Generation news: Consuming, sharing, and producing news across generations in five Johannesburg households
- Authors: Silber, Gerson Russel
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Baby boom generation South Africa , Generation Y South Africa , Conflict of generations South Africa Johannesburg , Generations South Africa Johannesburg , Digital media South Africa , Social media and journalism South Africa , Digital media Social aspects South Africa , News audiences South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192342 , vital:45217
- Description: This study sets out to explore the meaning, extent, and impact of the generational divide, between so-called Baby Boomers and their Millennial offspring, on the way news is accessed, consumed, shared, and produced in five purposively selected households in the Johannesburg area. Aside from these widely-used generational identifiers, Baby Boomers and Millennials are also commonly referred to as Digital Immigrants and Digital Natives, respectively. However, in a world where smartphones have become commonplace, and internet connectivity via fixed broadband and mobile data is ubiquitous, it can be argued that digital technologies now serve as a link, or perhaps even a bridge, between younger and older generations living in the same household. The study aims to put this proposition to the test, by interrogating the role of news as a conduit for storytelling and information-sharing in environments where each occupant will typically be using their own devices, with a wide variety of personally-curated news sources and platforms at their fingertips. This fragmentation or individualisation of access to news stands in sharp contrast to the communal traditions of the pre-Internet era, during which families would gather around the TV set to watch the evening newscast, or share sections of the Sunday newspaper according to their age and interest. This research, which seeks to address a gap in the literature of research into intra-generational news consumption in family households in the digital era, identifies points of intersection as well as diversion in media usage habits. An example of the former is the prevalence of WhatsApp as a centralised "meeting-point" for the sharing of useful, hyper-localised information within the family group, and beyond that, as a cross-generational news and discussion platform in its own right. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the study explores strict and seemingly counterintuitive divides between the generations, with some Millennial respondents rejecting social media platforms as "pointless and invasive, and some Baby Boomer parents embracing the platforms as forums for free expression and networking. In line with the key research question, which seeks to identify and analyse news usage and consumption across the generations in a selection of family households, the study considers the ways in which families in the digital era are creating a culture of shared interests and the active sharing of news, breaching the boundaries of their private spaces in a microcosm of the Habermasian public sphere of discourse and opinion. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Journalism and Media Studies, 2021
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- Authors: Silber, Gerson Russel
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Baby boom generation South Africa , Generation Y South Africa , Conflict of generations South Africa Johannesburg , Generations South Africa Johannesburg , Digital media South Africa , Social media and journalism South Africa , Digital media Social aspects South Africa , News audiences South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192342 , vital:45217
- Description: This study sets out to explore the meaning, extent, and impact of the generational divide, between so-called Baby Boomers and their Millennial offspring, on the way news is accessed, consumed, shared, and produced in five purposively selected households in the Johannesburg area. Aside from these widely-used generational identifiers, Baby Boomers and Millennials are also commonly referred to as Digital Immigrants and Digital Natives, respectively. However, in a world where smartphones have become commonplace, and internet connectivity via fixed broadband and mobile data is ubiquitous, it can be argued that digital technologies now serve as a link, or perhaps even a bridge, between younger and older generations living in the same household. The study aims to put this proposition to the test, by interrogating the role of news as a conduit for storytelling and information-sharing in environments where each occupant will typically be using their own devices, with a wide variety of personally-curated news sources and platforms at their fingertips. This fragmentation or individualisation of access to news stands in sharp contrast to the communal traditions of the pre-Internet era, during which families would gather around the TV set to watch the evening newscast, or share sections of the Sunday newspaper according to their age and interest. This research, which seeks to address a gap in the literature of research into intra-generational news consumption in family households in the digital era, identifies points of intersection as well as diversion in media usage habits. An example of the former is the prevalence of WhatsApp as a centralised "meeting-point" for the sharing of useful, hyper-localised information within the family group, and beyond that, as a cross-generational news and discussion platform in its own right. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the study explores strict and seemingly counterintuitive divides between the generations, with some Millennial respondents rejecting social media platforms as "pointless and invasive, and some Baby Boomer parents embracing the platforms as forums for free expression and networking. In line with the key research question, which seeks to identify and analyse news usage and consumption across the generations in a selection of family households, the study considers the ways in which families in the digital era are creating a culture of shared interests and the active sharing of news, breaching the boundaries of their private spaces in a microcosm of the Habermasian public sphere of discourse and opinion. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Journalism and Media Studies, 2021
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The digital disruption of journalistic identity at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC)
- Authors: Oosthuizen, Nina-Celeste
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: South African Broadcasting Corporation , Journalism Technological innovations South Africa , Digital media South Africa , Online journalism South Africa , Identity (Psychology) in mass media , Public broadcasting Political aspects South Africa , Journalistic ethics , Mass media Employees , Mass media Objectivity South Africa , Journalism Social aspects South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192303 , vital:45214
- Description: This research investigates changes in journalistic identity with the introduction of online journalism practices in the SABC newsrooms. The study is a qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with 6 SABC journalists. It focuses on SABC journalists who embrace a professional identity. Participants were selected from all three of the SABC newsrooms: Television, Radio and Digital News. The research reveals that SABC News journalists are - due to digital production workflows - increasingly pressured to work on their own in the field, with additional responsibilities and fewer resources, while taking on editorial duties and managing corporate and personal social media accounts. As the roles of SABC journalists become digitally disrupted and blur with those of technicians, editors and marketers, I ask how this might in turn disrupt journalistic identity. The interviews reveal how these SABC journalists have always understood their identities and values in opposition to those of corporate SABC leadership. While they, the journalists, sometimes allowed editors to change their stories, this was not done without resistance; it was a strategic compromise, since they understood the greater balance of their work to serve the public. However, this notion of being separate from the corporate identity has been disrupted through digital and social media, as it conflates their identity with the SABC brand. Journalists experience this acutely through ‘trolling’. Yet, conversely, some are also able to retain a sense of an independent professional identity through a direct relationship with the public on social media. Another key finding was that digital media disrupts the centrality of primary journalistic research or ‘legwork’, and instead, journalists increasingly spend time on the selection and repackaging of user-generated content. As some journalists are allocated more deskwork they experience a loss of status among their colleagues. The diminished role of journalists’ primary research, or eye-witness testimony, has created tensions in journalistic identity and what it means to be a ‘real’ journalist. Despite their concerns for the danger of reporting in the field in South Africa, SABC journalists considered such verification work crucial to their identity and what it means to be a journalist. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Journalism and Media Studies, 2021
- Full Text:
The digital disruption of journalistic identity at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC)
- Authors: Oosthuizen, Nina-Celeste
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: South African Broadcasting Corporation , Journalism Technological innovations South Africa , Digital media South Africa , Online journalism South Africa , Identity (Psychology) in mass media , Public broadcasting Political aspects South Africa , Journalistic ethics , Mass media Employees , Mass media Objectivity South Africa , Journalism Social aspects South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192303 , vital:45214
- Description: This research investigates changes in journalistic identity with the introduction of online journalism practices in the SABC newsrooms. The study is a qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with 6 SABC journalists. It focuses on SABC journalists who embrace a professional identity. Participants were selected from all three of the SABC newsrooms: Television, Radio and Digital News. The research reveals that SABC News journalists are - due to digital production workflows - increasingly pressured to work on their own in the field, with additional responsibilities and fewer resources, while taking on editorial duties and managing corporate and personal social media accounts. As the roles of SABC journalists become digitally disrupted and blur with those of technicians, editors and marketers, I ask how this might in turn disrupt journalistic identity. The interviews reveal how these SABC journalists have always understood their identities and values in opposition to those of corporate SABC leadership. While they, the journalists, sometimes allowed editors to change their stories, this was not done without resistance; it was a strategic compromise, since they understood the greater balance of their work to serve the public. However, this notion of being separate from the corporate identity has been disrupted through digital and social media, as it conflates their identity with the SABC brand. Journalists experience this acutely through ‘trolling’. Yet, conversely, some are also able to retain a sense of an independent professional identity through a direct relationship with the public on social media. Another key finding was that digital media disrupts the centrality of primary journalistic research or ‘legwork’, and instead, journalists increasingly spend time on the selection and repackaging of user-generated content. As some journalists are allocated more deskwork they experience a loss of status among their colleagues. The diminished role of journalists’ primary research, or eye-witness testimony, has created tensions in journalistic identity and what it means to be a ‘real’ journalist. Despite their concerns for the danger of reporting in the field in South Africa, SABC journalists considered such verification work crucial to their identity and what it means to be a journalist. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Journalism and Media Studies, 2021
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