Technology and journalism: ‘Dissolving’ social media content into disaster reporting on three Chinese disasters

Abstract

This article examines how three Chinese and two British newspapers sourced content from social media in their coverage of the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake, the 2013 Ya'an Earthquake and the 2015 Tianjin Explosion. The media outlets' citing of social media content present different patterns in line with their political and commercial interests, ideologies and journalistic values. Diverse images of the three disasters as revealed on social media (social media reality) were constructed in the newspapers' coverage. Journalists gate-keep information from social media and dissolve it into daily disaster reporting, accepting selected aspects of social media reality but rejecting others. Especially in the case of the Chinese newspapers, meeting the needs of domestic political and commercial interest groups, journalists endorse social media content that is favourable to these groups. In so doing, social media technologies are used and tailored to meet the needs of journalism.

Journalist social media practice in China: A review and synthesis

“…Given the concern over objectivity and reliability of social media sources, however, soft news was found to cite microblog sources more frequently than hard news (Cui and Lin, 2015;Song and Chang, 2017). Moreover, journalistic use of microblogs was strongly influenced by a news organization's culture and policies (Cui and Lin, 2015;Shen, 2016;Tong, 2017;Zhu, 2014). Less politically rigid news organizations were more likely to foster greater adoption of microblogging (Zhu, 2014).…”

Framing social conflicts in news coverage and social media: A multicountry comparative study

“…These changes in the political information environment undermine the boundaries of existing media institutions and challenge the power of traditional news organizations in news making and delivery. In this context, recent research has extended the long-standing approach in media effects research by looking at how messages are produced and circulated on social media (Kwak et al, 2010;Vis, 2013) and how these messages influence news coverage (Hermida, 2013;Tong, 2017).…”

Managing unpleasant moods: Affective discipline in Facebook discussions

“…During the last decade, social media platforms, such as Facebook, have become significant online spaces not only for individuals and groups, but also for journalism and news (Larsson, 2018b;Tong, 2017: 401). While Facebook's role as a platform in which journalistic content is circulated alongside disinformation disguising itself as journalism been debated particularly after the US presidential elections in 2016 and 2020 (Johnson and Kelling, 2018; Wahl-Jorgensen 2019), mainstream news organizations have been present on the platform since early 2000s, looking to engage their existing audiences and to find new ones (Langlois et al, 2009;Larsson, 2018b;Tong, 2017). As recent literature on disaster news coverage and social media suggests, Facebook and other social media have also become places where people look for information during disruptive events, either when the situation involves them directly or when they are interested in a distant event (Belair-Gagnon, 2015;Joye, 2015;Li et al, 2014;Matthews, 2018;Shineha and Tanaka, 2014;Thomson and Ito, 2012;Tong, 2017).…”

“…While Facebook's role as a platform in which journalistic content is circulated alongside disinformation disguising itself as journalism been debated particularly after the US presidential elections in 2016 and 2020 (Johnson and Kelling, 2018; Wahl-Jorgensen 2019), mainstream news organizations have been present on the platform since early 2000s, looking to engage their existing audiences and to find new ones (Langlois et al, 2009;Larsson, 2018b;Tong, 2017). As recent literature on disaster news coverage and social media suggests, Facebook and other social media have also become places where people look for information during disruptive events, either when the situation involves them directly or when they are interested in a distant event (Belair-Gagnon, 2015;Joye, 2015;Li et al, 2014;Matthews, 2018;Shineha and Tanaka, 2014;Thomson and Ito, 2012;Tong, 2017). The technological affordances of Facebook allow the news organizations to share their stories more widely, enabling the users to comment on the news and thereby engage the news organization more directly than with, for instance, letters-to-editors (Larsson, 2018a(Larsson, , 2018b.…”

“…Das, 2017;Løvlie et al, 2018;Paasonen, 2015). Affective discipline can also be understood as a part of the multiple dynamics that drive and sustain online discussions (Løvlie et al, 2018;Oikkonen, 2017;Paasonen, 2015;Stoehler and Lindgren, 2014;Tong, 2017), in concert with the communicational and informational, technologically enabled dynamics Langlois and company emphasize. Furthermore, I suggest that while affective dynamics drive and sustain the discussions on networked publics, the affective dynamics are in turn sustained by the communicational and informational dynamics driven by the non-human agents such as algorithms that operate behind the interface accessible to the general user.…”