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There Is Only One Thing in Life Worse Than Being Watched, and that Is not Being Watched: Digital Data Analytics and the Reorganisation of Newspaper Production

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Humans and Machines at Work

Part of the book series: Dynamics of Virtual Work ((DVW))

Abstract

The research presented in this chapter looks at the use of digital data—data generated by social media and online interactions—in digital newsrooms. It combines research in critical data studies and discussions within labour process theory about technology with empirical findings from a case study of newspaper journalism. The research findings demonstrate how digital data have reorganised priorities for journalists as well as reorganising their work. It argues that technologies of measurement fit within a broader managerialist agenda of measurement linked to performance and that, even where not expressly linked to an employee performance agenda, they encourage comparison, which can lead to competition and work intensification.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Leicester, Leicester, UK

    Xanthe Whittaker

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  1. Xanthe Whittaker
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Correspondence to Xanthe Whittaker .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Middlesex University, London, United Kingdom

    Phoebe V. Moore

  2. Business School, Middlesex University, London, United Kingdom

    Martin Upchurch

  3. University of Leicester, London, United Kingdom

    Xanthe Whittaker

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Whittaker, X. (2018). There Is Only One Thing in Life Worse Than Being Watched, and that Is not Being Watched: Digital Data Analytics and the Reorganisation of Newspaper Production. In: Moore, P., Upchurch, M., Whittaker, X. (eds) Humans and Machines at Work. Dynamics of Virtual Work. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58232-0_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58232-0_4

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-58231-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-58232-0

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

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