Cara Brems: Journalism of Connectivity. How Social Media affect journalism practice, news coverage and public participation in the Netherlands and Flanders.

Cara Brems  | University of Groningen & Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Department of Media and Journalism Studies (RUG) and TTKA – Brussels Institute for Journalism Studies (VUB) | Supervisors: Marcel Broersma (RUG) & Martina Temmerman (VUB) | 01 November 2013 – 01 November 2017 | c[dot]brems[at]rug[dot]nl & cara[dot]brems[at]vub[dot]ac[dot]be

The introduction of Web 2.0 technologies has fundamentally changed the ways in which we communicate with each other. People are increasingly expressing themselves, interacting with others and sharing information via social media and (micro)blogs. This notable shift has also affected the ways in which news is made and delivered to the audience.

In this project I study the impact of social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook on journalism practice: How does this affect news coverage in the Netherlands and Flanders? By comparing the practices of Dutch and Flemish reporters, I want to learn how they integrate social media in their daily news gathering routines and how these platforms impact their professional identity.

Furthermore I focus on the ways journalists and news organizations use social media in their news texts and publishing strategies; and how social media impact the content and form of news and information dissemination. By using a mixed methods approach and by concentrating on specific case studies, this project aims to learn more about the way journalism is shifting from a mass media to a network communication paradigm.