Diana Bossio

Don't Tweet This!: How journalists and media organizations negotiate tensions emerging from the implementation of social media policy in newsrooms

Journalistic use of social media for sourcing, distribution and promotion of news comes at a time when the newsroom itself can be said to be in a state of “transition”. Previous research about social media and journalism has focussed on the transition of journalistic practices to the “social media age”, but less attention has been given to the ways in which new workplace relationships might contribute to a social media-enabled newsroom. It is thus important to analyse the policies and procedures different media organizations have implemented to integrate and regulate the use of social media in their newsrooms and how this might impact on news production and dissemination overall. The aim of this paper is to compare and critically analyse social media management policies and procedures in Australian newsrooms, as well as the relations between various editorial staff, to manage its introduction into journalistic practice. Based on 25 qualitative research interviews with editors, social media managers and news media staff from major Australian media companies, this study also reflects more broadly on the potential conflicts created by the regulation of social media use in newsrooms and how various personnel respond to them.

A roadmap for forming successful interdisciplinary education research collaborations: a reflective approach

Current literature about interdisciplinary education research is focused on three points: conceptual definitions of interdisciplinarity, the need for interdisciplinary research to tackle the advent of problem-based research and the positive curriculum outcomes to be gained from interdisciplinary research. While this research is important, it does not always include an account of the often complex and politicised interactions that might affect the outcomes of interdisciplinary research groups. This paper provides one possible ‘roadmap’ for successful interdisciplinary collaboration. It is based on a reflective case study of the authors’ own formation of an interdisciplinary research group and the practical resolutions to both the theoretical and the practical issues involved in achieving interdisciplinarity in education research.

Mapping the emergence of social media in everyday journalistic practices

While there is much research to describe journalists’ use of social media to source and disseminate news about major events and interact with global audiences, there are few studies that focus on journalists’ use of social media within everyday news practices. This article uses qualitative surveys to provide a preliminary understanding of how journalists in Australia are utilising social media content in everyday news sourcing and reportage. The purpose of this study is, first, to understand journalists’ perceptions of how and why they use social media to source news and information and, second, to understand the organisational and professional implications for news sourcing in social media-enabled environments.

A war about meaning: a case study of media contestation of the Australian anti-terror laws

Following the 9/11 attacks on the USA, the Howard government introduced extensive amendments to the criminal act within Australia. The Australian mainstream media has been criticized for its ineffective contestation of the controversial legislation, effectively becoming ‘seduced’ by the Howard governments discourses around post-9/11 insecurity. This article examines the representation of the ‘anti-terror laws’ by the Australian government and mainstream newspaper media. I argue that competing editorial practices in mainstream newspapers diluted the possibility of effective contestation of the laws. More broadly this article will illustrate that discourses around the medias traditional role as the ‘fourth estate’ often does not account for the various internal and external influences and constraints placed upon journalistic practice.

From “Selfies” to Breaking Tweets: How journalists negotiate personal and professional identity on social media

The aim of this paper is to analyse the different ways in which journalists negotiate representations of their professional and personal identity on social media platforms. We argue that the differing representations of personal and professional identity on social media correspond to the professional, organisational and institutional tensions that have emerged in this new space. Using qualitative interviews with various journalists and editorial staff from Australian media organisations across television, radio, print and online publications, we indicate that journalists present their personal and professional identity on social media in three different ways. The first group create public, professional social media accounts, but also create secondary, private accounts that are only accessible to personal networks. The second group either choose, or are required by their media organisation, to only have a professional presence on social media; that is, they have public accounts that are only associated with their media organisation and display only their professional activities. The last group merge a professional and personal identity on their social media sites, showing aspects of their personal and their professional lives on publically available accounts.

The identity dilemma: Identity drivers and social media fatigue among journalists

ABSTRACT An increasing body of media research suggests journalists are struggling to balance their personal and professional identities. This is particularly evident in social media spaces, where regulations from news organizations remain murky and audience expectations for engagement continue to grow. These studies, which relied heavily on content analyses and large-scale surveys, have demonstrated fundamental shifts in the norms journalists use to guide their practice, while also suggesting that journalists may be searching for ways to periodically disengage from social media. Drawing on interviews with 39 American and Australian journalists, this study explores drivers of what we consider to be a rising identity dilemma among journalists and why social media disengagement is considered a possible solution. The findings suggest journalists are grappling with issues of personal and professional identity construction across social media platforms with organizational pressures to present a more professional appearance without room for periodic disengagement from social media.

Social Media and Journalism Practice

‘Social Media and Journalism Practice’ explores how traditional journalism practice is being disrupted by social media cultures of communication. Bossio argues that norms of journalism practice have transitioned in response to the social and technological affordances enabled by increasing use of social media. The chapter analyses specific moments of transition in some traditional norms of journalistic practice, including maintaining objectivity in reportage, using processes of verification, and finally, asserting professional autonomy over individual work practice. These transitions have enabled new forms of journalistic practice that are increasingly collaborative, and prioritise authentic and transparent processes of presenting the news.

News in Social Media Environments: Journalism in a ‘Post-Truth’ World

‘News in Social Media Environments: Journalism in a “Post-Truth” World’ (this chapter) broadens discussion of journalism to its product—news and its distribution. In this chapter, Bossio argues that new modes of producing news and new business models for distributing news have resulted in the decentralisation of the journalist from the communication of news. There are now more stakeholders in the selection and distribution of news and, thus, continual negotiation of representations of truth and the right to determine how the news is distributed to audiences. Using an analysis of Trump’s use of false statements during his 2016 election campaign, Bossio illustrates that as social media continually disrupts traditional modes of producing and distributing news, governance over ‘truth’ as central to communication is also being renegotiated by new stakeholders in the news.

Social Media and the Newsroom: New Relationships, New Policies, New Practices

This chapter offers a much-needed organisational perspective on the introduction of social media to journalism practice. While most organisational research about journalism has focussed on the economics of news, Bossio instead analyses the new relationships in the newsroom that have managed workplace change and how these have provided both opportunities and limitations to journalism practice. The chapter uses a comparative case study of the introduction of online and social media production at The Age newspaper in Melbourne to illustrate the relationships between management and editorial staff and how they contributed to the success of new technologies in the newsroom.

Journalism and Social Media Audiences

This chapter explores the traditional ‘recipients’ of journalism—the news media audience. This chapter focusses on the apparent empowerment of audiences on social media and the dominance of their preferences in the creation and consumption of news. Bossio argues that the empowerment of social media audiences has created new social roles and ‘rules of engagement’ in participatory forms of social media communication. This chapter uses a case study of the Egyptian Arab Spring to chart these changes, illustrating how the news audience has changed and, secondly, contextualising the new audience–journalist relationship using journalism norms of professional practice.