NORMALIZING TWITTER
Top Cited Papers
- 1 February 2012
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in Journalism Studies
- Vol. 13 (1), 19-36
- https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670x.2011.571825
Abstract
This study examines how mainstream journalists who microblog negotiate their professional norms and practices in a new media format that directly challenges them. Through a content analysis of more than 22,000 of their tweets (postings) on the microblog platform Twitter, this study reveals that the journalists more freely express opinions, a common microblogging practice but one which contests the journalistic norm of objectivity (impartiality and nonpartisanship). To a lesser extent, the journalists also adopted two other norm-related microblogging features: providing accountability and transparency regarding how they conduct their work, and sharing user-generated content with their followers. The journalists working for national newspapers, national television news divisions, and cable news networks were less inclined in their tweets than their counterparts working for less “elite” news outlets, to relinquish their gatekeeping role by sharing their stage with other news gatherers and commentators, or to provide accountability and transparency by providing information about their jobs, engaging in discussions with other tweeters, writing about their personal lives, or linking to external websites.Keywords
This publication has 39 references indexed in Scilit:
- I tweet honestly, I tweet passionately: Twitter users, context collapse, and the imagined audienceNew Media & Society, 2010
- Seems stupid until you try it: press coverage of Twitter, 2006-9New Media & Society, 2010
- USER-GENERATED CONTENT AND GATEKEEPING AT THE BBC HUBJournalism Studies, 2010
- Is Twitter a useful tool for journalists?Journal of Media Practice, 2010
- NewsworkJournalism, 2009
- Dueling, Dancing, or Dominating? Journalists and Their SourcesSociology Compass, 2009
- JOURNALISM AND BLOGGINGJournalism Practice, 2008
- Issue Publics on the Web: Applying Network Theory to the War BlogosphereJournal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 2006
- The Web and its Journalisms: Considering the Consequences of Different Types of Newsmedia OnlineNew Media & Society, 2003
- Weighted kappa: Nominal scale agreement provision for scaled disagreement or partial credit.Psychological Bulletin, 1968