Journalism: Dynamics of Change and Continuity in News Work in the 21St Century

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Journalism: Dynamics of Change and Continuity in News Work in the 21St Century City Research Online City, University of London Institutional Repository Citation: Hermida, A. (2014). Open journalism: dynamics of change and continuity in news work in the 21st century. (Doctoral thesis, City University London) This is the accepted version of the paper. This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link: https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/13439/ Link to published version: Copyright: City Research Online aims to make research outputs of City, University of London available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the author(s) and/or copyright holders. URLs from City Research Online may be freely distributed and linked to. Reuse: Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge. Provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. City Research Online: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/ [email protected] Open journalism: Dynamics of change and continuity in news work in the 21st century Alfred Hermida A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at City University London Department of Journalism December 2014 0 THE FOLLOWING PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED PAPERS HAVE BEEN REDACTED FOR COPYRIGHT REASONS: pp 78-90: Hermida, A. and Thurman, N. (2008) A clash of cultures. In Journalism Practice, 2 (3), pp 343-356. pp 93-108 Hermida, A. (2009) The blogging BBC. In Journalism Practice, 3 (3), pp 1-17. pp 111-121 Hermida, A. (2010) Let’s talk: how blogging is shaping the BBC’s relationship with the public. In Monaghan, G. and Tunney, S. (Eds.) Web Journalism: A New Form of Citizenship, Eastboune; Sussex Academic Press, pp 306-316. pp 124-134: Hermida, A. (2010) Twittering the news. In Journalism Practice, 4 (3), pp 297-308. pp 136-155 Hermida, A. (2011) Mechanisms of participation: how audience options shape the conversation. In Singer, J.B, Hermida, A., Domingo, D., Heinonen, A., Paulussen, S., Quandt, T., Reich, Z., and Vujnovic, M. Participatory Journalism: Guarding Open Gates at Online Newspapers, Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, pp 13-33. pp 158-166 Hermida, A., Fletcher, F., Korell, D. and Logan, D (2012) Share, like, recommend. In Journalism Studies, 13 (5-6), pp 815-824. pp 169-177 Hermida, A. (2012) Tweets and truth: journalism as a discipline of collaborative verification. In Journalism Practice, 6 (5-6), pp 659-668. pp 180-197 Hermida, A. (2013) #Journalism: reconfiguring journalism research about Twitter, one tweet at a time. In Digital Journalism, 1 (3), pp 295-313. Continued on next page Continued from previous page pp 199-216: Lewis, S.C., Zamith, R. and Hermida, A. (2013) Content analysis in an era of big data: a hybrid approach to computational and manual methods. In Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 57 (1), pp 295-313. pp 218-237 Hermida, A,. Lewis, S.C. and Zamith, R. (2014) Sourcing the Arab Spring: a case study of Andy Carvin’s sources on Twitter during the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions. In Journal of Computer- Mediated Communication, 19 (3), pp 479-499. Table of Contents Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... 1 List of tables ........................................................................................................................ 2 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... 3 Abstract ................................................................................................................................. 5 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 6 2. Locating the portfolio in the literature .................................................................. 9 2.1 Perspectives on the sociology of journalism ............................................................. 9 2.2 From gatekeeping to gatewatching ............................................................................. 11 2.3 Processes of innovation .................................................................................................. 13 2.4 Towards theoretical renewal ........................................................................................ 14 3. Evaluation of methods .............................................................................................. 16 3.1 General approach .............................................................................................................. 16 3.2 Semi-structured research interviews ........................................................................ 19 3.2.1 Anonymity ..................................................................................................................................... 22 3.2.2 Data collection, storage and transcription ...................................................................... 22 3.2.3 Coding and analysis ................................................................................................................... 23 3.3 Content analysis ................................................................................................................ 24 3.4 Quantitative internet audience measurement ........................................................ 26 3.5 Research synthesis ........................................................................................................... 28 3.6 Adapting methods during research ............................................................................ 30 3.7 Concluding remarks ......................................................................................................... 31 4. Evaluation of findings ............................................................................................... 33 4.1 Participatory journalism ................................................................................................ 33 4.1.1. The growth of participatory journalism ......................................................................... 34 4.1.2 A framework for analysis ....................................................................................................... 36 4.1.3 Processes of innovation and change .................................................................................. 39 4.2 Social media ........................................................................................................................ 41 4.2.1. Understanding audience practices .................................................................................... 41 4.2.2. Theoretical renewal ................................................................................................................. 43 4.2.3. Rethinking professional practice ....................................................................................... 46 4.2.4. Methodological renewal ......................................................................................................... 48 4.3 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 49 5. Directions for future research ............................................................................... 51 5.1 Multiplicity of actors ........................................................................................................ 51 5.2 Technological actants ...................................................................................................... 53 References ........................................................................................................................ 56 Portfolio of Published Work ....................................................................................... 74 Statement of Co-authors of Joint Publications………………................................238 1 List of tables Table 1: Major methods used in papers submitted for PhD by prior publication…....18 Table 2: Issues identified from interviews...................................................................23 2 Acknowledgements I would like to thank Professor Howard Tumber for his support and encouragement during the writing of this thesis. His acumen and perspicacity proved invaluable through the process. I am also grateful to the external examiners, Professor Bob Franklin and Professor Michael Bromley for their insights. It has been a delight to work with such a talented range of scholars: David Domingo, Fred Fletcher, Ari Heinonen, Darryl Korell, Seth Lewis, Donna Logan, Steve Paulussen, Thorsten Quandt, Zvi Reich, Neil Thurman, Jane Singer, Maria Vujnovic and Rodrigo Zamith. My research owes a great deal to the willingness of journalists and news executives to share their ideas, insights, hopes and fears at a time of change and uncertainty. Without them, such work would not be possible. I am thankful for the support of friends and colleagues at the Graduate School of Journalism, University of British Columbia: Candis Callison, Kathryn Gretsinger, Brianne Howard, Peter Klein, Taylor Owen, Barry Warne and Mary Lynn Young. And to the graduate students who worked with me as research assistants since I joined UBC in 2006. I have been fortunate to have my research supported by the Social
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