Investigating ‘Churnalism’ in real time news

Language Use in Past and Presen

Journalism in times of cost-cutting and Web 2.0: a study on the impact of marketing and digitization on sourcing practices and editorial content

In order to assess the impact of commercialisation and digitization on journalists’ sourcing practices, we set up a content analysis of the secondary sources and information actors in the news output of four Flemish newspapers over a period of 10 years (2000-2010). From a longitudinal methodological perspective we match our results with reflexions on the expanding or shrinking mediated public sphere. The analysis shows little to no shifts through time. Mainstream sources dominate the news but citizens are also an important part of it. As far as we can observe, Flemish journalists modestly refer to pre-packaged sources. The opportunities for a more diverse source use offered by Web 2.0 applications have not yet penetrated in their newsrooms. The findings indicate that often heard concerns about cost-cutting in newsrooms or sanguinity about the democratic potential of Web 2.0 seem fairly exaggerated, at least in the Flemish context

Civil society organizations at the gates? A gatekeeping study of news making efforts by NGOs and government institutions

This article applies a combination of an input-output content analysis and in-depth interviews with NGO communication professionals to determine whether the growing incorporation of press releases in editorial print content could be a new public forum through which international political actors, such as NGOs, could gain wider news access by serving as emerging key players in global civil society. The study indicates that Belgian news coverage of international aid issues is more often based on NGO press releases than government press releases. We also found that the agenda building capacities of NGOs and government institutions are enhanced as journalists present information subsidies as original journalistic work in most cases. Nonetheless, we must tone down prevailing one-sided conclusions, as most press releases are not just copy-pasted. Instead, most are supplemented with additional sources and information. The data, moreover, identify different journalistic roles of NGOs according to their objectives. While some issue press releases to raise short-term public awareness and donations for humanitarian crises (mobilization), others have developed into established expert news source organizations which provide background information and reliable eyewitness accounts to journalists

The importance of internal communication in organizational change: Case study of the structural change in a Belgian government agency

Internal communication is an essential element to create willingness to change in organizations (Elving 2005a, 2005b; Clampitt et al. 2000; Armenakis et al. 2007). In this paper, we present the results of a mixed method research assessing change communication in a Belgian governmental institution which recently implemented a change in its organizational structure. Our approach to the data was twofold. The descriptive, quantitative first part of the research relies on a survey of 718 staff members involved in the change. The survey consists of 30 questions assessing the internal communication about the change, and the staff’s willingness to change. The questionnaire is based on existing instruments - such as the ICA audit, the scales of Armenakis et al (2007) and Wanous et al (2000). We addressed the following research questions: RQ1 - To what extent are staff members willing to go along with the change? RQ2 - To what extent are staff members satisfied with the internal communication regarding the change? Second, we conducted 14 semi-structured in-depth interviews with staff members, in which we further explored notable findings of the survey. The interviews (each about 20 to 30 minutes) were conducted in the period from June 25, 2014 to July 9, 2014 and aimed at answering the following research question: RQ3 - To what extent has the internal communication had an impact on staff members’ willingness to change or change resistance ? Our findings confirm that a negative assessment of the internal communication correlates with a higher degree of change resistance, but also -if not more so- the results reveal the the extent to which individual self interest acts cause resistance to change. In conclusion, we open up the debate about the role of internal communication in signaling and preventing this from happening. __________ 50-word summary: This paper presents the results of a mixed method research assessing change communication in a Belgian governmental institution which recently implemented a change in its organizational structure. The main finding is that a crucial role is reserved for internal communication in preventing self-interest acts as a brake on change readiness

To follow or not to follow? How Belgian health journalists use Twitter to monitor potential sources

Digital technology, the internet and mobile media are transforming the journalism and media landscape by influencing the news gathering and sourcing process. The empowering capacities of social media applications may constitute a key element for more balanced news access and “inclusive journalism”. We will build on two contrasting views that dominate the social media sourcing debate. On the one hand, literature shows that journalists of legacy media make use of social media sources to diversify their sourcing network including bottom-up sources such as ordinary citizens. On the other hand, various authors conclude that journalists stick with their old sourcing routines and continue to privilege top-down elite sources such as experts and government officials. In order to contribute to this academic debate we want to clarify the Twitter practices of professional Belgian health journalists in terms of how they use the platform to monitor potential sources. Therefore, we examined the 1146 Twitter “followings” of six Belgian health journalists by means of digital methods and social network analysis. Results show that top-down actors are overrepresented in the “following” networks and that Twitter’s “following” function is not used to reach out to bottom-up actors. In the overall network, we found that the health journalists mainly use Twitter as a “press club” (Rupar, 2015) to monitor media actors. If we zoom in specifically on the “following” network of the health-related actors, we found that media actors are still important, but experts become the most followed group. Our findings also underwrite the “power law” or “long tail” distribution of social network sites as very few actors take a central position in the “following” lists while the large majority of actors are not systematically monitored by the journalists

Na het fake news, Fake video

Michelle Obama kijkt met haar typische glimlach in de lens. Even later ontbloot ze haar borsten. Nooit gebeurd - toch niet voor de lens van een camera - en toch bestaat het filmpje. Welkom in de wereld van deepfake, het fenomeen dat nu nog een speeltje in handen van internetpiraten is, maar de potentie heeft om politieke en andere brokken te maken

Persberichten in het nieuws : een ingewikkelde tango?

Hoe kunnen personen en organisaties door het versturen van persberichten een onzichtbare impact hebben op het nieuws, en hoe je dit als aandachtige lezer kan doorprikken

Bronnen in het nieuws : een onemanshow?

Hoe komt het dat we vaak dezelfde kleine groep elitebronnen in het nieuws aan bod zien komen - zoals politici, experten, grote bedrijven en overheden - terwijl het merendeel van de bevolking veel minder of zelfs helemaal geen stem krijgt in het nieuws? Journalisten trachten weliswaar het nieuws zo evenwichtig mogelijk te brengen en zoveel mogelijk stemmen aan bod te laten komen. Maar onvermijdelijk zijn ze onderhevig aan een aantal wetmatigheden die een impact hebben op de bronnen die ze uiteindelijk kiezen

Towards more balanced news access? A study on the impact of cost-cutting and Web 2.0 on the mediated public sphere

In order to assess the impact of cost-cutting and digitalization on the expansion or contraction of the mediated public sphere, we developed a quantitative and longitudinal content analysis focused on sourcing practices for foreign news reporting in four Belgian newspapers (1995-2010). The results show little to no shift in the news access of different types of sources. Political sources dominate foreign news output, but ordinary citizens also play a significant role. Although it becomes clear that Belgian journalists often do not explicitly mention their use of news agency copy, recycled news articles or PR material, our findings indicate that concerns about cost-cutting in newsrooms or sanguinity about the democratic potential of Web 2.0 seem fairly exaggerated, at least in the Belgian context