“Jag förstår inte hur man kunde vara journalist innan sociala medier” En kvalitativ undersökning om hur sociala medier påverkar journalisten i arbetsprocessen och yrkesrollen

Abstract

In this study, we examined the views of Swedish journalists on social media. The study focused on their attitudes and opinions regarding social media in relation to journalistic ideals and as a tool in the working procedure. There have been many quantitative studies focusing on how and how much journalists use social media. Our study contributes with examples of how journalists evaluate social media as a tool and how it has affected the ideals of the profession. We carried out a series of qualitative interviews with journalists that use social media to various degrees. The results have been summarized and analyzed in relation to theories on how technology is appropriated, how uses of technology changes through time, the professional ideals of journalism, the working procedure of the journalist, and newsworthiness. As the study has no notion of generalizing, the results are to be viewed as examples of opinions. Our results indicated that the journalists have appropriated social media as a tool. They appreciate the capacities that social media brings: as a news source and as a tool for communication, but they also show a certain ambivalence towards them. The use of social media in the work procedure can lead to a stressful environment, and the journalists see a development where news that produce a lot of traffic to the associated website are prioritized over more useful, important news. Our study points to a need for further studies in how the use of social media can negatively affect journalistic professional ideals.