics, and boundary work, this study analyzes the presentation of AI as both a technological innovation and a symbolic threat to professional identity. We conducted 10 focus-group sessions with 68 journalists and editors from diverse media outlets in seven different countries. Sessions were audio-recorded, transcribed, and thematically analyzed. Transcripts were independently coded by two researchers using AI-assisted coding in ATLAS.ti, alongside standard manual coding, with consensus-building to refine the process. The results show skewed and uneven AI implementation, motivated by efficiency requirements and not institutional strategy. Journalists present AI as a helping hand, noting concerns about fact-checking, editorial control, and professional autonomy. These strains indicate conflicting institutional logics, especially between technological efficiency and professional norms, and produce particular kinds of boundary work. Whereas defensive strategies underline the unreliability of human judgment, adaptive strategies also incorporate AI under editorial oversight. The article is relevant to the literature because it emphasizes ways in which structural limitations, institutional stresses, and professional ideals influence AI adoption outside of Western media systems.

Keywords: artificial intelligence; boundary work; journalism; marginalized media markets; newsroom cultures; professional identity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:meanco:v14:y:2026:a:12438

DOI: 10.17645/mac.12438

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