Locating oneself and talking past: Journalists’ engagement with Pacific communities on Twitter

Type of content
Journal Article
Thesis discipline
Degree name
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Language
en
Date
2021
Authors
Ross, Tara
Abstract

This article explores how journalists navigate the tensions between community engagement and professional detachment by tracing how journalists used Twitter during Tonga and Australia's inaugural rugby league test match in 2018. As a high-profile Pacific cultural and sporting event, it provides an opportunity to study how journalists engage with marginalised Pacific communities, and whether that engagement demonstrates the reciprocity needed to build relationships. More than 9000 tweets were analysed using quantitative and qualitative methods to reveal that media organisations and journalists tended more towards broadcasting than interactive approaches on Twitter. Practices differed between subgroups, however: Individual journalists engaged in public discussion more than media organisations, and Pacific journalists engaged more than non-Pacific journalists. In fact, Pacific journalists’ identity work – performed through specific discourses, including emojis – demonstrated a less detached journalism than did non-Pacific journalists, who appeared to talk past the Pacific communities in this Twitter public.

Description
Citation
Ross T Locating oneself and talking past: Journalists’ engagement with Pacific communities on Twitter. Media International Australia. 1329878X2110617-1329878X2110617.
Keywords
journalism, Pacific, identity, Twitter
Ngā upoko tukutuku/Māori subject headings
ANZSRC fields of research
Fields of Research::47 - Language, communication and culture::4701 - Communication and media studies::470105 - Journalism studies
Fields of Research::47 - Language, communication and culture::4701 - Communication and media studies::470108 - Organisational, interpersonal and intercultural communication
Fields of Research::47 - Language, communication and culture::4701 - Communication and media studies::470102 - Communication technology and digital media studies
Rights
All rights reserved unless otherwise stated