The transformation of journalistic practices in the era of social networks. Analysis of journalistic intervention on social media in the scottish independence referendum and the catalonia sovereignty consultation

Abstract

This thesis dissertation has been motivated by the firm purpose of adding knowledge to Communication Studies and to the research related to social media platforms and any changes that have happened in the journalistic profession. It is the main aim of this work to analyse and investigate the transformation in journalism as a consequence of the new digital environment. It is clear that the Internet in general, and social networks in particular, have led to a transformation in the way in which the reporter conveys a story, and even in how these fragments of reality have been written. Social networks are also seen as a place to promote media outlets’ and journalists’ brands and stories, and even as a sphere to achieve a higher audience share, as well as a place where the audience plays an important role because of the faster communication achieved by an almost instant conversation possible on these digital social platforms (Beckett and Lumby, 2014: 117). So, unavoidably these have involved a number of transformations in journalistic practices and the desire of this research is to investigate them. Throughout this thesis has been widely discussed how the advent of social media has changed the way news media and journalists do journalism. Since the appearance of the hyperlink, through the implementation of multimedia resources, to the social digital platforms that open an enormous world of communication possibilities (social media) -strongly linked to the media outlets- has been described. Hence, to clarify and investigate to what extent social media has transformed journalistic practices, two empirical studies have been carried out, one to determine media outlets’ performance on social networks, conducted by a content analysis; and another to approach the point of view of journalists, based on a qualitative research design with in-depth interviews. Both studies were conducted in two countries, the United Kingdom and Spain. In the case of the content analysis, the collected data was put together taking as a case of study the media performance during two comparable political processes: the Scottish Referendum (UK) and the Catalonia Sovereignty Consultation (Spain) in the autumn of 2014. It is clear that social networks have revolutionized journalism as far as important innovations and changes in journalistic practices go. In the research into the use of social networks by the media, how newsrooms had introduced in their professionals’ –daily– routines updating social networks as a way to connect with their existing and potential audience have been seen. This statement corresponds with what scholars such as Emmett (2009), Messner et al. (2011), Medina and Messner (2013), Mangold and Faulds (2009) or Noguera (2010) suggest regarding how important it is for news companies to be on social media in order to establish contact with their users. According to them, since 2008 news organizations have realized how important it is for them to be on social media, especially on Twitter or on Facebook, as a way to send a message to their audience in an attempt to engage them, to attract traffic to their website and to enhance its their respective brands. In the past, neither news companies nor journalists had to worry –at least not as much as they have to nowadays– about users’ feelings regarding their reports, because it was not as easy as it is currently to obtain authentic feedback. As has been shown in these results, users mainly use social media in two ways related to the reporting process: as a way to share multimedia content or any information concerning a hot topic or to interact with the news media messages and also with journalists. Surprisingly, although in the research based on the discourse of journalists concerning their use of social media it has been highlighted that news corporations have to monitor what is said on social networks and take care of what their audience is saying through this channel, high rates of communication between the audience and the media were not registered in the study into the use of social media by news companies. It is interesting to note that in media outlets’ research a low complex interaction, particularly regarding to the conversational messages, was registered. Meanwhile in the study into the use of social media by journalists, it was discovered that journalists are constantly monitoring what is said on social media and they even look on these platforms to find details for their reports or new stories. Colussi (2010) warns in her research that social media attribute a higher interactivity degree to that between journalists and audience than to what they actually possess. Anyway, this finding clearly shows the necessity for further research which would help to clarify the lower or higher degree of interactivity between users and journalists/media outlets.