Cardiff paper accepted
Newsgathering is an increasingly technological practice, and professional newsgathering is also increasingly under fire from amateur competition in the form of “citizen” or “participatory” journalism. In the public eye the debate is often framed as the “death of traditional journalism” and the rise of the new “digitally empowered‟ masses. Journalists are increasingly being told that they need to use these new tools to connect with audiences, and news organisations encourage journalists to use tools which are considered to be more efficient, more time-saving and therefore a cost-saving to the news organisation. Within the
context of this changing environment, this study will examine the ways in which journalists and reporters use social media and Web 2.0 technologies as newsgathering tools. This is part of a series of studies which examine the impact of social media on journalism practice from a variety of angles and perspectives. It will build on previous work on the use of social
media as a source (Knight 2010), and planned analyses of journalists and reportersʼ use of social media in real-time reporting situations. Based on a survey of national newspaper journalists, this paper will examine changes in the daily routine of journalists, the training of journalists for this new environment, and the larger impact on newsroom management and structures. Preliminary findings from the project indicate that the use of social media is not as widespread as the way it is presented in public discourse, and that traditional news practices are still firmly entrenched within the mainstream media, although there exceptions to this within the larger environment.

Presentation September 9, 2011. Deadline end of July.