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ARTICLE: Why do journalists rely on unverified sources?

How do journalists decide which distant sources they can use, asks Florian Wintterlin, of University of Muenster. Wintterlin interviewed 12 German journalists, whose work often involves using distant sources, such as social media accounts posting from Syria. Verification of information is still valued by the journalists, but often the journalists lack the time and other … Continued

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Published: 6 Jul 2017
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ARTICLE: Truthmeter helps journalists evaluate credibility of Twitter contributors

How can algorithms help journalists judge the credibility of sources? Richard Fletcher, of the University of Oxford, Steve Schifferes, of City University London, and Neil Thurman, of Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, examine the tool ‘Truthmeter’, created for evaluating Twitter sources. Truthmeter is “a tool that automatically scores the journalistic credibility of social media contributors … Continued

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Published: 5 Jul 2017
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ARTICLE: How to verify social media information?

Journalists today often utilize social media borne information in their work, especially in breaking news situations. Verifying that information, however, can be tricky. An international team of researchers interviewed 22 journalists from three countries over their verification practices, and additional five journalism students were observed during a crisis exercise. The biggest problems related to verifying … Continued

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Published: 16 Jun 2017
CFP JRN

CFP | 31.7. | Have digital sources changed journalism?

A special issue of Digital Journalism is calling for papers. The issue wants to showcase research that focuses or is related to one of four aspects of online sourcing in journalism. Quote from the original call: “First, we ask which online sources are most prominent within journalistic reporting, and/or whether they have replaced more traditional … Continued

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Published: 14 Jun 2017
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ARTICLE: Newsrooms make “Frankenstein journalism” from second-hand stories

Newsrooms have developed new rituals to legitimize the use of “second-hand” news collected from other online news outlets, write Andrew Duffy, Edson C. Tandoc and Richard Ling, all of Nanyang Technological University. The authors sent six researchers to observe eight Singaporean newsrooms for a total of over 200 hours and to interview 60 journalists. The … Continued

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Published: 5 May 2017
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ARTICLE: Politicians influence news by selecting journalists they talk to

The most important way politicians influence news is by forging ties with ideologically compatible journalists, write Peter Maurer, of Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and Markus Beiler, of Leipzig University. The authors surveyed 177 Austrian political journalists, and interviewed 10 journalists and 10 politicians. Maurer and Beiler asked the journalists about the interactions they … Continued

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Published: 24 Apr 2017
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ARTICLE: Magazine editors at a crossroads, when it comes to fact-checking

Websites, mobile platforms and social media have challenged magazines’ conventionally high-quality fact-checking. Susan Currie Sivek, of Linfield College and Sharon Bloyd-Peshkin, of Columbia College Chicago studied fact-checking practices applied to stories in magazines and their non-print platforms. The authors interviewed editors of 11 well-regarded magazines in the United States. The results show that practices for … Continued

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Published: 20 Apr 2017
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ARTICLE: Dialogical approach to representation of ethnic minorities

How could the journalistic representation of ethnic minorities be improved? Sheng Zou of Stanford University proposes a dialogical model representation, to evoke mutual understanding across differences. The author states that a a shift from “journalism of information” to “journalism of conversation” and from the “ethics of inarticulacy” to ethics of care is needed. The article … Continued

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Published: 29 Mar 2017
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ARTICLE: New Zealand’s media failed to build consensus about Snowden revelations

Some time after the early Snowden revelations in 2013, New Zealand implemented new surveillance reforms. Kathleen Kuehn of Victoria University of Wellington studied how Snowden’s revelations were framed. The author conducted a media framing analysis of 156 news stories from two commercial newspapers and the national public broadcaster in New Zealand. According to the results, … Continued

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Published: 28 Mar 2017