From a News Article to Cards: Supporting Card News Production in Student Newsrooms via Model Context Protocol

Abstract

In today’s news environment, where many people read news on their phones and social media feeds, carousel-styled card news has become an important format for quickly delivering key information. However, converting a news article into card news involves multiple steps and frequent switching between applications. In student newsrooms with limited production staff, these demands can create tension with journalism’s core value of timeliness. As an exploratory qualitative study, we used a Model Context Protocol–based prototype as a design probe to connect production application tools through natural language interaction and to identify the requirements and design conditions necessary for this approach to function in newsroom settings. We conducted a two phase study with twelve student journalists, combining interviews on current practices with a think-aloud protocol. Our analysis identifies a shared workflow for article-to-card news conversion and presents implications that should be considered from a journalism perspective during this transformation.