‘Amphibians’: media figures on social networks and traditional media in Israel

ABSTRACT

Digital platforms have become a major tool for media figures. The Internet offers the media essential tools, most notably authentic and accessible sources of information and the absence of censorship. Digital media provides media personalities with a platform that is free and fast where they can express themselves freely without ‘gatekeepers.’ Drawing on Deuze’s five-dimensional model of journalism, this article shows that for the content transfer platform, the network is characterised by a young audience, leading to more consumer confidence due to its authentic nature. It also found that platform selection relates directly to content and that media people use the network to promote agendas. In addition, their influence on social networks is greater because they are bi-directional and allow for audience reaction. As for the media figure’s personality, it was found that the success of media figures does not involve the quality of the content but the admiration of the audience. In addition, it emerged from the interviews that technological determinism affects media figure activities such that ‘the medium is the message’ – type of media dictates choice of the content transfer platform, content, and media figure personality.

KEYWORDS:

• Israeli
• journalist
• social network
• gatekeepers
• journalism culture
• digital media
• social media

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Deuze, “What is Journalism?,” 442–59.

2. Herman, The 2016 Israeli Democracy, 112 [Hebrew].

3. Heller, The 2017 Israeli Democracy, 11 [Hebrew].

4. Heller et al., The 2017 Israeli Democracy, 11; and Guess, Nyhan, and Reifler, “2018 Poynter Media Trust Survey,” 2–3.

5. Weiss-Blatt, “The Two-Stage Flow, and Technological Blogs,” 140–41. [Hebrew]; and Djerf, Monika, and Adam, “Still an Agenda Setter,” 749–53.

6. Lev-On and Mann, Annual Report: Israel Media, 19–28.

7. Bennett, “A Response to Zaller,” 137.

8. Kaplan and Haenlein, “Challenges and Opportunities of Social Media,” 61–2; and Glynn and Faulds, “Social Media,” 357–65.

9. Saltzis and Dickinson, “Journalists’ Responses to Media Convergence,” 4.

10. Dror, Online Journalism, 129–33.

11. Laor and Galily, “Journalists in Social Media Era,” 5–6.

12. Hermida, “Twittering the News,”297–300;  Laor,  “Journalists’ patterns of Twitter,” 5-7. 

13. Kędzierski and Iwona, “Sex-Related Effect in Young Trotters,” 23–32.

14. Laor, “Educational Radio in Israel,” 900–04; Laor, “The Added Value of College Radio,” 5; Laor, “The Development of Educational Radio in Israel,” 730; and Laor, “Music Programming in College Radio.”

15. Dror, Online Journalism, 71–4.

16. Dhiraj, “Social Communication in Twitter Age,” 7–8.

17. Dror, Online journalism, 141–43.

18. See note 17 above.

19. Thurman and Alfred, “Newsroom Norm,” 64.

20. Anderson, “Changing Patterns of Newswork,” 550–66.

21. Lee et al., “A Study in Online Journalism,” 509.

22. See note 1 above.

23. Dror, Online Journalism, 133–39; and Laor and Galily, “Journalists in Social Media Era,” 7–8.

24. Laor, “Internet radio in Israel,” 844-5; Laor, “Radio Programs and Popular Facebook Posts,” 86; Laor, “Radio on Demand,” 10; Laor, Galily, and Tamir, “Radio in Online Platforms,” 959; Laor and Steinfeld, “Radio Stations on Facebook,” 279–81; and Steinfeld and Laor, “Radio Stations on Facebook,” 205–07; Laor,  Lissitsa, and Galily, “ Radion apps usages in Israel,” 5-6

25. See note 1 above.

26. Hanitzsch et al., “Mapping Journalism Cultures,” 4.

27. Braun, and Clarke, “Using Thematic Analysis,” 92–9.

28. See note 3 above.

29. McLuhan, “The Medium is the Message,” 129–38.

30. Scheufele and Tewksbury, “Media Effects Models,” 14–7.

31. Saltzis and Dickinson, “ Journalists’ Responses to Media Convergence,” 10.

32. Dhiraj, “Social Communication in Twitter Age,” 7–8.

33. See note 14 above.

34. Lee, “A Study in Online Journalism,” 506.

35. Ibid.

36. Dror, Online Journalism, 70.

37. See note 12 above.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tal Laor

Tal Laor is a Senior Lecturer, Founder and Head of Radio, Broadcast and Content Production Studies at the School of Communication. Ariel University.