(2019) Twitter as a space for interaction in political journalism. Dynamics, consequences and proposal of interactivity scale for social media (original) (raw)
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Many politicians as well as journalists are using Twitter regularly and are connected on the microblogging platform. We use the agenda-building approach as conceptual background because political tweets can serve as information subsidies if they are used by journalists, indicating an agenda-building influence by politicians. It has not yet been systematically investigated which functions of a political tweet make it more likely for it to be used by a journalist and to which extent the journalist's Twitter network plays a role in this process. We analyze which functions of political tweets explain their use as information subsidies and integrate the influence of the journalists' Twitter networks. The study is based on a unique combination of an online survey of Swiss journalists in 2014 with an analysis of the journalists' Twitter metrics. It demonstrates that political tweets are most likely to be used by journalists if they can quote the politicians' tweets, which fosters their significance as information subsidies. Also, journalists who have many politicians as followers perceive that they can influence politicians they do not know personally. This underscores that if the Twitter network is included in the analysis of agenda-building processes potential reciprocal influences can be detected.
Journalism and Twitter: Between Journalistic Norms and New Routines
This study examined how journalists in Croatia use Twitter and how they differ regarding their work for elite and non-elite media. Research focuses on basic journalistic norms of nonpartisanship, transparency and the gatekeeping. It was found that journalists in Croatia do not use Twitter extensively partly because of small number of overall Twitter users in Croatia. But this study also found that, as a result of Twitter use, journalists were more open and more involved in discussions with consequence of more transparency and changes in their norms. Elite and non-elite journalists differ in topic selection, transparency level and routines. Journalists in elite media are less likely to link, self-promote and write about their personal lives than journalists working for nonelite media. Keywords: Croatia, Journalism, Twitter, Transparency, non-elite media, social network
Electronic News, 2017
Although the public regularly attempts to interact with reporters on Twitter, it is not clear to what extent reporters at various types of news outlets engage with citizens, politicians, and other users on the microblog. To find out, a content analysis was conducted on 4,500 tweets during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign from political reporters at TV networks/cable news, online-only news websites, and large newspapers. Findings indicate significant differences in Twitter interactivity by news outlet type, with TV political reporters most likely to interact with politicians and online-only political reporters most likely to interact with citizens. However, interactivity was generally low except with fellow journalists, which supports the normalization hypothesis.
Tweeting public affairs or personal affairs? Journalists' tweets, interactivity, and ideology
The purpose of this study is to investigate whether journalists in South Korea use Twitter as a public sphere and what factors may be associated with journalists' Twitter use. Combining a content analysis and an additional survey of Korean journalists, this study examines to what extent journalists talk about public affairs on Twitter and interact with others, and what factors influence their Twitter use. A content analysis of journalists' tweets shows that more than half of the tweets (62%) were topics related to public affairs and more than half (56%) were related to journalists' interaction with the public. However, journalists' Twitter use differed depending on the political ideology of the news outlets where the journalists worked: journalists from liberal newspapers were more likely to interact with the general public on Twitter, talking about public affairs. An additional analysis of survey of Korean journalists reconfirmed that journalists' political ideology is one factor associated with journalists' Twitter use. This study demonstrates the possibility that Twitter can be used as an online public sphere but also that possibility can be limited by political ideology.
Polish and Swedish journalist-politician Twitter networks: Who are the gatekeepers?.docx
One of the most important paradigms concerning relations between journalists and their political sources is the adversarial-exchange model. The relationship between journalists and political sources can take different forms and extends from adversarial to advocating. The question which side “does lead the tango” in this communication, has always been central to this approach. Since technological development has led to hybridization of media system, the nature of (political) communication has also been reshaped. The emergence of social media challenged journalism but provided extra space for journalist-source interaction. Increasing professionalization of politics reinforced the role of press secretaries/advisers. This is a comparative study of links among Polish and Swedish journalists, ministers and press secretaries in Twitter provided by network analysis and three social network concepts as density, modularity, and centralization. The results demonstrate that the Swedish actors generally better interconnected and use this communication space more effectively -- the density of the Swedish network is higher than the Polish one. Swedish and Polish journalists in the networks form clear clusters around professions. Press secretaries in the Swedish case form two separated communities: one with ministers and one with journalists. In the Polish network, press secretaries are comparatively marginalized. In this analysis, more influential position is conceptualized in terms of ‘communicative resources’ or ‘accumulated capacity’. Swedish journalists have more opportunities to act as gatekeepers (or ‘key users’) in the Twitter network; in Poland, it is rather the political side.