The dominance of institutional sources and the establishment of non-elite ones : The case of Italian online local journalism
Articolo
Data di Pubblicazione:
2017
Citazione:
The dominance of institutional sources and the establishment of non-elite ones : The case of Italian online local journalism / S. Splendore. - In: JOURNALISM. - ISSN 1464-8849. - (2017 Aug 01). [Epub ahead of print] [10.1177/1464884917722896]
Abstract:
This article presents findings from a 1-year-long ‘online news ethnography’ and 20 semistructured interviews conducted in Italian local newsrooms. It explores journalists’ practices in their relations with sources throughout the entire process of news production: discovering, gathering, and writing news. The relation between institutional sources and journalists sees the former acquiring increasing importance for the latter. At the same time, journalists guarantee access also to a limited array of non-elite sources. The result is what can be called the ‘pluralization’ of primary definers: the extensive and unframed use of a wide range of sources (mainly institutional, but also non-elite). Whether this asymmetrical coverage reinforces or weakens conceptions of political, social, and cultural power should be investigated further, but the work of journalists as watchdogs appears to be in danger.
Tipologia IRIS:
01 - Articolo su periodico
Keywords:
ethnography; institutional sources; news sources; online news production; primary definers
Elenco autori:
S. Splendore
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