How Dose Twitter Influence Saudi Arabian Journalists’ News Judgement and Journalistic Practices

Abstract

Since it was introduced in 2007, Twitter has received a wide usage around the world. The platform is particularly used for journalistic purposes including news gathering and sourcing as well as news reporting. The increased use of Twitter for journalistic purposes has brought about a shift in various elements of journalistic practices among the gatekeeping role of journalists and news judgement. In view of this, this study is aimed at investigating how Saudi Arabian journalists’ use of Twitter influences their news judgment. The findings reveal that while the mode of presentation of news stories (Twitter and AP wire) does not seem to influence news judgement, Twitter usage does. Journalists who are logged into twitter throughout the day perceive stories presented in Twitter as more newsworthy compared to journalists who use Twitter less often. On the contrary, journalists who reported little Twitter usage depicted a negative bias on the newsworthiness of news stories presented on Twitter. Thus, Twitter usage was found to influence the journalists’ determination of newsworthiness (news judgement). Journalistic use of Twitter also challenges the gatekeeping role of journalists by promoting citizen journalism. Thus, journalists’ Twitter usage influences their news judgement. Twitter usage also influenced journalistic practices by altering news judgment, news reporting, and the gating keeping role of journalists.