Abstract
Speed and quality used to be considered the twin pillars of “good” journalism. Now there is a third pillar: sociability. It is no longer enough to be “first with the news”, nor is it sufficient to be comprehensive and trustworthy. It is now increasingly considered necessary to ensure that news is produced in a form that is capable of spreading virally. This paper considers the way in which “viral” transmission is impacting on the work of news journalists and news organisations.
Notes
1. BuzzMachine, 27 March 2008 at 3:06 pm, cited in Phillips (Citation2011b, p. 81).
2. Figures collected from Google Analytics in 2011 by Germaine Arnold.