Year: 2023
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Social media plays an important role in how journalists gather and report news. To understand journalists' professional environment, we examine the networks of journalists on Twitter who cover politics for U.S. newspapers in conjunction with a sample of journalists who completed a survey. By combining both their network data and survey responses, we examine the distribution of journalists' ideology (n = 264) and journalistic values (n = 247); and using the network data, we examine the directional relationships between journalists working at large and small papers (n = 4,661). We find that journalists tend to form connections with those who share similar journalistic values. However, we find little evidence that journalists build professional relationships based on similarity in political ideology. Lastly, journalists at larger media outlets are more likely to be central in journalists' Twitter networks, providing evidence that journalists look to other journalists at larger outlets for direction in news coverage. Our evidence provides unique insights into how social media illuminates journalists' professional environment and how that environment may shape news coverage.
Source: PLoS ONE
Authors: Qin Li, Hans J. G. Hassell, Robert M. Bond
Institutions: The Ohio State University, Florida State University
Language: English
Subfield: Communication
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,805
Funder: Ohio State University
OpenAlex ID: W4387737164