Crossing the Line between News and the Business of News: Exploring Journalists’ Use of Twitter

Abstract

Anglo-American journalism has typically drawn a firm dividing line between those who report the news and those who run the business of news. This boundary, often referred to in the West as a ‘Chinese Wall’, is designed to uphold the independence of journalists from commercial interests or the whims of news proprietors. But does this separation still exist in today’s age of social media and at a time when news revenues are under unprecedented pressure? This article focuses on Twitter, now a widely used tool in the newsroom, analysing the Twitter output of 10 UK political correspondents during the busy party conference season. It examines how they promote their own stories or ‘personal brand’ and whether they are stepping over a once forbidden line, blurring the boundary between news and the business. The research is complemented by interviews with political correspondents and analysis of editorial codes of practice on the use of social media. It draws on a conceptual framework of boundary work (Carlson & Lewis, 2015) to pose the question whether such practice has now become accepted and normalised. The findings suggest that the 10 political correspondents are highly individualistic in their use of Twitter but all have embraced its use to promote their own work plus that of colleagues both inside their own organisation and those working for rival news outlets. Their acceptance of Twitter as a tool for self-promotion and branding suggests that in this area of reporting the practice has become normalised and the wall has been breached.

Don’t feed the trolls?

“…Jukes observes that 'news organisations are succeeding in drawing on Twitter as a tool to engage audiences' (2019, p. 256). Boundary work has become a popular concept to examine journalists' use of social media that have challenged traditional boundaries ( Jukes 2019). As Zelizer notes (1993), journalists will collectively interpret and establish the boundaries of their profession.…”

“…For instance, political journalists have posted more discussions while trying to evade controversial topics on Twitter. They have experimented with quote tweets, which allow the users to add their comments when retweeting other people's messages ( Jukes 2019;Molyneux & Mourão 2019). Investigative journalists have pioneered more adversarial reporting to perform an activist-like agenda, leading to a new era of collaboration (Di Salvo 2020;Graves & Konieczna 2015).…”

“…Afterwards, Ioffe (2016a) initiated the practice of using quote tweets to start conversations that shared the neo-Nazi trolling about her article. Usually, journalists would avoid discussing controversial personal topics on social media ( Jukes 2019;Molyneux and Mourão 2019). Ioffe added and curated satirical comments such as, 'Good morning, from your neighbourhood Trump trolls', in a rare effort to create an online conversation that would confront abusive readers (2016a).…”

The discursive construction of the gamification of journalism

“…Indeed, journalism’s economic goals, which often drive journalistic innovation, are a key source of normative tension. Thus, entrepreneurial journalism, for example, has been seen both as the way forward for an economically troubled institution and as problematic in light of normative, institutional scripts about a ‘wall of separation’ between business and editorial functions of news outlets (Coddington, 2015; Jukes, 2019; Vos and Singer, 2016). Whatever the innovation might be, journalists will likely be faced with interlocutors who will push journalists to situate that innovation within existing normative frameworks.…”

Twitter gazeteciliği ile ilgili yapılan lisansüstü tezlerin incelenmesi

“…2017;Groshek ve Tandoc, 2017;Tenenboim, 2017;Leuven ve Deprez, 2017;English, 2016;Powers ve Vera-Zambrano, 2018;Wihbey vd. 2019;Barnard, 2016;Bentivegna ve Marchetti, 2018;Larsson ve Moe, 2015;Engesser ve Humprecht, 2015;Hedman, 2015;Hanusch ve Nölleke, 2019;Jukes, 2019;Lasorsa vd. 2012;Canter, 2015;Liu vd.…”