This week I was invited to share insights from my PhD research at the UTAS School of Social Sciences Work in Progress day.
My PhD project looks at how social media texts produced by members of the public have impacted journalistic practice within the context of crisis reporting. To do this I analysed how social media texts were used as news sources in newspaper reports during three English crisis events between 2005 and 2013: the London Bombings, English Riots and Lee Rigby’s murder.
As disruptive and highly emotive events where knowledge is a premium, crises elevate the importance of media coverage, particularly as an accurate source of information. In studying the way social media texts are used as news sources during such events, my project contributes to the body of work on current journalistic practice in crisis reporting.
