Browsing by Author "Farah, Jessica"
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- ItemExploring how digitalisation has influenced entertainment and lifestyle journalism at Tiso Blackstar Group(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-03) Farah, Jessica; Botma, Gabriel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Journalism.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study explores how entertainment and lifestyle journalists have been influenced by digitalisation within the broader Tiso Blackstar Group newsroom. Presented within the field of journalism studies, the study analyses how digital tools have influenced the news gathering processes. These processes, including the selection and publication of content, are described by theories such as the news net, gate-keeping and news values, while concepts from Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory aid the understanding of a specialised field in the newsroom. A literature review showed the introduction of digital tools has been met with mixed reaction from journalists and media professionals as online journalism faces a myriad of criticism including fake news, sensationalist reporting, a lack of investigative stories and bowing down to the needs of the reader. This study is timeous as South African media houses, including Tiso Blackstar Group, are under fire for the publishing of alleged false stories and reported chequebook journalism. Bearing in mind the pressure digital journalism is under, and the ageold criticism that entertainment and lifestyle journalism produces “little of value” this study aimed to delve deeper into whether these criticisms are still valid in a digital age. This study used a mixed-methodology. Through semi-structured qualitative interviews with 14 participants, the researcher explored not only how news gathering processes have been changed, but also how story selection and publishing of content has been amended because of the implementation of digital tools in the newsroom. This information was compared to quantitative data in the form of daily diaries over a seven day period, the number of stories published by beats such as news, sport, politics, entertainment and lifestyle, and the number of clicks each beat receives. Entertainment and lifestyle journalists considered themselves as having high volumes of capital in the field of digital journalism based on the number of articles they produce, their ability to produce news quickly and the number of readers their content attracts. The research findings reveal that entertainment and lifestyle journalists experience of digital tools is different based on whether they are print or digitally focussed. The findings also showed that despite entertainment and lifestyle journalists believing they had more capital in the newsroom when compared to other beats, this did not amount to tangible results such as financial rewards. The study concludes that the newsroom at Tiso Blackstar Group remains segregated by journalists who work in digital and journalists who work at print brands. The impact of digital tools, therefore, is more applicable to those who work in a digital environment.