No one is calling a wedding planner yet but the increasing use of algorithms for automated journalism makes such a union possible, perhaps inevitable. 

That means journalists will be freed from, or not needed (depending on your perspective) for, routine reporting tasks that be done faster with automation, such as sports scores or corporate earnings. Instead reporters will have to develop skills that cannot be programmed for automated content. 

Think investigative and in-depth reporting and extensive interviewing, according a new report from the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia Journalism School. 

Guide to Automated Journalism, sponsored by the Tow Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, provides an overview of the state of automated news and its potential and limitations generally and specifically for journalists and readers.   

The move toward automated news marches on. A few big media companies — Associated Press, Forbes, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and ProPublica — automate some of their content. Meanwhile companies worldwide are developing solutions for automating news beyond the current quick and easy-to-format weather, sport scores and corporate earnings.

Other issues cited in the report are:

Future: Potential to generate news on demand by creating stories to answer users' questions. 

Limitations: The data and assumptions used in algorithms are subject to biases and errors, which can produce unexpected and unintended outcomes and contain mistakes.

Consumer preferences: Research has shown that people rate automated news as more credible but do not particularly enjoy reading automated content. Will readers want to know how algorithms work?

Accountability: Who will be accountable for automated news errors especially when the topics may be controversial and/or personalizing news?

For society: Will automated news add to the fragmentation of news and its distribution?