Abstract
The Paradox of Connection: How Digital Media is Transforming Journalistic Labor turns the scrutiny of social media’s duality as a technological blessing and curse toward the task of bringing traditional journalism to online spaces, examining particularly the effect on journalists.
Through analysis of current research and their own qualitative research approaches, including interviews with journalists and textual analysis of organizational policies, the authors lay out the paradoxes found as journalists engage audiences on digital platforms. Among the paradoxes are the organizational push for greater visibility of journalists in digital spaces versus uncompensated and underappreciated work, the expectations of directing more eyes to journalists’ stories versus feeding the glut of information online, the hoped-for solutions to eroding public trust contradicted by the ever-increasing cries of media bias, and the belief for an expanded and civil public square contrasted against harassment and threats by the very audiences journalists set out to reach.
The paradoxes are presented as problems facing the news industry but primarily negatively affecting journalists. The authors have clearly taken up the banner for journalists, who are beset with the uncertainty of the news industry and now must navigate an uncertain digital landscape. To that end, the book asks a central question and challenges the news industry to find an answer or answers: “How can the news industry support the everyday work of journalists to uphold the practices, norms, and the ideals of high quality, critical, and engaged journalism?” The authors offer suggestions throughout the book for supporting journalists in the relatively new digital spaces using theorized best practices or those already underway.
Central to the authors’ exploration of journalists working through social media are the two ideas of connection and disconnection online. With thoughtful detail, the book presents what it means for journalists to connect online, how it is done, what the expectations are for engagement online, and what the outcomes—predicted and unforeseen—have been. A drum the book beats often is the necessity for journalists to connect in online spaces considering that news consumption continues its march to digital spaces, namely social media platforms. And indeed, the online world offers several benefits to journalism, including greater social impact from the work journalists do to inform and educate, according to the authors. The ever-present online visibility does not hurt the company either, the authors write. It keeps the news organization and its offerings prominent in people’s everyday lives and offers the opportunity for incidental discovery. But the engagement must be the “right” engagement. The authors rebuke news organizations who have not protected journalists, and in some cases, made them victims of subjective or little-known policies.
A major paradox noted in the book is that journalists are rarely given the tools to work in digital spaces, where there are different rules and affordances that do not necessarily align with the traditional approaches to doing journalism and engaging readers. Along with the lack of guidance toward effective engagement are the apathetic attitudes toward the mental and physical health of journalists on social media, as well as the lack of time and compensation for the additional journalistic labor.
The authors spend a great deal of the book looking at online disconnection for journalists. Negative online engagement largely drove the need for disconnection. Harassment and trolling seemed to be routine and spill over from journalists’ professional reporting lives into their personal worlds. Reported facts met head-on with strong audience beliefs, some fueled by misinformation and disinformation. Errors challenged reputations. Distrust trumped transparency. With that in mind, the authors argue that disconnection should be as much a part of the planning for journalists working online as the connection. Disconnection is conceptualized beyond the obvious action of journalists turning their backs on social media and digital spaces completely. While that is a definite component of disconnection and disengagement, the authors also spoke in terms of strategies that work in tandem with forming connections such as limiting access by audiences, limiting the audience, deciding what specific platforms to engage on, and taking intentional and purposeful breaks. The book shows that strategies for online disconnection have been undertaken as individual choices by journalists and unfortunately not institutionalized requirements.
One fear that seems to undergird the book is possible burnout for journalists. Journalists facing a volatile industry are walking away from not only social media but also the news industry because journalists now have more work to do in the unfamiliar, not always hospitable social media environment. Another fear is for the beleaguered public role of journalism. The book notes that the spread of COVID-19 laid bare the positive possibilities and pitfalls of online connection from the viewpoints of journalists and the news industry.