Artificial intelligence has become much more advanced in recent years then anyone imagined it would, and yet we remain, seemingly, as far from the real of the truly intelligent android as ever. Undoubtedly Isaac Asimov would be impressed with what we have managed to accomplish; much of it according to his predictions, yet there are still no conscious machines or positronic brains.
So while our computers cannot talk to us, cannot think, or act as an intelligent being, they do in many ways act at least semi-intelligent. Consider the web-spider. Not a true spider, by any means, but rather a computer program designed to browse the internet and identify key pages and even phrases.
While androids cannot talk, or even walk, you might be able to make a case that they can read the news. Depends what you mean by read really. As spiders become more advanced, they are becoming increasingly useful, and increasingly dangerous. Their powerful search capability, designed for good, can also be used for evil. Or simply to annoy.
Computer programs can now be taught to not merely search the internet, but also to use forms and interact with webpages. Everyone who runs a website wants visitors, but if you are running an online business you don't just want visitors- you need them.
Having a horde of robots coming through the site will be of no benefit, and can even hurt, especially if the robots are controlled by spammers. If you run a site such as a blog or a forum, it is especially important that you only allow humans to enter. While you can place tags on your site to deny robots access, and many robots will follow these, it is not these that are the problem. You need some way of blocking access unless the one entering can prove they are human.
The answer to this is the one thing that a human can do easily, but no robot ever could Optical recognition. Computers cannot read a picture, so if you simply ask the visitor to copy some text from a small picture into a box, then you will immediately block the robots from entering. This is known as CAPTCHA, and is becoming extremely common, precisely because it is so effective.
All you have to do is install a simple program onto your website, and it will produce a small image with altered text. The visitor has to type that text into a box before they can log in, or otherwise interact with a form. This will block any robots from using it, as the robot will not be able to read the text.
This, of course, does not answer the title question... or does it? An essential part of the news is the images that go along with the text, so without the ability to understand a picture, I have to say that no, no computer can really read the news, no matter how easy it is to access newspapers online.
Here is an example. During the contentious 2000 presidential race, I volunteered to help with the get-out-the-vote (GOTV) effort. Mostly I called voters to remind them to vote and to offer help getting to the polls if they needed it. On a few occasions I went out to people's homes to give them absentee ballots or drove them to the polls.
I went to the home of two elderly people who had recently moved to town. They told me they had registered at city hall several weeks earlier. Because their registrations did not show up in the system, they could not vote by absentee ballot, which is allowed in our state through Election Day. So the only way to vote was to go to the polls.
Both the man and the woman had mobility impairments-it was very difficult for them to move around. The day was rainy and cold. They had never met me before. Nonetheless they were willing to get in my car and go with me to the polls to vote. I admired their determination to stand up for freedom and their right to vote.
A very large intimidating man dressed in a black suit approached us when it became clear we were dealing with a voting problem. I asked who he was and whom he represented; he didn't tell me. I don't remember what he said, but I do remember that his words and demeanor indicated that we had no right to be there and should leave.
Because I'd done GOTV work many times before, I knew we had a right to be there and that the people I was escorting had the right to vote. I also knew that this man was not part of the local voting system, and certainly didn't represent my political party. If I hadn't been there, the man and woman would have left; they could not overcome the roadblock the man presented.
Once we got beyond the big man's bluff, the man and woman were able to have a discussion with the officials about their situation. Because their eligibility to vote could not be confirmed right there, they were only able to submit provisional ballots. (Provisional ballots are counted only in the case of a tie.)
I imagine that this anti-freedom intimidation occurred at polling places around the country. My guess is that many people did not vote because someone blocked their way. There are many ways to interfere with a person's ability to cast a ballot.
As appalling as this story is, it is not a work of fiction. But my story and the story of the valiant voters did not make even local news, In the eyes of journalism this event, so indicative of many political trends of the time, was not important enough to make the news. It is often the true stories of regular people that tell us the most about current events.
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