Swapping Places: The Newsfeed and Its Influence on Journalists and Citizens

Abstract

The modern reader is no longer a passive consumer of news, but an active contributor as well. This thesis examines the occurrence of a modern online news format, the newsfeed, in relation to the rise of citizen journalism practices. The newsfeed is used often in crisis situations and thus has a high focus on speed, making it dependent on citizen sources for information. This also influences writing practices: the journalist’s role may change from a writer to a recycler of information. This thesis shows how as a result, the livefeed blurs the boundaries between the proceedings of citizen and professional journalists as the reader is invited to participate in the production of news.