I am interested in examining how journalists
use Twitter in a time of war, and more specifically: how Israeli and
Palestinian journalists used this social networking site during 2014 Gaza War.
During the 50 days of the war between Israel and Hamas, Twitter was a primary means of disseminating updates and sharing messages without filters of the mainstream media. However, mainstream media journalists were also active on this platform, offering their take on the war. As Twitter provides journalists with relatively new ways to communicate with citizens and with each other, it has also attracted scholarly attention.
Previous research explored how news organizations and individual journalists use Twitter – whether in general or in specific contexts, such as political campaigns, US plane crash on the Hudson River and the Arab Spring. In addition, a book was published under the title: “Social Media Go to War: Rage, Rebellion and Revolution in the Age of Twitter.” However, limited attention seems to have been paid to journalistic practices and routines in a time of war, when journalists may face unique dilemmas and concerns. Furthermore, the ways in which Israeli and Palestinians journalists use Twitter have not been systematically investigated, as far as I know. I wish to try doing that by conducting a content analysis, though there may be several complications that I will need to address.
During the 50 days of the war between Israel and Hamas, Twitter was a primary means of disseminating updates and sharing messages without filters of the mainstream media. However, mainstream media journalists were also active on this platform, offering their take on the war. As Twitter provides journalists with relatively new ways to communicate with citizens and with each other, it has also attracted scholarly attention.
Previous research explored how news organizations and individual journalists use Twitter – whether in general or in specific contexts, such as political campaigns, US plane crash on the Hudson River and the Arab Spring. In addition, a book was published under the title: “Social Media Go to War: Rage, Rebellion and Revolution in the Age of Twitter.” However, limited attention seems to have been paid to journalistic practices and routines in a time of war, when journalists may face unique dilemmas and concerns. Furthermore, the ways in which Israeli and Palestinians journalists use Twitter have not been systematically investigated, as far as I know. I wish to try doing that by conducting a content analysis, though there may be several complications that I will need to address.
I think this is a fascinating topic. The recent Israeli-Gaza war seemed to play out on Twitter more than anywhere else, and it also seemed like everyone was a journalist. One thing that may be challenging is deciding which Twitter users are journalists - because both sides of the conflict were not equally accessible, many citizens were reporting news as it happened before journalists.
ReplyDeleteOri, I think there are a lot of things you can look into about journalists reporting through tweeting! You may have to decide whether you are looking at the tweets content or journalists' habit or both. Would that be a comparative study?
ReplyDeleteSome questions may be helpful to ask. Sre you focusing on the way how they frame a tweet? Are their tweets always embedded with visual element and links? If the Israeli and Palestinian journalists only retweet from journalists from their own side or they cooperate? Is Israeli and Palestinian journalists tweet about an issue at a similar time, or there is always one side can do the reporting first?
AR: Examining how journalists use Twitter to produce news, or even during war, is not new, like you said. However, if no one else has examined how Israeli and Palestinian journalists used Twitter during 2014 Gaza War AND you expect they'd use it differently in this particular war, then that is definitely something new. I'd like to hear your justification for why you think journalists will use Twitter differently during the Gaza War than during other wars, if at all? (i.e., are there specific cultural or political constraints that previous studies might not have dealt with before?) Because if no difference is expected, I have a hard time picturing how your research questions would look like.
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