Networked A Contemporary History of News in Transition [Hardcover]

Journalism, what happened? In the last decade, the industry and the profession have been rocked to the core. Newspapers as consumer product are as ripe for comic mocking and satire as are the techniques of the journalism profession. The contemporary death and life of journalism is the story of an historic cultural transition. We have lived through the end of the mass-media era and the beginning of the networked-media era. We took in news one way for a century and we simply don't do it like that anymore. Networked: A Contemporary History of News in Transition examines this moment in journalism, the conditions that brought it about and the characteristics that have shaped it and will shape its future. In crafting this sophisticated yet accessible study, new-media scholar Adrienne Russell draws on personal interviews with journalists and analysts at the center of the shift, examines innovative and revealing digital news projects, and underlines larger cultural changes that reflect the new news reality. Networked also examines emergent journalism practices that suggest the forces at work and the stakes involved in developments we have all experienced but, caught up in the rush of change, have had limited perspective to interpret.

Acknowledgements vi

1 Introduction: The Rise of Networked Journalism 1

2 Participatory Journalism: The Wealth of Networks 33

3 From Personalization to Socialization71

4 News Parody, Satire, Remix: When There's Nothing to Do But Laugh 101

5 Public Life and the Future of News 131

Index 159

In this concise overview, Russell complicates the 'narrative of decline' of traditional news journalism, and celebrates the neo-situationist 'détournements' of what she terms 'fake news' producers such as the Daily Show and the Yes Men.