An Actor-Network Analysis of the Use of the World Wide Web in a Kenyan Newsroom’s Journalistic Practice: A Case Of Capital Fm
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Date
2017-11
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Daystar University, School of Communication
Abstract
The incorporation of digital technologies in for-profit newsrooms has led to disruptions in journalism hierarchies, business models, norms, and practices across the world. In African newsrooms, these disruptions have received a paucity of scholarly attention, and even those have tended towards policy and regulatory matters, or normative analyses founded on the Western liberal democratic model. This study interrogated the incorporation of the web in Kenyan journalistic practice by following the process as undertaken at Capital FM, the country’s pioneer commercial radio station. The study set out to establish the human and technological actors engaged in journalistic practice at Capital FM, as well as determine the nature of interaction among those actors, and the outcomes of those interactions. The research used a socio-technical theoretical lens and applied case study research design with four data collection tools, namely observation, interviews, netnography, and document review. The study used a six-step framework to reduce, organise and evaluate the data. Actor-network theory informed the identification of the actors, their interactions, and the outcomes of those interactions. A thematic analysis was also applied to more deeply interrogate and interpret the data. The two analytical approaches established that Capital FM practiced a networked journalism enacted by multiple human, technological and corporate actants, resulting in modifications and disruptions that were manifested in various efforts of labour, controversies, movement among actors, new roles, and spatial location. New roles were enrolled into journalistic practice, and new practices had become routinised. Audiences had acquired a powerful role through web metrics which informed journalists’ routines and sense of self-identity. Journalistic practice had a new definition, and the blurring of lines between editorial and promotional content had opened new lines of revenue generation even while disrupting the normative values underlying news production. Globalised practices, such as the use of open-source applications, had standardised aspects of the journalism enacted in geographically diverse networked newsrooms. The study also held that actor-network theory was useful in interrogating power dynamics within a networked newsroom context. The study further posited that a new type of commercial news media company had emerged in the Kenyan context, and was defined under the following thematic categories: organisational culture, key decision makers, content, revenue, and infrastructure.
The study recommended greater collaboration and interaction between personnel in the two spatial locations to promote greater innovation around content development and an increased understanding among all of the web’s potential as a news platform. It also posited that the web was treated as an online version of a newspaper. This frequently limited the news content to two-dimensional presentations of news yet human actants in the news production process could make greater use of the web’s multimediality, hypertextuality, and interactivity. The study also called for greater reflection among media houses about the implications of the new revenue generation opportunities vis-à-vis journalistic practice.
Description
Doctor of Philosophy in Communication
Keywords
Actor-Network Analysis, World Wide Web, Newsroom’s Journalistic Practice, Capital Fm, Journalism Hierarchies, Multimediality, Hypertextuality, Interactivity
Citation
Wamunyu, I. W., (2017). An Actor-Network Analysis of the Use of the World Wide Web in a Kenyan Newsroom’s Journalistic Practice: A Case Of Capital Fm. Daystar University, School of Communication, Nairobi. Thesis