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Sue Robinson Temple University April 2006

Gateway or Gatekeeper: The institutionalization of online news in creating an altered technological authority. Sue Robinson Temple University April 2006. Research Questions. Is Internet technology undermining journalistic institutional authority?

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Sue Robinson Temple University April 2006

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  1. Gateway or Gatekeeper:The institutionalization of online news in creating an altered technological authority Sue Robinson Temple University April 2006

  2. Research Questions Is Internet technology undermining journalistic institutional authority? • How do online editors conceive of their mission? • How have news routines such as story conception and editing changed because of Internet? • What roles are sources/audience meant to play?

  3. A Definition Characteristics of an institution include: “taken for granted social patterns of behavior valued in and of themselves as procedures, routines, and assumptions, which extend over space and endure over time, in order to preside over a societal sector” Cook (1998)

  4. A Pilot Study • 14 editors from 10 publications (NYTimes.com, Washingtonpost.com, Miamiherald.com, USAToday.com etc.) • In-depth interviews, Q/A in media, Web site: - Mission (an institution’s “assumptions”) - Process for publication (“procedures and routines”) - Relationships (institution’s ability to “preside over a societal sector”)

  5. Mission (“Assumptions”) • Meant to “supplement” the newspaper • An “authoritative read” But also… • An “experience” (“A sense of a journey”) • 24-7, the “continuous news desk” and “broadcast-like”

  6. “(Our mission) is to produce content that meshes with stories being received from the Washington Post newspaper… I don’t want to be bound by those structures. For most print products, there’s such a force of institutional history that it’s very difficult to allow for new possibilities. At washingtonpost.com virtually everything is new and fresh so there’s more of an ‘aha’ moment when you start to see good stuff.” Tom Kennedy, managing editor of washingtonpost.com

  7. The Process (Procedures, routines) • Process is about the technology (i.e. content editing now technical edits) • New “nodes of thinking” that “bring the user to the next level” • Enhanced details; 3-D considerations • Collaborative “We’re changing the trajectory of news production.”

  8. On linking off site: “We knew from the beginning that it was required for this kind of a page. We knew that there is plenty of other very good reporting out there. And we knew that to have credibility with the reader we couldn’t just say, well, here’s what The Times is reporting and ignore everybody else.” Len Apcar executive editor of NYTimes.com

  9. Relationships(presiding over society) • “Journalism is now a dialogue rather than a monologue” • “The audience is becoming part of the presentation” • A place for people “to explore their personal spaces” • “We’re a partner with the public now” • “We’re a switch connecting” sources with readers • Customization and personalization

  10. Time and Place Time  Speed • “Internet time” more real • Time manipulations (i.e. “Back” button; archives) Place  Space • The platform of journalism exists in “Internet space” • Restructured public spheres

  11. News as an institution Online: A new institution? NEWS Message Sender: Sources Sources Journalism NEWS authority Receiver: individuals Message: Journalism authority Receiver: mass audience Fig. 1b. Online technology allows journalism to serve as a support beam in the institution of news, rather than the entire structure. News, then, becomes a negotiated process involving sources, journalists and audience members. Authority is shared, not dictated, as is the message. Fig. 1a. In Shannon & Weaver’s concept of a linear communication model (1949), the message is delivered in a top-down manner via the institution of journalism.

  12. GATEKEEPER Journalists Citizen Media Sources Encoding Decoding • Product: • inform • mass message • text/image Senders • Service: • experience • personalization • multimedia/ interactivity MESSAGES Media Channels Media Channels Journalism Journalism Receivers Decoding Citizen Media Encoding Sources Individuals GATEWAY Fig. 2. Online, Shannon & Weaver’s model morphs into a more circular, more open concept in which the message is encoded and decoded by multiple players in a nonlinear process. Journalism serves as a platform.

  13. Conclusion • Experience. Interact. Participate. • The institution still facilitates information, but knowledge is becoming less dictated • Gatekeeping  Gateway

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