Making News in 140 Characters: How the New Media Environment Is Changing Our Examination of Audiences, Journalists, and Content
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2012 Making news in 140 characters: how the new media environment is changing our examination of audiences, journalists, and content Ashley Elizabeth Kirzinger Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Mass Communication Commons Recommended Citation Kirzinger, Ashley Elizabeth, "Making news in 140 characters: how the new media environment is changing our examination of audiences, journalists, and content" (2012). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 622. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/622 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. MAKING NEWS IN 140 CHARACTERS: HOW THE NEW MEDIA ENVIRONMENT IS CHANGING OUR EXAMINATION OF AUDIENCES, JOURNALISTS, AND CONTENT A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Manship School of Mass Communication by Ashley Elizabeth Kirzinger B.A., Denison University, 2004 M.A., Wake Forest University, 2008 May 2012 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To say that I am indebted to the individuals mentioned below would be an understatement. My friends (and yes, I am including my committee members in this category) and family have been truly remarkable during this process. My favorite song by my favorite band includes the phrase, “If you are loved by someone you are never rejected, decide what to be and go be it.” At the risk of being cliché, these people are my “someones.” I owe them everything. My dissertation committee is comprised of six of the most intelligent, engaging, and helpful individuals. I consider myself extremely fortunate for finding these amazing scholars and for their willingness to work with me throughout my time at Manship. Dr. Kirby Goidel deserves most, if not all, of the recognition for my success. For better or worse, he has been the most influential person in my adult life. While he probably will not approve of me putting it in print, he is the most caring and supportive advisor anyone could ask for. Twenty years from now if I am half the scholar, colleague, and friend that Kirby is, I will consider myself lucky. Drs. Dunaway, Scholl, and Weber taught me how to be a successful young scholar, each in their own way. I see their lasting influences in both my scholarship and my teaching. I am lucky to call each of them a friend and a colleague, as well as a mentor. Dr. Margaret DeFleur was the most supportive and gracious graduate dean- thanks for your guidance throughout my four years. Dr. Laura Martins was a perfect addition to the committee, thank you for always being a friendly face. A debt of gratitude is owed to the community of friends I was surrounded by in Baton Rouge. To Eric, Lindsay, Portia, Jason, Ben, Laenen, Laura, and Merts- thanks for putting up with my crazy. To the Goidel family- thank you for being my home away from home. To Michael Raines- thanks for the relentless ridicule and constant friendship. Amy Ladley deserves a special thank you as she once made me Golden Grahams milk, the most perfect gift in the history of the universe. ii Finally, my incredibly supportive family- Mom, Dad, Whitney, Hollister, and Meme- I could not have done this without you. Thank you for being awesome. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................................... ii List of Tables .................................................................................................................................................. v List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................... vi Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... vii Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One: News Media as Organizations .......................................................................................... 10 Chapter Two: Methods ............................................................................................................................... 30 Chapter Three: Social Media Journalism: Examining the Institution ................................................. 52 Chapter Four: Social Media Journalism: Exploring Relationships, Interconnectivity, and News Sharing of Journalists .................................................................................................................................. 91 Chapter Five: Social Media: The Increasingly Important News Institution .................................. 130 References .................................................................................................................................................. 145 Appendix A: Coding Guide .................................................................................................................... 157 Appendix B: Interview Guide and Online Survey .............................................................................. 161 Vita .............................................................................................................................................................. 163 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: Sample descriptives with Klout scores .................................................................................. 39 Table 2.2: Intercoder agreement ............................................................................................................... 48 Table 3.1: Sample descriptives ................................................................................................................... 66 Table 3.2: Frequency distributions of Twitter-specific variables ........................................................... 71 Table 3.3: Cross-tabulations of hard news and political news topic ................................................... 74 Table 3.4: Cross-tabulations of hard news and purpose of tweet ........................................................ 75 Table 3.5: Cross-tabulations of political news topic and frame ........................................................... 76 Table 3.6: Logistic regression predicting news quality by number of followers ................................ 78 Table 3.7: Logistic regression predicting news quality by organization variables ............................ 81 Table 4.1: Centrality measures of sample ............................................................................................. 108 Table 4.2: Comparing network characteristics ..................................................................................... 113 Table 4.3: Network characteristics of journalists and retweets ......................................................... 118 Table 4.4: Network characteristics of journalists and mentions ....................................................... 120 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: Network of Sample; Following ............................................................................................. 36 Figure 2.2: Network of Sample; Klout Scores ........................................................................................ 37 Figure 3.1: Probability of hard news by number of followers .............................................................. 79 Figure 4.1:Network of sample using following characteristics .......................................................... 111 Figure 4.2: Journalists’ News Sharing Behaviors ................................................................................. 114 Figure 4.3: The five most influential journalists and their retweets .................................................. 115 Figure 4.4: Journalists’ and Mentions on Twitter .................................................................................. 119 Figure 4.5: The five most influential journalists’ and Mentions on Twitter ...................................... 122 vi ABSTRACT Technological, social, and industrial changes have drastically transformed how Americans consume and the media report news. Despite this, American news media still serve a basic, fundamental role in the democratic system: as the fourth branch of government, the press is tasked with being a government watchdog while continuing to be the purveyors of information about local, national, and international events. This dissertation examines social media use among political journalists. The project serves three purposes. First, it provides important insight into the type of news journalists are reporting on social media, using an analysis of Twitter news content. As social media use among journalists and news consumers continues to increase, it is important to understand the product of social media news. Specifically, this project examines the norms and routines of political journalism as well