USA: Old and New Journalism in a Hybrid Environment

• In Event: Pushing the Boundaries of Journalism Studies: The NSA Affair and the Global Legitimation Challenges of Journalism

Abstract

The NSA story is a case in which government power intent on stopping leaks runs up against the distributed digital investigative and information network. It offers an example of two dimensions of networked journalism: 1) accountability generated not in relation to news outlets but in relation to activism and journalism innovators, 2) hybridity of the environment which produces constant contests of the interpretation. Traditional news outlets followed a fairly predictable narrative of national security vs. privacy and civil liberties. Meanwhile, the leaked documents also became the inspiration for several alternative narratives and for creation of a new media company (to provide a safer platform to report on leaks of this sort). Thus, the case is a story of activist and journalism innovators generating accountability journalism and struggling to sustain it in a hybrid environment where both independent and traditional journalism, media startups, public opinion and networked activism cooperate and compete.

Authors

• Silvio R. Waisbord, George Washington U

• Adrienne Russell, U of Denver