Soft Presentation of Hard News? A Content Analysis of Political Facebook Posts

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor(a) principal: Steiner, Miriam
Data de Publicação: 2020
Tipo de documento: Artigo
Idioma: eng
Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v8i3.3152
Resumo: The current media environment is primarily characterised by a large amount of information and, in contrast, rather fragmented audience attention. This is especially true for social media, particularly Facebook, which have become important news sources for many people. Journalists cannot help but publish content on Facebook if they want to reach the part of their audience that mainly—or even only—consumes news there. On Facebook, journalists are at the mercy of the algorithm that determines the visibility of their content. Because user engagement is a crucial factor in the algorithm, concerns have been raised that journalists are abandoning their normative quality standards to make the news as attractive as possible to the audience—at the expense of media performance. A softened presentation of the news, particularly in Facebook posts, may help achieve this aim, but research on this subject is lacking. The present study analyses this practice of softening the news in four German media outlets’ (BILD, FAZ, Der Spiegel, Tagesschau) political Facebook posts. The results show that the overall level of news softening is low to medium. Furthermore, comparing them to website teasers reveals that news softening is only slightly higher on Facebook (mainly BILD and Der Spiegel), and that there are no converging trends between quality or public service media and tabloid media. Exaggerated fears about news softening are therefore unnecessary. Continued analysis of news softening, as well as ongoing adaption of the concept according to dynamic developments, is nevertheless important.
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spelling Soft Presentation of Hard News? A Content Analysis of Political Facebook PostsFacebook; Germany; journalism; political news; quantitative content analysis; social media logic; soft newsThe current media environment is primarily characterised by a large amount of information and, in contrast, rather fragmented audience attention. This is especially true for social media, particularly Facebook, which have become important news sources for many people. Journalists cannot help but publish content on Facebook if they want to reach the part of their audience that mainly—or even only—consumes news there. On Facebook, journalists are at the mercy of the algorithm that determines the visibility of their content. Because user engagement is a crucial factor in the algorithm, concerns have been raised that journalists are abandoning their normative quality standards to make the news as attractive as possible to the audience—at the expense of media performance. A softened presentation of the news, particularly in Facebook posts, may help achieve this aim, but research on this subject is lacking. The present study analyses this practice of softening the news in four German media outlets’ (BILD, FAZ, Der Spiegel, Tagesschau) political Facebook posts. The results show that the overall level of news softening is low to medium. Furthermore, comparing them to website teasers reveals that news softening is only slightly higher on Facebook (mainly BILD and Der Spiegel), and that there are no converging trends between quality or public service media and tabloid media. Exaggerated fears about news softening are therefore unnecessary. Continued analysis of news softening, as well as ongoing adaption of the concept according to dynamic developments, is nevertheless important.Cogitatio2020-08-24info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v8i3.3152oai:ojs.cogitatiopress.com:article/3152Media and Communication; Vol 8, No 3 (2020): Media Performance in Times of Media Change; 244-2572183-2439reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAPenghttps://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/3152https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v8i3.3152https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/3152/3152Copyright (c) 2020 Miriam Steinerhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessSteiner, Miriam2022-12-20T10:59:00Zoai:ojs.cogitatiopress.com:article/3152Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-19T16:21:12.908912Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Soft Presentation of Hard News? A Content Analysis of Political Facebook Posts
title Soft Presentation of Hard News? A Content Analysis of Political Facebook Posts
spellingShingle Soft Presentation of Hard News? A Content Analysis of Political Facebook Posts
Steiner, Miriam
Facebook; Germany; journalism; political news; quantitative content analysis; social media logic; soft news
title_short Soft Presentation of Hard News? A Content Analysis of Political Facebook Posts
title_full Soft Presentation of Hard News? A Content Analysis of Political Facebook Posts
title_fullStr Soft Presentation of Hard News? A Content Analysis of Political Facebook Posts
title_full_unstemmed Soft Presentation of Hard News? A Content Analysis of Political Facebook Posts
title_sort Soft Presentation of Hard News? A Content Analysis of Political Facebook Posts
author Steiner, Miriam
author_facet Steiner, Miriam
author_role author
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv Steiner, Miriam
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv Facebook; Germany; journalism; political news; quantitative content analysis; social media logic; soft news
topic Facebook; Germany; journalism; political news; quantitative content analysis; social media logic; soft news
description The current media environment is primarily characterised by a large amount of information and, in contrast, rather fragmented audience attention. This is especially true for social media, particularly Facebook, which have become important news sources for many people. Journalists cannot help but publish content on Facebook if they want to reach the part of their audience that mainly—or even only—consumes news there. On Facebook, journalists are at the mercy of the algorithm that determines the visibility of their content. Because user engagement is a crucial factor in the algorithm, concerns have been raised that journalists are abandoning their normative quality standards to make the news as attractive as possible to the audience—at the expense of media performance. A softened presentation of the news, particularly in Facebook posts, may help achieve this aim, but research on this subject is lacking. The present study analyses this practice of softening the news in four German media outlets’ (BILD, FAZ, Der Spiegel, Tagesschau) political Facebook posts. The results show that the overall level of news softening is low to medium. Furthermore, comparing them to website teasers reveals that news softening is only slightly higher on Facebook (mainly BILD and Der Spiegel), and that there are no converging trends between quality or public service media and tabloid media. Exaggerated fears about news softening are therefore unnecessary. Continued analysis of news softening, as well as ongoing adaption of the concept according to dynamic developments, is nevertheless important.
publishDate 2020
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2020-08-24
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
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dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v8i3.3152
oai:ojs.cogitatiopress.com:article/3152
url https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v8i3.3152
identifier_str_mv oai:ojs.cogitatiopress.com:article/3152
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/3152
https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v8i3.3152
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/3152/3152
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv Copyright (c) 2020 Miriam Steiner
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv Copyright (c) 2020 Miriam Steiner
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Cogitatio
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Cogitatio
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Media and Communication; Vol 8, No 3 (2020): Media Performance in Times of Media Change; 244-257
2183-2439
reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
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repository.name.fl_str_mv Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação
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