Uses of Twitter in Catalan and Belgium Newsrooms

Abstract

This article presents the conclusions of an investigation into the use of Twitter, the main social network site, in newsrooms. The subjects of the study are journalists from two similar European regions: the French community of Belgium and Catalonia, one of Spain’s regions. The study uses qualitative methods to analyse one online edition of a traditional newspaper and one digital native from each region, with data compiled from 25 in-depth interviews and nonparticipant observation, carried out over two years. The results demonstrate that despite having adapted this platform to their daily routines, they have done so in a uni-directional: principally as a means of distributing their own content. The newsrooms analysed have no clear policy on the interaction between the newspaper and its readership on social networks, generating conflict between the media corporate account and journalists’ personal accounts. The idea of Twitter as a public sphere where professionals and the public exchange knowledge in order to improve journalistic discourse is currently considered utopian. Although communication 2.0 fosters equilibrium between journalists and the public, professionals have not yet found a way to get down from the pedestal that gives them access to official sources.