How Does Social Media Shape Media Convergence? The Case of Journalists Covering War and Conflict

Social media has affected the production, dissemination and consumption of news, as well as the professional and cultural values of journalists working within the media. This contribution illustrates the dynamic and complex relationship professional journalists have with social media and the way this relationship plays out in the reporting of news. The methods used to collect the evidence included two content analyses of stories about the “Arab Spring”, and 30 interviews with journalists and other media workers who used social media to cover the Arab Spring. These analyses will show that social media has a number of advantages and disadvantages for both journalists and news reportage. Tracing the various aspects of the complex dynamics that shape social media, this study points out that the profession of journalism is still very much needed for our society. Professionally trained to decode what is produced on social media, journalists can act as moderators of news diffusion within those platforms; the role of journalists can be further extended to that of producers, mediators and curators of social media content. Therefore, the use of social media leads to the convergence of different functions in the single role of a journalist.