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Closing the Distance in 140 Characters: Twitter as a Professional Tool for Foreign Correspondents

Bamforth, Emily M.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1429874109

Abstract Details

2015, Bachelor of Science of Journalism (BSJ), Ohio University, Journalism.
As new technology is introduced, it is always a question of how the field of journalism will react. This occurred throughout history with the invention of the printing press, telegram, telephone, radio, and television. The latest in these developments is that of social media. Through the development of social networks and social media sites, scholars are noting an increased flow of information and a change in the way information is disseminated. It is also a discussion point how users of social media networks, including journalists, use these networks to interact with each other and spread information. Furthermore, as budget cuts tighten the staffs at newsrooms and the spread of information becomes more globalized, the role of the foreign correspondent is changing. Instead of being the sole source of information in a certain country for an American audience, foreign correspondents are now a voice in a sea of many. This study examines how foreign correspondents use one of the most prominent social networks, Twitter, to disseminate information to and interact with audiences. Through a content analysis of over 1,000 tweets, several variables were examined to determine whether traditional gatekeeping activities were fulfilled through Twitter activity, and how foreign correspondents use their accounts to interact with followers. In order to do this, tweets were sampled from 20 correspondents across four national American news outlets: CNN, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and NBC. Results showed that the majority of Twitter use among foreign correspondents was spent repeating information from other users’ accounts or channeling messages to users. A low percent of messages across all outlets was spent interacting with users.
Yusuf Kalyango , Jr. (Advisor)
62 p.
Journalism
journalism, Twitter, new media, content analysis, foreign correspondents, foreign correspondence

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Bamforth, E. M. (2015). Closing the Distance in 140 Characters: Twitter as a Professional Tool for Foreign Correspondents [Undergraduate thesis, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1429874109

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Bamforth, Emily. Closing the Distance in 140 Characters: Twitter as a Professional Tool for Foreign Correspondents. 2015. Ohio University, Undergraduate thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1429874109.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Bamforth, Emily. "Closing the Distance in 140 Characters: Twitter as a Professional Tool for Foreign Correspondents." Undergraduate thesis, Ohio University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1429874109

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ouhonors1429874109
1,403
© 2015, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Closing the Distance in 140 Characters: Twitter as a Professional Tool for Foreign Correspondents by Emily M. Bamforth is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by Ohio University Honors Tutorial College and OhioLINK.