NEW YORK (AP) - A new service from Thomson Corp.'s Thomson Financial issues articles generated by computer software, using templates and "a rich thesaurus ... so no two stories are exactly the same," said Andrew Meagher, the company's director of content development. But Meagher admits flowery prose isn't the goal. The Thomson Earnings News service, he said, is intended for financial advisers, brokers, investment managers and others who are simply looking for the basics.
Two types of stories are currently being produced.
After a company issues its quarterly earnings report, a human types in the raw data, and the computer compares the information with analyst forecasts compiled by Thomson Financial's First Call service. Software then produces a story stating whether earnings exceeded or fell short of expectations.
Software also monitors minute changes in analysts' outlooks on various companies and can generate articles based on company or industry trends, Meagher said.
After stories go out, humans sometimes expand on them with phone calls and additional analyses, Meagher said, adding that no computer can capture nuances reported in press releases and on conference calls.
No jobs are being cut; reporters are merely shifting their focus, Meagher said.
"We're creating a tool that can be used by journalists to create a more interesting story so they are not spending time pouring over databases to (spot) some anomaly," he said.
Thomson has been using the software-produced stories since the service launched earlier this year. The service has about 12,000 individual subscribers in the United States.
