Online Journalism from the Periphery by Scott A. Eldridge II

Author:Scott A. Eldridge II [Eldridge, Scott A. II]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781138945456
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2017-09-26T00:00:00+00:00

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Information utilitarianism

Considering interlopers’ visions of the field from the periphery, and their often-critical remarks towards journalism in the core, reactions from that core seem expected. However, this is in contrast to the approaches journalists have taken when new ways of information reaching publics seem advantageous. In these cases, a ‘normalized’ use of all sorts of made-public information emerges alongside a critique of the unique methods employed for uncovering that information. When hackers released emails from Sony Pictures, for instance, their work was described as an assault on “free speech” (Anon 2014), yet the information they share was seized upon by traditional journalists, and in this case fueled stories on sensational celebrity gossip, such as “Angelina Jolie called ‘minimally talented spoiled brat’ in hacked Sony emails” (Ben Beaumont-Thomas 2014). When WikiLeaks released emails linked to Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, it was dismissed as likely the illegal work of foreign agents (Poniewozik 2016), yet simultaneously embraced for its revelations in a public interest: “WikiLeaks’ Gift to American Democracy” (Rutenberg 2016). While bloggers are dismissed as trafficking in rumor and ‘whispers’, they are also convenient narrative props when information that “set off a commotion in the blogosphere”13 also contributed to reporting in the New York Times on Obama’s connections to a 1960s activist (Bosman 2008).

While such examples do not settle outright whether or not new actors should be considered journalists (the differences between discrete types of revelation activity make this challenge apparent) or their work as journalism (the motives of the hackers of Sony being quite distinct from the stated mission and work of WikiLeaks, and of bloggers explored here), they do signal the complexities in our ability to make sense of digital change within our information and communicative environments. For much as new actors, working online, reflect journalistic ideals when they are endeavouring to produce news in new ways, thereby introducing new notions of what it means to be a journalist, they also present complex challenges for those interested in making sense of a changing journalistic field.

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