How do journalists use Twitter in a time
of war?
Twitter has become a key means of
disseminating news and information during major events. One of them, for
example, is the 2014 Gaza War between Israel and Hamas. During the 50 days of war
from July 8th to August 26th journalists were highly active
on this social networking site, reporting and offering their take on the
unfolding events. According to Galtung (2006), while peace journalism is
people-oriented, war journalism is elite-oriented. The latter focuses on leaders
and elites as actors and sources of information. To what extent, if any, does Twitter
challenge that, as it enables journalists from mainstream news organizations to
communicate with other users and to disseminate messages from different
sources? While previous research addressed the role of non-elite sources on
Twitter during the civil uprisings in the Arab world, scholarly attention has
not been paid to the journalistic use of sources on this platform in the context
of war, which poses unique dilemmas and concerns to journalists. For instance, journalists
whose nation is in a state of war tend to confront a dual allegiance as they
are “caught between nation and profession” (Zandberg & Neiger, 2005: 131). The
proposed study will examine what types of sources did mainstream media
journalists use on Twitter during the Gaza war, what actors did they focus on,
and how did they express themselves. Though the study still needs to be
developed, my hope is that it will shed new light on “the ways in which the
Internet is influencing journalism practices and, furthermore, changing how
journalism itself is defined” (Hermida, 2009: 4).
Galtung, J. (2006). Peace journalism as
an ethical challenge. Global Media Journal: Mediterranean Edition, 1(2), 1-5.
Hermida, A. (2009). The blogging BBC:
Journalism blogs at ‘the world’s most trusted news organization’. Journalism Practice, 3(3), 1-17.
Zandberg, E. & Neiger, M. (2005).
Between the nation and the profession: Journalists as members of contradicting communities. Media Culture &
Society, 27(1), 131-141.
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