Department of Informatics & Media Digital Media & Society Uppsala University, Sweden Navigating Context Collapse How Do Chinese Journalists Engage in Weibo Practices Master’s Thesis Supervisor: Göran Svensson, Uppsala University Author: Bo Bi Uppsala, May 2015 Bo Bi, 2015. Some rights reserved. See Appendix I I I for license. (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) ii Abstract At a time when traditional news organizations are struggling to grab the attention of audiences and survive in this digital age, social media, particularly microblogging services, have created novel opportunities for journalists to present themselves and connect with followers online. This has raised ethical issues that challenge the traditional journalistic principles and practices. As the boundaries between the public and private are increasingly blurred, journalists can use social media for both professional and personal use, which raises the questions of whether and to what extent traditional journalistic norms and standards are relevant and how they will change on the new medium platform. Several studies have been conducted on the influences of social media on professional norms and practices of journalism in the Western contexts. However, it is difficult to find in-depth qualitative research into what journalists themselves actually experience when they utilize social media as a professional tool in the Chinese context. To fill this gap, this exploratory study employs a blended ethnography/netnography approach to examine Chinese journalists’ practices on Weibo, the most popular social media platform in China. Based on data gathered from online participant observations and interviews, the study also investigates whether and to what extent core journalistic values are transformed on Weibo. Furthermore, it discusses the implications of the results for journalists, the field of journalism, and the society in China. Keywords: journalists, social media, Weibo, practices, norms, values, professionalism, Chinese journalism, microblogging iii Acknowledgements First of all, I am thankful to Göran Svensson, my supervisor, for his patient guidance, enthusiastic encouragement and constructive feedback. Also, I am greatly indebted to everyone who provided constructive criticisms to help me improve my thesis. Furthermore, I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to all the people who have contributed their knowledge to this thesis. Special thanks to the journalists for their voluntary help and patience. Finally, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my parents and brother for their unconditional love, support and encouragement. Lastly, I also wish to thank my little nephew, Kairui, who has brought me so much joy when I was stresses by the thesis. iv Table of Contents Table of Contents .............................................................................................................................. v 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Journalism in Transition ...................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Topic of the Thesis: Transforming Journalistic Practices and Norms in Context Collapse. 3 1.3 The Different Context in China ........................................................................................... 5 1.4 Purpose of the Study and Research Questions .................................................................... 7 1.5 Significance of the Research ............................................................................................... 8 1.6 Outline of the Research Study ............................................................................................. 9 2. Background ................................................................................................................................. 10 2.1 The Development of Social Media and Weibo in China ................................................... 10 2.1.1 The main differences between Weibo and Twitter ................................................. 11 2.2 Journalism in China .......................................................................................................... 16 2.3 Choice of Journalists ......................................................................................................... 18 3. Literature review ......................................................................................................................... 20 3.1 An overview of the field of online journalism .................................................................. 20 3.1.1 Technologically Oriented Research ........................................................................ 20 3.1.2 Online News Production Research ......................................................................... 21 3.2 Review of Studies on Journalism and Weibo in China ..................................................... 24 4. Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................................... 26 4.1 Journalistic Norms and Values .......................................................................................... 26 4.1.1 Objectivity .............................................................................................................. 26 4.1.2 Gatekeeping ........................................................................................................... 27 4.1.3 Other Journalistic Norms ....................................................................................... 28 4.2 Social Media and Journalism ............................................................................................ 30 4.3 Context Collapse ............................................................................................................... 31 5. Methodology ............................................................................................................................... 33 5.1 Research Strategy .............................................................................................................. 33 5.1.1 A Combination of Qualitative and Quantitative Research ..................................... 33 5.1.2 Blended Ethnography/ Netnography ..................................................................... 34 5.2 Research Design and Process ............................................................................................ 37 5.2.1 Online Participant Observations............................................................................. 37 5.2.2 Semi-structured Interviews .................................................................................... 41 5.2.3 Data Analysis Strategies ......................................................................................... 52 5.3 Ethical Considerations ...................................................................................................... 57 5.3.1 An Ethical Dilemma in Online Participant Observation ........................................ 57 5.3.2 Data Collection on Social Media Platforms ........................................................... 58 5.3.3 Respect and Privacy in Interviews ......................................................................... 58 6. Results and Analysis ................................................................................................................... 60 6.1 Use of Weibo ..................................................................................................................... 60 6.1.1 Patterns of Daily Use ............................................................................................ 60 6.1.2 Motivations for Weibo Use ................................................................................... 62 6.1.3 How Do Journalists Identify Themselves on Weibo?............................................ 63 6.2 Transforming Journalistic Practices on Weibo .................................................................. 68 6.2.1 Overview of Journalists’ Weibo Posts ................................................................... 68 6.2.2 Recurring Themes in Weibo Posts ........................................................................ 69 6.2.3 Negotiation of Professional Practices ................................................................... 72 6.2.4 Summary ............................................................................................................... 78 6.3 Factors Influencing Journalists’ Use of Weibo .................................................................. 79 6.3.1 Organization Influence ........................................................................................... 79 6.3.2 Interaction with Other Users on Weibo .................................................................. 80 6.3.3 Governmental Regulation ...................................................................................... 82 6.3.4 To Verify or Not to Verify: That is a Question ....................................................... 83 6.4 Transforming Professional Norms on Weibo .................................................................... 86 6.4.1 Context Collapse and Relevance of Journalistic Professionalism on Weibo .......... 86 6.4.2 Gatekeeping on Weibo ........................................................................................... 89 6.4.3 Objectivity on Weibo ............................................................................................