Danielle K. Kilgo

Freedom from the press

As citizen journalism continues to increase in popularity, social news sites (i.e., websites where users produce the content) are also gaining prominence on the Internet. Nevertheless, there is little research about how social news sites function. One such website, known as Reddit, has a growing user base of more than 100 million individuals and has played an important role in distributing information about critical and current events. Through examining a major incident where Reddit was acknowledged as an important informational entity, this study analyzed varying characteristics of content posted on Reddit in order to determine whether the website, as it claims, has “freedom from the press,” or if it follows gatekeeping practices that are similar to those implemented by traditional media outlets.

A new sensation? An international exploration of sensationalism and social media recommendations in online news publications:

The well-known phrase ‘if it bleeds, it leads’ describes the sensational approach that has penetrated the history of news. Sensationalism is a term without complete consensus among scholars, and its meaning and implications have not been considered in a digital environment. This study analyzes 400 articles from online-native news organizations across the Americas, evaluating the sensational treatment of news categories and news values, and their associated social media interaction numbers on Facebook and Twitter. Findings suggest that ‘hard’ news topics like government affairs and science/technology were treated sensationally just as often as traditionally sensationalized categories like crime or lifestyle and society. In addition, audiences are not necessarily more likely to respond to sensational treatments. This study also finds that online-native news organizations use sensationalism differently, and there is significant variation in publications from the United States, Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico.

To Share or Not to Share

Audiences play a fundamental role in disseminating and evaluating news content, and one of the big questions facing news organizations is what elements make content viral in the digital environment. This comparative study of the United States, Brazil and Argentina explores what values and topics present in news shared online predict audience interaction on social media. Findings shed light on what news values and topics trigger more audience responses on Facebook and Twitter. At the same time, a comparison between popular content produced by traditional media versus online-native media reveals that the former lean more toward government-related news and conflict/controversy news values than online native media. Brazilian stories prompted more social media interactivity than content from the United States or Argentina. Through content analysis, this study contributes to improving our understanding of audiences’ news values preferences on social networks. It also helps us to recognize the role of users’ online activities (sharing, commenting and liking) in the social construction of news and meaning inside the networked sphere. Finally, it opens an old media debate about whether providing and sharing too much media content with conflict, controversy and oddity could potentially hinder understanding and agreement in society. Articles were collected via media tracking and the data collection company NewsWhip.

Spreading Ebola Panic: Newspaper and Social Media Coverage of the 2014 Ebola Health Crisis

ABSTRACT During times of hot crises, traditional news organizations have historically contributed to public fear and panic by emphasizing risks and uncertainties. The degree to which digital and social media platforms contribute to this panic is essential to consider in the new media landscape. This research examines news coverage of the 2014 Ebola crisis, exploring differences in presentation between newspaper coverage and news shared on the social news platform Reddit. Results suggest that news shared on Reddit amplified panic and uncertainty surrounding Ebola, while traditional newspaper coverage was significantly less likely to produce panic-inducing coverage.

Emotional appeals and news values as factors of shareworthiness in Ice Bucket Challenge coverage

The 2014 amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Ice Bucket Challenge (IBC) received unprecedented attention by both news media and social media audiences. Using content analysis, this research examines how digital news utilized different news values and emotional appeals to cover the IBC. In addition, this work includes a secondary analysis that examines what coverage characteristics influenced social media audiences to share content on Facebook and Twitter. Results reveal that while celebrity participation and human interest stories were more likely to be covered, news values played a limited role in predicting audience sharing practices. Articles that use emotions in a story are more likely to entice sharing on Facebook than on Twitter.

Media Landscape on Tumblr

Growing concern for the future news consumption of young people and millennials has left journalism scholars and educators with the interesting challenge of engaging youth in news. Rendered “newsless” by one Pew Research report, this study examines news organizations’ publication practices in the largely under-researched and youth-oriented social network Tumblr. Results suggest that while news organizations have become increasingly involved in social media networks, many have created a digital presence on Tumblr and failed to maintain their accounts. Of the few that do consistently post, content appears to be tailored to adhere to the culture of the Tumblr platform, and posts are diversified in terms of format and topic. Surprisingly, though the majority of Tumblr users are considered to be young people and young adults, audience activity totals indicate that user interests may stretch beyond entertainment, widening assumptions that youth are primarily interested in entertainment, sports, and trivial news.

From #Ferguson to #Ayotzinapa: Analyzing Differences in Domestic and Foreign Protest News Shared on Social Media

This study compares U.S. digital news coverage of recent foreign and domestic protests. Differences in coverage’s framing, sourcing, and device emphases were analyzed for two cases: protests that erupted after the death of Michael Brown and protests demanding justice for the 43 missing students from Ayotzinapa, Mexico. Building on protest paradigm literature, content analysis results show that news articles that appeared on Facebook and Twitter emphasized legitimizing frames for foreign protests more than domestic protests. Foreign protests were framed with the spectacle frame more than domestic protests, which were more often portrayed as confrontational. Digitally native news organizations produced content that deviated from expected paradigmatic norms the most. In addition, this research examines the relationship between content and sharing on Facebook and Twitter. Implications of these findings within the theoretical framework of the protest paradigm are discussed.

Framing Ferguson: The interplay of advocacy and journalistic frames in local and national newspaper coverage of Michael Brown:

The shooting death of Michael Brown by a police officer in August 2014 served as a pivotal case that pushed excessive use of police force against minority groups to the national spotlight. Guided by the scholarship on protest coverage, this article investigates the interplay between advocacy and journalistic framing in the coverage of the Ferguson protests by national and local news. A content analysis of five newspapers during the first cycle of protests identified how journalistic frames of presentation derived from the ‘protest paradigm’ literature related to the content frames pushed forward by the Black Lives Matter movement. Results reveal that initial stories were predominantly episodic and focused on violence to the detriment of demands and grievances. However, episodic stories were also critical of the police response and the use of military-grade weapons to contain the demonstrations. As the weeks progressed, journalists gave space to the ideas of protestors in a more thematic way, especially on...

Martin to Brown: How time and platform impact coverage of the Black Lives Matter movement

The rise of the modern Black Lives Matter movement can be traced back to two key events, the 2012 death of Trayvon Martin and the 2014 death of Michael Brown. Research routinely showed that mainstream media’s narrative choices marginalize and delegitimize protesters and their causes, a pattern known as the protest paradigm. This study provides a longitudinal examination of how the same mainstream media system varied in their coverage of similar events and the degree to which journalists challenged the predicted paradigms conceptualized in other academic work. A content analysis of national newspaper coverage revealed that news before the judicial rulings focused on protesters’ tactics (violence versus peaceful) and changed to the realm of ideas (grievances and demands) after the assailants were considered not guilty of wrongdoing. No progression was found in legitimizing coverage of protests between the two cases.