How Does Social Media Shape Media Convergence? The Case of Journalists Covering War and Conflict
Social media has affected the production, dissemination and consumption of news, as well as the professional and cultural values of journalists working within the media. This contribution illustrates the dynamic and complex relationship professional journ
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Introduction
The role of the journalist during war is to relate a firsthand experience of conflict to distant audiences. In a globalised, digital and online world, the importance and relevance of journalistic work during war and conflict has not changed; global audiences still demand objective and verifiable information about the nature of the conflict. However, the ways in which journalists produce and disseminate this information and the way audiences engage and interact with it has changed dramatically. Through digital and social media, global audiences can interact directly and instantaneously, both with journalists and other diverse groups of people interested in the dissemination of news and information during war and conflict. The spread of news and information and the number of different voices creating and delivering content in the public sphere has been fostered by the improvement in technological devices and online social networks (Tumber, 2009, p. 386). These changes in news production, dissemination and consumption have both challenged and invigorated journalistic practices and the environment in which journalists do their work. Journalists who cover war and conflict have had to adapt to a different status in the online and social media age, mediating much more information through various networks, interacting with many more diverse sources of information with various vested interests and finding new ways to produce and disseminate news for global audiences. Journalism during war and conflict has been investigated by several key researchers in disciplines such as communication, media and journalism fields (e.g. Carruthers, 2000; Clarke & Bromley, 2011; Cottle, 2006, 2008, 2011; Hallin, 1986; Kellner, 1992; Lynch, 2013; Sambrook, 2010; Sylvester, 2011). The interest in this topic stems from the dramatic nature of war and conflict, their relevance to V. Sacco (*) Academy of Journalism and Media, University of Neuchaˆtel, Neuchaˆtel, Switzerland e-mail: [email protected] # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016 A. Lugmayr, C. Dal Zotto (eds.), Media Convergence Handbook - Vol. 1, Media Business and Innovation, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-54484-2_20
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nations and publics on a global scale and the investment of both money and time by media organisations to cover these events (Tumber, 2009, p. 386). However, scholars in these disciplines (e.g. Cottle, 2006; Robinson, Goddard, Parry, & Murray, 2009) have suggested that investigation of how professional journalists cover war and conflict should continue because reportage of war and conflict involves complex dynamics including economic, political, social and cultural impacts at both a local and global level (Beck, 1997; Castells, 1997; Giddens, 1994). Social media is part of the media digitization process which can be considered a central component of the convergence phenomenon (Latzer, 2013, p. 8). Indeed, this study was motivated by the potential for substantial change to war reportage that digital, online and social media are bringing
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