While Medill fights over the future of journalism education, the school faces a challenge from across campus. Northwestern University's engineering school is looking to replace the on-air talent Medill works so hard to train.

HAMMOND: And I said let's put it on my phone. It was fun to be able to wander around and tell people about the thing and say, here it is.

ALYX: Hi, I'm Alyx Vance, and welcome to News at Seven, a daily produced automated news show.

HAMMOND: We'll read the news story … and the information we'll find for you is the video that fits the story, and then we'll slide that video behind the anchor.

It's a virtual newscast that reports whatever you tell it to. Here's an example. This summer, Hammond asked the computer to find news about Barry Bonds, the San Francisco Giants' home run hitter. News At Seven found news articles on Bonds on the Internet. It snagged related video from YouTube. Then it delivered the news.

ALYX: Barry Bonds of the san Francisco giants hit the all-time homerun record by belting number 756 in the fifth inning of last night's game against Washington National's pitcher Mike Bacsik ...

But News at Seven doesn't just deliver virtual news - it delivers virtual commentary. It scours millions of Web blogs and settles on one that's passionate about the news topic. Hammond says, on the screen, an avatar reads the edited blog.

HAMMOND: You have all these nameless people walking along and you have this one guy who's shouting out.

BLOGGER: Hold on, I have something to say. With all of the commotion surrounding controversial San Francisco Giant's left-fielder Barry Bonds, I think the last thing the Giants or the Nationals were expecting last night was a pitchers' duel. Thanks for listening.

Hammond says computer code wasn't enough to produce News At Seven. His programmers had no idea how real journalists make language clear and act natural on screen. They needed help.

HAMMOND: We dealt with the problem of what do journalists do, the way we deal with any problem. Because we're a university, dammit, we went to another department. We went to Medill, we have an entire journalism school.

That is, Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism. Hammond sent his grad students to learn from broadcast lecturer Beth Bennett. I meet Bennett at the door of Medill's student studio.

BENNETT: And it's relatively new. Oh, I do know the code to this, I promise. Come on in.

Hammond's programmers took notes here while Medill students manned the studio's anchor seats and cameras.

BENNETT: I wasn't sure how to tell my students … hey guys, I'm bringing in an engineering grad student who's going to create a virtual newscast and potentially take jobs away from you.

Bennett's journalism students were aghast, but she gave advice anyway. So, now News At Seven avatars gesture for emotional punch, and the software keeps sentences short. She's impressed, but doubts the software will replace the Katie Courics of the world. Deep down, Bennett worries about the program's journalistic integrity.

BENNETT: If someone gives a journalist information that's incorrect or inaccurate we have to make the call not to even put it out there for the listener or the viewer to make a decision about. And those decisions are best left to journalists.

Hammond says "News at Seven" could make some factual or moral flubs, but that's why he intends to keep journalists in the loop while he makes improvements.

I'm happy to say, right now we have a bear on a bike. And what's amazing isn't that it rides the bike well, but that it rides the bike at all.

Kris Hammond says for now, his bear on a bike will circle around Northwestern University until it's ready for the media marketplace.

I'm Shawn Allee, Chicago Public Radio.