Appropriation Of Social Media Content By Television Broadcasters In News Reporting In Kenya

Abstract

Social media has irreversibly changed television news and distorted the distinction between professional and citizen journalism. This research investigated the professional efforts in-house television broadcasters make to embrace social media in newsgathering and broadcasting. This research’s overarching objective was to establish whether the use of social media content poses a threat to news broadcast authenticity. The research questions included; How do television broadcasters employ social media in reporting? What does unchecked social media appropriation mean for the scope and quality of news? How do citizen journalists and social media wield their newfound power? How is user-generated content more appealing to broadcasters compared to traditional newsgathering methods? The approach to the study is qualitative and I used the narrative research method. My target population comprised all media houses. These media firms comprise 3,220 Media Council of Kenya registered journalists and 6,500 freelance journalists. I used purposive sampling to select a sample size of twelve interviewees in Nairobi and used in-depth interviews and document reviews to collect data. After thematic data analysis, I presented my findings in a narrative format. This research’s findings confirmed that unprofessional journalism on social media offers cheaper, relevant and strategically useful information for news broadcasting. Broadcasters were implicated of unrestrained use of unconfirmed and unregulated social media content, a risky practice to audiences and stakeholders. Although social media offers swift, concise and interactive news that broadcasters cannot ignore, it remains their onus to strategically compliment social media content together with traditional newsgathering for rich, all-inclusive news. This research recommends formulation of regulatory policies at national and broadcaster level and also recommends social media appropriation skills training curriculum development for journalists. From this study, broadcasters can appreciate social media’s unique information mobilisation power and the dynamism it heralds for television news.