Publication
Title
Much Ado About Nothing? The low importance of Twitter as a sourcing tool for economic journalists
Author
Abstract
Digitalisation has changed journalistic sourcing techniques and affected the way journalists approach sources. This study examines how new information channels change the relationship between journalists and their (potential) sources in this evolving environment and analyses the role of these channels. We are not only interested in the sources that make it into the news, but study the broader networks of people and institutions journalists rely on to help them monitor and gather information. We combine online Twitter network analysis with in-depth interviews to create a detailed mapping of the professional source networks of 33 economic journalists in Belgium. Our results identify that the Twitter networks of economic journalists to a large extent reflect their broader sourcing practices. Overall, the same actor groups are important in both the online and the offline source networks with the exception of the more prominent presence of other journalists and media organisations in the Twitter network of journalists. We conclude that Twitter is implemented within existing sourcing practices without fundamentally changing the news production process.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Digital journalism. - Abingdon, 2013, currens
Publication
Abingdon : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group , 2018
ISSN
2167-0811 [print]
2167-082X [online]
DOI
10.1080/21670811.2018.1490657
Volume/pages
6 :7 (2018) , p. 869-888
ISI
000445195200005
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
The power of social media in the news. A multi-method study on the influence of Twitter on sourcing patterns in journalism.
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 25.09.2018
Last edited 09.10.2023
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