I/O: Reinforcing Newsmaking Practices Through Algorithmic Media

Frizzera, Luciano

doi:10.21810/strm.v10i1.251

“…The focus on numbers can also lead to a focus on quantifying the audience in order to commodify it, versus contributing to informed civic discourse (Tandoc and Thomas 2015;Farhi 2016). With growing strategies to personalise news content (Newman 2018), there are also growing concerns over how such strategies might impact discourse in the public sphere (Heinderycx 2015;Frizzera 2018), particularly as concerns to the spread of knowledge on the internet, a platform even digital pioneers describe as "broken" (Streitfeld 2017;Kulwin 2018). Mistakes/misinformation spread rapidly (Vosoughi et al 2018); live endlessly online, despite any subsequent corrections (Solomon 2018); and, when identified, negatively impact journalism's social and political capital, which are inherently tied to its economic capital.…”

Section: Audience Data and Journalistic Capitalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The use of algorithms to allow easy access to information through a simple search is also changing gatekeeping; although, the motives for providing easy access are in no way altruistic. Google is run for profit (Goldberg 2011), corporations and individuals can pay to appear first in Google's search lists (Frizzera 2018), and search terms can be bought as a means to control messages (Mathieu 2010). Also, as Phillips (2015) noted in relation to search engine optimisation (SEO), technological advancement does not, necessarily, support raising the bar of quality content creation: "News desks now closely follow the analytics telling them exactly what words audiences are clicking on.…”

Section: The Impact Of Technology On Gatekeepingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metrics and analytics in the newsroom: an ethnographic study exploring how audience data are changing journalistic practice

Blanchett¹

2023

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The use of metrics and analytics is now embedded in and directly impacting newsroom practice and routines. As audience data are used to shape and promote content that help form societal narratives, development of best practice is crucial, not only to enhance fulsome public discourse but as a means of reputation building for media outlets fighting to retain relevance and public trust, both of which are intrinsically tied to revenue and/or funding. This thesis explores the potential conflicts between journalism’s mandate to keep the public informed through quality, contextualised news coverage and the use of metrics and analytics to build scale and a sustainable business model. Empirical research is based on ethnographic observation in four news organisations on two continents in three different countries: Norway’s national broadcaster, NRK, which has developed its own analytics system that uses both qualitative and quantitative data; The Canadian Press, Canada’s national news agency, which is exploring ways to track how its content is being used with little direct access to audience data; The Hamilton Spectator, a local newspaper in Canada making the shift from print to digital; and a similarly sized and situated local paper in the United Kingdom, The Bournemouth Daily Echo. Participant observation and interviews were used to investigate how metrics and analytics impact newsroom routines; how journalists feel their work is impacted by the use of audience data; and how practices pertaining to the use of metrics and analytics are challenging the boundaries of journalism. The thesis employs a bricolage of theories within a sociological framework, through the lens of media logic, and draws on the author’s own perspective of working in a newsroom and, currently, in an academic media faculty. The research provides observed examples of the ways in which changing boundaries are impacting definitions of journalism and who is a journalist; it proposes best practice for the use of metrics and analytics in newsrooms that might better situate media outlets to serve their communities and survive in a rapidly changing media landscape; it offers suggestions for media scholars on best practice to perform research that better reflects newsroom routines particular to the use of metrics and analytics; the thesis contributes a new gatekeeping model that identifies two primary channels related specifically to the use of metrics and analytics: promotional and developmental; finally, the thesis demonstrates how a bricolage of complementary theories and the selection of multiple sites of study might best support the reflexive investigation of complex social structures within a rapidly changing field.

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“…The focus on numbers can also lead to a focus on quantifying the audience in order to commodify it, versus contributing to informed civic discourse (Tandoc and Thomas 2015;Farhi 2016). With growing strategies to personalise news content (Newman 2018), there are also growing concerns over how such strategies might impact discourse in the public sphere (Heinderycx 2015;Frizzera 2018), particularly as concerns to the spread of knowledge on the internet, a platform even digital pioneers describe as "broken" (Streitfeld 2017;Kulwin 2018). Mistakes/misinformation spread rapidly (Vosoughi et al 2018); live endlessly online, despite any subsequent corrections (Solomon 2018); and, when identified, negatively impact journalism's social and political capital, which are inherently tied to its economic capital.…”

Section: Audience Data and Journalistic Capitalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Newman et al (2017) found the majority of people, particularly in the younger audience, trust algorithmic news selection over human editors because algorithms are seen as less biased. However, Frizzera (2017) asserts that media algorithms can develop "code bias" and are a gatekeeper "organism" (2018, p.49) that actually "perpetuate" the gatekeeping function, with news values and newsworthiness coded to represent specific journalistic values, reproduced in a digital space. He suggests the idea of the computer as a neutral gatekeeper is inaccurate, something particularly significant given algorithmic media are becoming the primary determiners of the flow of information.…”

Section: The Impact Of Technology On Gatekeepingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metrics and analytics in the newsroom: an ethnographic study exploring how audience data are changing journalistic practice

Blanchett¹

2023

Preprint

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The use of metrics and analytics is now embedded in and directly impacting newsroom practice and routines. As audience data are used to shape and promote content that help form societal narratives, development of best practice is crucial, not only to enhance fulsome public discourse but as a means of reputation building for media outlets fighting to retain relevance and public trust, both of which are intrinsically tied to revenue and/or funding. This thesis explores the potential conflicts between journalism’s mandate to keep the public informed through quality, contextualised news coverage and the use of metrics and analytics to build scale and a sustainable business model. Empirical research is based on ethnographic observation in four news organisations on two continents in three different countries: Norway’s national broadcaster, NRK, which has developed its own analytics system that uses both qualitative and quantitative data; The Canadian Press, Canada’s national news agency, which is exploring ways to track how its content is being used with little direct access to audience data; The Hamilton Spectator, a local newspaper in Canada making the shift from print to digital; and a similarly sized and situated local paper in the United Kingdom, The Bournemouth Daily Echo. Participant observation and interviews were used to investigate how metrics and analytics impact newsroom routines; how journalists feel their work is impacted by the use of audience data; and how practices pertaining to the use of metrics and analytics are challenging the boundaries of journalism. The thesis employs a bricolage of theories within a sociological framework, through the lens of media logic, and draws on the author’s own perspective of working in a newsroom and, currently, in an academic media faculty. The research provides observed examples of the ways in which changing boundaries are impacting definitions of journalism and who is a journalist; it proposes best practice for the use of metrics and analytics in newsrooms that might better situate media outlets to serve their communities and survive in a rapidly changing media landscape; it offers suggestions for media scholars on best practice to perform research that better reflects newsroom routines particular to the use of metrics and analytics; the thesis contributes a new gatekeeping model that identifies two primary channels related specifically to the use of metrics and analytics: promotional and developmental; finally, the thesis demonstrates how a bricolage of complementary theories and the selection of multiple sites of study might best support the reflexive investigation of complex social structures within a rapidly changing field.

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“…The extensive use of data, technology and audience engagement based on algorithms is part of the new gatekeeping in newsrooms – it regulates the information flow while negotiating audience needs and newsworthiness (Frizzera, 2018). The overwhelming amount of information forces the news audiences to select the news coverage and information based on their rational choice (Bozdag, 2013).…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Off limits: The role of news and social media in developing sexual assault and harassment as a campaign issue during the Indian parliamentary elections of 2019

Guha

¹

2022

Global Media and Communication

0

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In September 2018, the second wave of #Metooindia resumed in India, opening up conversations on sexual assault. Surprisingly, this did not lead to the inclusion of sexual assault as a key campaign issue in the Indian parliamentary elections in early 2019. This study investigates the underlying role of news media and social media in building an anti-sexual assault agenda in the 2019 Indian Lok Sabha election campaign. It builds on past literature on rational choice decision-making theory, social media activism and rape as a political issue in campaigns. This mixed method study includes the analysis of political manifestos and Facebook posts during the campaign, news articles published in the two most circulated English newspapers in India and interviews with political journalists. The restrained mainstream media coverage of sexual assault and pan-Indian social media platforms helped to limit the issue from becoming a part of the campaign during the elections.

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I/O: Reinforcing Newsmaking Practices Through Algorithmic Media

Cited by 6 publications

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Metrics and analytics in the newsroom: an ethnographic study exploring how audience data are changing journalistic practice

Metrics and analytics in the newsroom: an ethnographic study exploring how audience data are changing journalistic practice

Metrics and analytics in the newsroom: an ethnographic study exploring how audience data are changing journalistic practice

Off limits: The role of news and social media in developing sexual assault and harassment as a campaign issue during the Indian parliamentary elections of 2019

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