Michael Karlsson

Freezing the Flow of Online News : Exploring approaches to the study of the liquidity of online news

According to previous research, two characteristics of online news as opposed to traditional news are interactivity and immediacy. However, most research in this area has focused on the news site-level of analysis, and there are only a few studies on how interactivity and immediacy affect online news on the news story-level of analysis. The main reason for this appears to be that the very nature of online news makes observation by traditional research methods, such as quantitative content analysis, problematic. Against this background, the overall purpose of this paper is to explore methodological approaches for the study of interactivity and immediacy on the news story-level of online news. The paper develops a three-pronged strategy for freezing the flow of online news to enable systematic content analyses of interactivity and immediacy, and tests this strategy in a comparative analysis of the online news sites Guardian.co.uk in Britain and Aftonbladet.se in Sweden.

RITUALS OF TRANSPARENCY: Evaluating online news outlets' uses of transparency rituals in the United States, United Kingdom and Sweden

Transparency has been suggested as a new norm in journalism. However, few studies have investigated how the overarching notion of transparency is utilized in everyday news. The purpose of this study is to identify and compare how leading mainstream online news media in the United States, United Kingdom and Sweden make use of transparency techniques in news items. The results show that transparency has begun to affect online news but that current journalism practice is a long way from a fully fledged transparency norm.

The immediacy of online news, the visibility of journalistic processes and a restructuring of journalistic authority

Transparency has been emphasized as a new norm within journalism and has received a great deal of attention. The credo of transparency is openness, and the interactive potential of digital media has been identified as one key element in achieving openness. In this essay it is argued that by exposing previously hidden journalistic processes, the high speed of online news plays a part in this orientation towards transparency in journalism.

Flourishing not restrained : The evolution of participatory journalism in Swedish online news, 2005-2009

Research concerning user participation in online news has demonstrated that news websites offer a wide range of participatory features, but largely permit users only to comment on already-published material. This longitudinal analysis of Swedens four major mainstream national news websites focuses on front-page news items to investigate to what extent user participation has increased over time and whether the participatory features present allow users to exert control over key journalistic processes. Its findings indicate that user participation has increased rapidly in regard to processes peripheral to news journalism, but also that users have to a minor extent begun over time to perform work previously reserved for professional journalists.Research concerning user participation in online news has demonstrated that news websites offer a wide range of participatory features, but largely permit users only to comment on already- publishe ...

Negotiating Professional News Judgment and “Clicks”: Comparing Tabloid, Broadsheet and Public Service Traditions in Sweden

Abstract Digital media allow for instant tracking of audience behaviour, thus enabling a potential negotiation between journalists’ traditional authority and professional news values, on the one hand, and the audience’s power in terms of ignoring or paying attention to the journalistic outcome, on the other. The present study investigates whether clicks change news values and have an impact on news routines in tabloid, broadsheet and public service newsrooms. The findings indicate that audience metrics bring a new dimension to the news evaluation process regardless of publishing tradition, but that the commercial media seem to keep a closer tab on traffic. In general, journalists strive for a “good mix” between customization to achieve audience satisfaction and a desire for editorial independence.

Determinants of news content : Comparing journalists’ perceptions of the normative and the actual impact of different event properties when deciding what’s news

While there is a large body of research on news values and news selection, most research does not clearly distinguish between the concept of news and news selection, on the one hand, and news values and criteria of newsworthiness on the other. These concepts are often treated as synonymous. This is problematic, as there may be many other factors aside from news values or criteria of newsworthiness that determine what becomes news, and as there may be differences between what journalists think should be, and actually is, important when deciding whats news. Against this background, this study investigates what Swedish journalists think is, and should be, important event properties when deciding whats news, and whether there are differences across journalists working for different kinds of media and depending on whether they work with online publishing. The results show that there are significant differences between the perceived normative and actual importance of investigated event properties when deciding whats news.

Participatory journalism - the revolution that wasn't. Content and user behavior in Sweden 2007-2013

A contemporary debate in media studies concerns participation and empowerment, and to what extent digital media shift power to the citizens. This study assesses the long-term viability of participatory journalism using Swedish content and user data. Inclusion of comments and blog-links on news sites increased from 2007 to 2010, and decreased rather dramatically from 2011 onward. Posting user comments or writing blogs have never been activities that have appealed to a majority of the Swedes. Participatory journalism seems to have decreasing value to producers and little appeal to users. A shift in how power is distributed in the public sphere is absent. This is not primarily a problem of reluctant producers but, more importantly, a lack of interest from users.

WHO'S GOT THE POWER?

Over the last decades, media environments have become radically transformed. Among the most significant changes is the rise of interactive media technologies, which raise new questions about how influence over media content has changed. At the same time, changes in media technologies and how they may change the influence over the news should not be understood in isolation from other changes in media environments. Against this background, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how much influence journalists ascribe to different sets of actors; how they perceive changes over time; and whether journalists working with online publishing differ in these respects from other journalists. Among other things, the study shows that the most influential group is perceived to be journalists, followed by the audience and media owners. The group that is perceived to have increased their influence the most is media owners. All investigated groups—except journalists—are perceived to have increased their influence at least somewhat. The results are discussed in the light of research on how interactive media technologies may reshape the influence over the news.

You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet: Transparency's (lack of) effect on source and message credibility

It has been suggested that transparency will change the way journalism is being produced as well as increase its credibility. However, little research has been conducted to assess the connection between transparency and credibility. This study utilizes an experimental setting with 1320 respondents to measure what impact transparency has on source and message credibility from a user perspective. The results reveal an almost total absence of any transparency effect on either source or message credibility, although some small significant effects could be observed primarily regarding internal hyperlinks, comments and contextual information. Although further research is needed in this area, the study suggests that transparency does not affect the credibility of journalism in the eyes of the contemporary audience and thus has limited appeal as a new norm in journalism.

Is Anyone out There? : Assessing Swedish citizen-generated community journalism

In this study, situated in Sweden, citizen community journalism in 290 municipalities is evaluated. The results reveal that there are very few cases of citizen journalism at a community level, and that the existing citizen journalists focus on business news, entertainment and sports. When sources are used, they are few and originate from social institutions such as business, media, authorities and politics rather than citizens. Furthermore, there are only a few occasions when local authorities are included at all, even less so scrutinised, in the news stories. All in all, the study indicates that Swedish citizen community journalism has trouble either providing information that maintains the community or being the watchdog of that community.