Sharing the Stage

‘Keeping news alive in Venezuela’: Using social media as tactical media

“…But as Maduro faces intense pressure to step down as president, social media is being heavily monitored and, as Zerpa et al (2019) reported, the government is 'rolling internet blackouts and gag orders that have largely stopped the free flow of information'. Recent comparative analysis of journalists' use of social media and digital platforms in Latin American countries like Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru (Saldaña et al, 2017) have shown that journalists use Twitter for sources and stories and are open to participatory journalism; however, they mistrust political sources and the information they provide. Although the study stated that journalists from different Latin American countries use social media in various ways, it did not explicitly look at how such digital use impacts and influences the practice and profession of journalism in Venezuela, especially in times of such censorship.…”

Spatial dimensions within hierarchy of influences: How re-conceived notions of space in networked societies impact Latin American journalists

“…Social media networks have also enabled greater connections across national boundaries for journalists, and the formation of virtual transnational communities through these networks. In Latin America, journalists have embraced social media for the purpose of engaging with sources and with their audiences, who overall are heavy consumers of social media (Saldaña et al, 2017). In doing so, journalists are exposing and interacting with national and transnational flows of communication, often transversally as journalists can simultaneously connect and interact with transnational and local nodes in the same communication instance.…”

How Chilean Journalists Use Social Media: Digital Transformation and New Forms of Visibility and Identity Creation

“…A survey of 877 Latin American journalists conducted by Saldaña et al (2017) focused on perceived social media use. The study revealed that 80 % of journalists had a personal Twitter account, but only 24 % had a personal Instagram account.…”

“…However, markedly fewer efforts have been made to map journalists' social media use and profiles, at least in Latin America. The studies conducted tend to be based on surveys and interviews about newspeople's perceptions but have not analyzed their practices (Mourao & Harlow, 2017;Powers & Vera-Zambrano, 2017;Saldaña et al, 2017;Weiss, 2015). Moreover, studies centered on journalistic practices in social media, and not just the perceptions and discourses built around them, have usually analyzed just one platform, such as Twitter (Hermida, 2013).…”