Journalists on twitter: Reconfiguring professional identity, reconsidering research ethics - the case of Croatia

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss the extent and potential consequences of the blurring line between professional and private activity of journalists on social media: if and how is this challenging traditional journalistic norms and routines, but also if and how this could stand as an ethical issue for researchers. The study first utilizes netnography as a method to notice potential trends and conflicts that were then used to define categories of the content analysis of tweets posted or shared by journalists in Croatia. Finally, in-depth interviews will be conducted with journalists that show to be most (pro)active in their use of Twitter. The preliminary observations suggest the shift towards more transparency and personalization. However, there is also a tendency of normalization, in particular with the gatekeeping role.