Political journalists and Twitter: Influences on norms and practices

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2013

Abstract

This study explores the ways in which Twitter has impacted the norms and practices of political reporters and editors who tweet. In-depth interviews with political journalists at US newspapers during the 2012 presidential campaign indicate that Twitter use has caused substantial changes to daily reporting practices, in part because Twitter is considered more consequential for their job than any other form of social media, including Facebook. Several themes emerged as to how the changes have helped and harmed their ability to report and write stories. However, participants do not use Twitter in ways that suggest a major shift in traditional journalistic norms, such as objectivity and gatekeeping. © 2013 Intellect Ltd Article.

Publication Title

Journal of Media Practice

Volume

14

Issue

4

First Page

291

Last Page

305

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1386/jmpr.14.4.291_1

ISSN

14682753

E-ISSN

20400926

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