1.
Which are the two competing perspectives on news media’s role in structuring
public debate? Please elaborate these two perspectives.
The liberal pluralist perspective and the political economist perspective are the two opposing
views on how the news media shapes public discourse. The liberal pluralist view of the
journalist's function in contemporary society is founded on the conviction that the right to free
expression is best protected by a market-based mass media system. Many of its proponents
contend that the news media acts as a fourth estate, distinct historically from the commons, the
court, and the church. As a result, the media has the important responsibility of ensuring that the
general public has access to a diverse marketplace of ideas to both support and challenge their
worldview. This role of expressing a diverse range of information sources positions the journalist
at the heart of the public
Thus, the news media are considered to provide democratic control over governing relations to
the extent that they support the creation of public opinion. This democratic role is dependent on
the achievement of freedom of the press as a principle protected from any barrier linked with
power and privilege. According to liberal pluralists, the news media must perform the critical
task of contributing to the "system of checks and balances" often seen as symbolic of democratic
institutions and procedures. They are seen as helping to support a consensual process of
monitoring in which the operations of the state and corporate sectors are made more sensitive to
public opinion. The news media, as venues of arbitration, are believed to allow disagreements
over decision-making to be articulated, adjudicated, and eventually resolved in such a way that
no single group of interests is given cumulative or ongoing control. The collision and
discordance of interests that exist between owners, managers, editors, and journalists, according
to liberal pluralist experts, preserves a specific news organization's potential to deliver the
essential variety of opinions.
Political economists, however, make the claim that the power of the news media has become
more predominant in the hands of a small group of privileged people; that now the organizational
primary concern of maximizing profits is going to lead to more and more shallow news formats
where content is becoming more consistent and the environments accessible to report on
contentious topics are significantly lowered; and that organizational fears regarding "the bottom
line" have been reshaping decisions about journalism. These voices, which commonly include
those of organized labor, trade unions, feminists, anti-racists, conservationists, anti-poverty
campaigners, and other groups committed to positive social change, are described as posing a
challenge to the interests of "market-sensitive" news companies..
But if dissenting voices of this nature have already been having trouble being addressed due to
philosophical restraints imposed because of the need for improved efficiency, and greater
advertising profit, the implications of viewing journalism as little more than a product like any
other are significant. Political economists continue to concentrate their study on initiatives that
aim to radically rearrange the current dynamics of media ownership and control, a process that
will mostly be completed through the drastic restructuring of state regulatory policies. Political
economists continue to do so with such problems in mind.
2. What is news frame and what are the functions of news frame?
News frame is the concept whereby some aspects of a specific problem are selected and made
salient while other aspects are suppressed by entities such as journalists, strategic
communicators, and members of the audience. By referring to a certain method of presenting
problems or events, frames shape reality in a significant but limited way. To do this, they
advance a certain political viewpoint and course of action by offering a problem definition
solution recommendation, treatment proposal, and/or moral assessment on a particular topic. In
more detail, strategic communicators provide frames that vie for the public's and media's
attention. Journalists then adapt and change these frames, which ultimately affect audience
members' individual-level frames.
This illustrates framing as a process that is dynamic and ever-evolving rather than focusing
solely on a single frame sponsor, subject, or problem perspective. Instead, a frame is a style of
thinking on a larger scale. The structuring power of framing extends beyond the material that is
immediately available to discourses throughout a wider cultural sphere. For instance, the
viewpoint known as the "War on Terror" expanded beyond policy discussions and the US
government to permeate all aspects of American culture.
3. How digital technologies impact news selection practices and what are the
consequences?
Web analytics and other new digital technologies are increasing the audience's influence over
news selections. Metrics are increasingly utilized in journalism to help editors make judgments
and are frequently used to choose how to distribute and promote news pieces. In today's media
landscape, audience metrics are pervasive. Through measurable measures like the number of
page visits, length of viewing time, or level of engagement, these technologies have made it
feasible to track, measure, and analyze user activity (likes, shares, comments, etc.). The
software's algorithms will occasionally provide suggestions for selections and de-selections. The
newsroom's journalistic and strategic decision-making is influenced by this information.
Today's digital news editors employ them to varying degrees in order to obtain knowledge about
the news consumers' consumption habits, which in turn helps them plan future coverage of
particular subjects or stories. Editors will definitely take notice when there is more online traffic.
For instance, stories and subjects that are popular on social media are constantly viewed.
Journalism is expected to become more "metrics-driven" as newsrooms use web analytics to
track news activity more often. While journalists working for commercial media do not utilize
metrics more extensively than journalists from public service media, young reporters are more
likely to be exposed to and use online metrics than their older colleagues. While journalists who
are passively exposed to metrics appear to be more doubtful or critical about them, journalists
who actively employ analytics themselves tend to have more favorable opinions regarding online
metrics. Web analytics training is often not institutionalized in most newsrooms; instead, either a
young reporter is required to be familiar with it before starting work there, or an experienced
editor transitioning to digital is expected to pick up the tools by using it.
4. What are journalists’ and Facebook executives’ (different) understandings on
Facebook’s roles in the news ecology?
Facebook positions itself as a platform that encourages communication between its members
through sharing and conversations. It accomplishes a socially beneficial goal without the
institutional support and ethical responsibilities of journalism. Instead, judgment is made through
user activity rather than at the editorial level. The social network has a formal goal of being an
unbiased conduit and a desire to distance itself from the role of editorial oversight. Because the
News Feed Algorithm adapts based on each user's behavior, everyone's News Feed is unique. In
contrast to people, algorithms are impartial. The algorithms, not the people, generate the topics
that are qualified to appear in the feed.
Journalists, on the other hand, assert that while Facebook gives voice to everyone by enabling
users to share articles and comments while customizing their news feed, it also gives the site
considerable ability to draw attention to certain topics or to obscure others. They perceive
Facebook as making a lot of editorial choices every day. But often they are poor editorial choices
that lead readers to sensational, biased, or blatantly false news. Facebook is still responsible for
the negative impact on its users and society at large, despite the fact that these decisions are
being made by algorithms rather than human editors. Naturally, reputable news companies make
an effort to uphold the bare minimum of impartiality and accuracy in order to protect their
reputation. Online journalists, meanwhile, are constantly drawn to clickbait due to the enormous
demand it has generated on Facebook. On the periphery, the existence of Facebook and its
enormous user base put ongoing pressure on the journalism industry to become less fact-
conscious and more sensationalistic. There are several specific changes Facebook might use to
raise the standard of stories that its users see. But Facebook's first step must be to acknowledge
that it is, in fact, a media company, that designing its news feed necessitates making editorial
judgments, and that it is accountable for those decisions.
5. What is the relationship between the cultural logic of social media and the emotional
news on social media?
Social media platforms were developed with the intention of fostering user connection, and users
may share and engage with the material on these platforms. A change from the logic of mass
media to the logic of social media has led to media outlets releasing content on social media sites
that use subjective language more frequently than content in more conventional mass media.
Social judgments are impacted by emotional news regardless of perceived media credibility.
Individual emotional reactions are influenced by unique cultural and social situations, but they
are also uniquely personal. Consequently, messages can occasionally tap into a common
concern, fostering a sense of feeling, and, owing to social media, these messages can then
be shared, possibly going viral.
6. Please summarize the features of contemporary audiences’ news consumption
behaviors and discuss the possible consequences.
16 different news-consuming behaviors have been found throughout time: Reading, Listening,
Watching, Viewing, Checking, Snacking, Scanning, Monitoring, Searching, Clicking, Linking,
Sharing, Liking, Recommending, Commenting, and Voting.
Reading is about depth; listening is seldom ever recalled. Reading is used very explicitly in the
research to denote an activity that is "about depth: it is done individually, with great care, and
when users have ample time in longer sessions. On the other hand, listening is characterized as a
daily activity. People typically view watching the news as a component of a larger experience,
such as falling asleep or operating a motor vehicle, rather than as a standalone activity. Although
there are more interactive ways to listen to the news, including through podcasts, they are rarely
addressed.
Viewing and watching are not the same. Despite their commonalities, they distinguish two very
different modes of watching videos—whether on television or online—in this classification.
Watching the news demands your complete interest, and you wouldn't want to be interrupted by
distracting discussions in the same room. However, viewing denotes the subordination of the
activity. News frequently serves as background noise for more important tasks like making
breakfast or dinner, checking your email, or reading the newspaper. Today, more individuals
interrupt TV news to focus on something else before continuing. However, people also "plan"
television for their own convenience and to match their daily routines.
Checking is a frequent action, akin to checking email. This activity, called a "checking cycle,"
entails quickly checking the most recent news, emails, Facebook posts, and Twitter updates.
Snacking is more about acquiring perspective: for example: reading a newspaper. It is a far more
leisurely way to get your news than checking. However, scanning is more focused on the
person's area of interest. It allows the user to participate in conversations on a certain news item
on a social or professional level.
Monitoring is where civic reporting has a role, Push notifications, live blogging, social
networking sites like Twitter, and the digitalization of news and information have all made
monitoring incredibly simple nowadays. Events that are significant or enticing to people are
intentionally encouraged to be attentively followed as they develop. Finding an answer to a
particular query is the goal of searching. But people appreciate search engines more than news
organizations' gatekeeping skills, which is significant for publishers. The act of clicking involves
accessing news through links, either to news items or inside news articles. It is akin to picking
which TV shows to watch or which newspaper articles to read.
Although social media behavior like linking (a URL that when clicked populates a pre-
determined message and image that can be shared on social media), sharing (clicking "share"),
liking (a quick way to indicate that you actually like the posts made by merely clicking a button),
recommending (clicking on "recommend"), commenting (posting comments online), and voting
(in reaction to a poll taken) are quite different, people seem to have similar concerns on whether
or not to take part. They often avoid commenting, sharing, liking, or recommending news stories
on Facebook because they "don't want to show themselves too much on social media." In this
situation, it may be claimed that user reluctance to vote, share, or respond to a news piece is
more likely due to the users' expectations of how they would be received.
7. What is the moral aspects of bearing witness? What are the contributions and
concerns in using citizen imagery as elements of news?
Journalism has contributed much to retaining its political and cultural relevance through the
institutionalized practice of "witnessing". Witnessing continues to be a crucial practice for
journalists, providing purpose to what they do or are supposed to do when they come across
injustice and suffering, often in situations of wars, conflicts, and catastrophes. It is necessary, not
optional, to witness. Therefore, in order for audience members to become future witnesses, in
turn, the practice of witnessing requires both the witness who publicly recounts personal pain
and the audience who are addressed by and ideally influenced by the witness testimony.
Journalists act as expert witnesses, giving narrative form to eyewitness testimony. While bearing
witness inevitably entails an attempt to modify the seen reality by evoking an emotive experience
that motivates the audience's behavior, journalistic reporting is often based on eyewitness, which
requires impartiality and detachment. Therefore, bearing witness is fundamentally motivated by
a moral goal and is not only intended to provide knowledge about the incident. Recognizing the
pain and traumatic experiences of others are profoundly linked to the morality of bearing
witness. Reconstructing and sharing other people's suffering and grief in a way that inspires the
world at large to act against situational or systemic violence is known as bearing witness.
The inclusion of common, underrepresented voices in Western media has been said to hold the
key to citizen witnessing's potential. From this democratizing point of view, professional
journalists have embraced citizen eyewitness stories as major additions to the awareness of
disasters and political confrontations which otherwise may pass unreported and unseen by the
public, particularly when the incidents are abrupt or journalists' access is limited.
Especially for documenting an on-site presence, audience eyewitness photos and films have
grown in importance. By giving readers a sense of place, they increase journalism's credibility.
Professional photographers and journalists both agree that the unpolished aesthetics of citizen
photo reporting provide empathy and a sense of truth to journalism. However, the frequently
unidentifiable and unverifiable photographs inevitably cast doubt on the veracity of the stories
and the authority of the journalists who report them. In the debate about citizen eye witnessing,
much like journalistic witnessing, the issue of authenticity has come up repeatedly. One could
compare witnessing to a game.
8. According to Bruns’ (2018) discussion, what are the dynamics (or in other words,
development steps & features) of breaking news on social media? Relatedly, how
does citizen witnessing play a role in these dynamics?
Bruns asserts that social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are more crucial than ever and
that a large part of their appeal comes from their capacity to make information available quickly.
There is now a very strong probability that some of the onlookers caught up in a breaking news
event in a populated area will not only have a social media account but will also have access to a
mobile device with an Internet connection. enabling them to broadcast a first report from the
scene virtually instantly. This unavoidably outperforms any professional journalists, unless they
are actually, by pure accident, there on the scene.
In these circumstances, people are transformed into journalists who assist in completing the gaps
that arise soon after a newsworthy event. Breaking news can result in situations of fast-paced
reporting in social media, producing all kinds of updates related to news stories. The one
exception though is that several of the early updates often seem to be unconfirmed reports.
Social media platforms offer a wide range of usage among both the general population and
journalists. Its quickness and conciseness are appealing qualities for journalists since they enable
them to provide breaking news and rapidly changing updates on stories. These platforms' ease of
use and asymmetry between authors and followers, or friends, are also essential features for
journalists. Additionally, platforms like Twitter require little maintenance and demand less effort
to engage with the community. The majority of companies use Twitter to spread news and do
journalistic news gathering. Journalists can utilize social media to obtain information as well as
disseminate it. Twitter, for instance, can be thought of as a tip sheet for data, alternative sources,
and story ideas. Given that there is no PR professional standing between a journalist and a tweet
to a government figure or corporate executive, it can offer immediate access to difficult-to-reach
newsmakers. It can also be used as a crude tool for crowdsourcing.
9. How do digital media affordances and cultures inform both the moral and
organizational dimensions of digital vigilantism?
Peer-to-peer communication may be enhanced by using digital platforms like social media and
mobile devices, which also make it easier to access and share personal data. File-sharing, fund-
raising, and political mobilization are just a few examples of how this has influenced digital
activities. Digital mobilization is an actual new phenomenon that affects social behavior across
many digital media platforms. A current case is an online petition started by fans of Johnny Depp
calling for him to return to the Pirates of the Caribbean series. The petition, entitled "Justice for
Johnny," garnered more than 498,00 signatures. Meanwhile, more than 3.7 million people signed
the petition calling for Heard to be removed from Aquaman 2.
In these situations, social actors work independently to promote social change, eschewing
traditional governmental and news outlets in the process and depending on independently owned
social media platforms. Citizens can discuss a specific person, post their personal information,
and make demands for action using social media platforms such as Twitter, and Reddit.
Additionally, cell phones and other mobile devices make it possible to capture and broadcast
illegal conduct to other individuals in real time. These imply that social platforms enable bottom-
up forms of organizing and that digital vigilantism is changing as a result of digital media, which
in turn changes how these technologies are employed.
10. What digital journalism and social media platform dynamics contribute to the
prevalence of information disorder in today’s digital space?
Information disorder, also known as misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation, is the
spreading or creation of false information with or without the intention of causing harm. This
syndrome is still prevalent because of the decline of the financial viability of legacy news; the
news cycle's growing immediacy, consumers' quick spread of false information; the growing rise
in the emotionalization of online debates, and the rise in the number of companies generating
revenue from social media algorithms.
For more than ten years, journalism has struggled with dwindling paying viewers and
consequently revenue. Given the prevalence of free news online, audiences have grown disloyal
to established news companies and less eager to pay for news. Cover prices and advertising
income are reduced when paying news viewers decline. Legacy news companies have not
benefited from the current increase in total digital advertising spending. Instead, the majority of
digital advertising money is distributed among five internet giants, four of which are Facebook,
Google, Yahoo, and Twitter incorporate news into their services.
The desire for immediate gratification is another factor that increases the likelihood of
information disorder. With the rise of social media outlets like Twitter, which has self-branded as
a breaking news platform since 2016, the 24-hour news cycle is now more accurate than the
1,440-minute news cycle. These variables lead to more efficient use of limited journalistic
resources, which reduces the need for labor-intensive fact-checking journalism. This makes the
media more likely to use unvetted PR content.
In addition, there is an increase in misinformation, unintentional online dissemination of false
information, intentional creation and dissemination of false information quickly disseminated by
propagandists and user-generated content, as well as highly emotional contemporary media,
particularly online, where people are less inhibited for a variety of reasons, including anonymity,
This provides an environment that is favorable for the development of tailored media content and
news contexts, such as Facebook news feed "filter bubbles," which cause emotive responses.
Also, the increasing number of people making money via online behavioral advertising. They see
fake news as clickbait, which is digital material created with dramatic headlines or visually
appealing images to draw readers in and earn online advertising money at the expense of quality
or veracity. These false news items attract sizable, interested audiences, and some people make
hundreds of euros each day from online advertising thanks to them.