Publication
Title
Online headline testing at a Belgian broadsheet: a postfoundational perspective on how news professionals ‘sell’ content
Author
Abstract
In this chapter, we investigate the impact of recent audience-monitoring tools on the (online) newspaper sub-editors’ task of crafting headlines. We zoom in on how metrics have become part of the newsmaking process and are now intrinsic to a larger foundation of more collaborative, participatory and engaging practices. Drawing on digital data and fieldwork, we analyse the back and forth between the sub-editors’ journalistic gut feeling, their awareness of ‘selling’ their brand ‘in the right way’, and the need to gain clicks. Relying on a linguistic ethnographic perspective (NT&T 2011), we address how sub-editors reflect on their changing professional routines. By investigating how the sub-editors’ aim to position themselves in tandem with their algorithmic tools is foundational to news media today, we shed new light on how the use of audience engagement metrics intertwines with long-standing journalistic practices and contribute to global debates on the politics of technology and online participation.
Language
English
Source (book)
Participation, engagement and collaboration in newsmaking: a postfoundational perspective / Declercq, Jana [edit.]; et al. [edit.]
Source (series)
Discourse approaches to politics, society and culture ; 94
Publication
Amsterdam : John Benjamins Publishing Company , 2021
ISBN
978-90-272-0947-4
DOI
10.1075/DAPSAC.94.C2
Volume/pages
p. 17-42
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
UAntwerpen
Publication type
Subject
External links
Record
Identifier
Creation 24.10.2023
Last edited 24.10.2023
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