Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Citizens at the Gates pp 101–125Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Tweeting #Ferguson: Affective Publics, Boundary Maintenance, and Journo-Activism in a Mediatized Field

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

  • 709 Accesses

Abstract

Combining digital ethnographic content analysis with social network analysis and link analysis, this chapter examines uses of Twitter by a small cohort of journalists and activists in the aftermath of the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. After providing context about the case and reviewing literature on networked journalism and activism, the chapter compares tweets from each cohort. While the traditions of objective journalism and affective activism persisted, notable exceptions occurred, particularly following acts of police suppression. These findings demonstrate the adaptability of some journalistic norms in the era of mediatization. Furthermore, the networked communities of professional and activist Twitter users were overlapping and interactive, suggesting hybridity at the margins of the journalistic field.

A previous version of this chapter was published as: Barnard, S. R. Tweeting #Ferguson: Mediatized fields and the new activist journalist. New Media & Society, Advanced online publication, Copyright © 2017, SAGE Publications. Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications. Available at: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461444817712723.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

eBook
USD   19.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   27.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Thus, the hashtag “#Ferguson” is broadly used to describe the discursive exchanges occurring on Twitter and the wider web. By contrast, “Ferguson” is used only to describe the events taking place on the ground in Ferguson, Missouri and the surrounding area.

  2. 2.

    Numerous studies have demonstrated the implications of mediatization for social relations, including journalism (Backholm et al. 2012; Rees 2012), activism (Mattoni and Treré 2014), politics (Strömbäck 2008), culture (Chen 2015; Hepp 2013) conflict , and memorialization (Cottle 2006; Lindgren 2012), and beyond (Couldry and Hepp 2013).

  3. 3.

    While searching explicit mentions of #Ferguson or “Ferguson” by specific users allowed for a targeted sampling, it missed similar tweets from all other relevant users as well as those that did not include the search terms. Furthermore, the reliance on Twitter data rendered invisible professional journalists’ primary reporting on more mainstream media platforms , which likely differed in tone and tenor from their tweets.

  4. 4.

    All percentages are based on in-group comparisons, rather than the entire data set.

  5. 5.

    Node colors represent the Twitter users’ self-defined country of origin (Blue = US; Purple = UK; Green = Laos; Gray = Italy; Red = unknown).

References

  • Adamic, L. A., & Glance, N. (2005). The political blogosphere and the 2004 U.S. election: Divided they blog. Proceedings from the 3rd international workshop on Link discovery (pp. 36–43). Retrieved November 21, 2017, from http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1134271.1134277.

  • Araiza, J. A., Sturm, H. A., Istek, P., & Bock, M. A. (2016). Hands up, don’t shoot, whose side are you on? Journalists tweeting the Ferguson protests. Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies, 16(3), 305–312. https://doi.org/10.1177/1532708616634834.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Backholm, K., Moritz, M., & Björkqvist, K. (2012). U.S. and Finnish journalists: A comparative study of roles, responsibilities, and emotional reactions to school shootings. In G. W. Muschert & J. Sumiala (Eds.). School shootings: Mediatized violence in a global age (pp. 141–160). Bingley: Emerald Group. Retrieved November 21, 2017, from http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/S2050-2060%282012%290000007011.

    Google Scholar 

  • Balko, R. (2015, July 2). Justice Department report: Police tactics in Ferguson created confrontation. The Washington Post. Retrieved November 21, 2017, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/07/02/justice-department-report-police-tactics-in-ferguson-created-confrontation/?utm_term=.81e9e27e9725.

  • Barnard, S. R. (2016a). Spectacles of self(ie) empowerment? Networked individualism and the logic of the (post)feminist selfie. In L. Robinson, J. Schulz, S. R. Cotten, et al. (Eds.), Communication and information technologies annual, studies in media and communications (pp. 63–88). Bingley Emerald Group. Retrieved November 21, 2017, from http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/S2050-206020160000011014.

  • Barnard, S. R. (2016b). Digital sociology’s vocational promise. In J. Daniels, K. Gregory, & T. M. Cottom (Eds.), Digital sociologies (pp. 195–210). Bristol: Policy Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Berman, M., & Lowery, W. (2015, March 4). The 12 key highlights from the DOJ’s scathing Ferguson report. The Washington Post. Retrieved November 21, 2017, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2015/03/04/the-12-key-highlights-from-the-dojs-scathing-ferguson-report/.

  • Bigoted Ferguson was ‘Powder Keg’: Our View. (2015, March 4). USA Today. Retrieved November 21, 2017, from http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/03/04/ferguson-civil-rights-justice-department-darren-wilson-editorials-debates/24397873/.

  • Bonilla, Y., & Rosa, J. (2015). #Ferguson: Digital protest, hashtag ethnography, and the racial politics of social media in the United States. American Ethnologist, 42(1), 4–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1993). The field of cultural production: Essays on art and literature. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (2005). The political field, the social science field, and the journalistic field. In R. Benson & E. Neveu (Eds.), Bourdieu and the journalistic field (pp. 29–47). Malden, MA: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brock, A. (2012). From the blackhand side: Twitter as a cultural conversation. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 56(4), 529–549.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruns, A. (2003). Gatewatching, not gatekeeping: Collaborative online news. Media International Australia, 107(1), 31–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruns, A., & Burgess, J. (2012). Researching news discussion on Twitter. Journalism Studies, 13(5–6), 801–814. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2012.664428.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carlson, M. (2015). Metajournalistic discourse and the meanings of journalism: Definitional control, boundary work, and legitimation. Communication Theory, 26(4), 349–368.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carlson, M. (2016). Embedded links, embedded meanings. Journalism Studies, 17(7), 915–924.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chadwick, A. (2013). The hybrid media system: Politics and power. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Chaudhry, I. (2016). ‘Not so black and white’: Discussions of race on Twitter in the aftermath of #Ferguson and the shooting death of Mike Brown. Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies, 16(3), 296–304.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, W. (2015). Mediatizing the network model of cultural capital: Network diversity, media use, and cultural knowledge along and across ethnic boundaries. Social Networks, 40, 185–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, L. S. (2016). Participants on the margins: Examining the role that shared artifacts of engagement in the Ferguson protests played among minoritized political newcomers on Snapchat, Facebook, and Twitter. International Journal of Communication, 10, 26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cottle, S. (2006). Mediatized conflict: Understanding media and conflicts in the contemporary world. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Couldry, N. (2014). Mediatization and the future of field theory. In K. Lundby (Ed.), Mediatization of communication (pp. 227–245). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter GmbH.

    Google Scholar 

  • Couldry, N., & Hepp, A. (2013). Conceptualizing mediatization: Contexts, traditions, arguments. Communication Theory, 23(3), 191–202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Maeyer, J. (2013). Towards a hyperlinked society: A critical review of link studies. New Media & Society, 15(5), 737–751.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Maeyer, J., & Holton, A. E. (2015). Why linking matters: A metajournalistic discourse analysis. Journalism, 17(6), 776–794.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duggan, M. (2015). The demographics of social media users. Pew Research Center. Retrieved November 21, 2017, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/08/19/the-demographics-of-social-media-users/.

  • Earl, J., & Kimport, K. (2011). Digitally enabled social change: Activism in the internet age. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Esser, F., & Strömbäck, J. (Eds.). (2014). Mediatization of politics: Understanding the transformation of western democracies. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, J. (2014). Crowd of NY Ferguson protestors chants ‘F*ck CNN!’ on CNN. Mediaite.com . Retrieved November 21, 2017, from http://www.mediaite.com/tv/crowd-of-ny-ferguson-protestors-chants-fck-cnn-on-cnn/.

  • Freelon, D., & Karpf, D. (2015). Of big birds and bayonets: Hybrid Twitter interactivity in the 2012 presidential debates. Information, Communication & Society, 18(4), 390–406.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freelon, D., McIlwain, C. D., & Clark, M. D. (2016). Beyond the hashtags: #Ferguson, #Blacklivesmatter, and the online struggle for offline justice. Center for Media and Social Impact. Retrieved November 21, 2017, from http://cmsimpact.org/resource/beyond-hashtags-ferguson-blacklivesmatter-online-struggle-offline-justice/.

  • Gitlin, T. (2003). The whole world is watching: Mass media in the making and unmaking of the new left. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graeff, E., Stempeck, M., & Zuckerman, E. (2014). The battle for ‘Trayvon Martin’: Mapping a media controversy online and off-line. First Monday, 19(2). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v19i2.4947.

  • Hedman, U. (2015). J-Tweeters. Digital Journalism, 3(2), 279–297.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hepp, A. (2013). Cultures of mediatization. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herman, E. S., & Chomsky, N. (2002). Manufacturing consent: The political economy of the mass media. New York: Pantheon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hermida, A. (2010). Twittering the news: The emergence of ambient journalism. Journalism Practice, 4(3), 297–308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Himelboim, I., Sweetser, K. D., Tinkham, S. F., Cameron, K., Danelo, M., & West, K. (2016). Valence-based homophily on Twitter: Network analysis of emotions and political talk in the 2012 presidential election. New Media & Society, 18(7), 1382–1400.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hitlin, P., & Vogt, N. (2014, August 20). Cable, Twitter picked up Ferguson story at a similar clip. Pew Research Center. Retrieved November 21, 2017, from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/08/20/cable-twitter-picked-up-ferguson-story-at-a-similar-clip/.

  • Hjarvard, S. (2013). The mediatization of culture and society. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, S. J., & Welles, B. F. (2016). #Ferguson is everywhere: Initiators in emerging counterpublic networks. Information, Communication & Society, 19(3), 397–418.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jurgenson, N. (2012). When atoms meet bits: Social media, the mobile web and augmented revolution. Future Internet, 4(1), 83–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kidd, D. (2017). Social media freaks: Digital identity in the network society. Boulder: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kreiss, D. (2016). Seizing the moment: The presidential campaigns’ use of Twitter during the 2012 electoral cycle. New Media & Society, 18(8), 1473–1490.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kreiss, D., Meadows, L., & Remensperger, J. (2015). Political performance, boundary spaces, and active spectatorship: Media production at the 2012 democratic National Convention. Journalism, 16(5), 577–595.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krogstad, J. M. (2015, February 3). Social media preferences vary by race and ethnicity. Pew Research Center. Retrieved November 21, 2017, from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/02/03/social-media-preferences-vary-by-race-and-ethnicity/.

  • LeFebvre, R. K., & Armstrong, C. (2016). Grievance-based social movement mobilization in the #Ferguson Twitter storm. New Media & Society, Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444816644697.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lindgren, S. (2012). Collective coping through networked narratives: YouTube responses to the Virginia Tech shooting. In G. Muschert & J. Sumiala (Eds.), School shootings: Mediatized violence in a global age (pp. 279–298). Bingley: Emerald Group. Retrieved November 21, 2017, from http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/S2050-2060%282012%290000007017.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Maireder, A., & Ausserhofer, J. (2014). Political discourses on Twitter: Networking topics, objects, and people. In K. Weller, A. Bruns, J. Burgess, N. Mahrt, & C. Puschmann (Eds.), Twitter and society (pp. 305–318). New York, NY: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mattoni, A., & Treré, E. (2014). Media practices, mediation processes, and mediatization in the study of social movements. Communication Theory, 24(3), 252–271.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McChesney, R. W. (2008). The political economy of media: Enduring issues, emerging dilemmas. New York: Monthly Review Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meraz, S., & Papacharissi, Z. (2013). Networked gatekeeping and networked framing on #Egypt. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 18(2), 138–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Molyneux, L. (2015). What journalists retweet: Opinion, humor, and brand development on Twitter. Journalism, 16(7), 920–935.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morozov, E. (2014). To save everything, click here: The folly of technological solutionism. New York: PublicAffairs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neuberg, C., vom Hofe, H. J., & Nuernbergk, C. (2014). The use of Twitter by professional journalists: Results of a newsroom survey in Germany. In K. Weller, A. Bruns, J. Burgess, N. Mahrt, & C. Puschmann (Eds.), Twitter and society (pp. 345–357). New York, NY: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Papacharissi, Z. (2014). Affective publics: Sentiment, technology, and politics. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Poell, T., & Rajagopalan, S. (2015). Connecting activists and journalists. Journalism Studies, 16(5), 719–733.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raeymaeckers, K., Deprez, A., De Vuyst, S., & De Dobbelaer, R. (2015). The journalist as a jack of all trades: Safeguarding the gates in a digitized news ecology. In T. Vos & F. Heinderyckx (Eds.), Gatekeeping in transition (pp. 104–119). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rees, G. (2012). Afterword: Is mediatization a useful concept for informing practice in journalism? In G. W. Muschert & J. Sumiala (Eds.), School shootings: Mediatized violence in a global age (pp. 333–341). Bingley: Emerald Group. Retrieved November 21, 2017, from http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/S2050-2060(2012)0000007019.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Russell, A. (2013). Innovation in hybrid spaces: 2011 UN climate summit and the expanding journalism landscape. Journalism, 14(7), 904–920.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Santhanam, L., & Dennis, V. (2014, November 25). What do the newly released witness statements tell us about the Michael Brown shooting? PBS NewsHour. Retrieved November 21, 2017, from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/newly-released-witness-testimony-tell-us-michael-brown-shooting/.

  • Schudson, M. (1981). Discovering the news: A social history of American newspapers. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shjarback, J. A., Pyrooz, D. C., Wolfe, S. E., & Decker, S. H. (2017). De-policing and crime in the wake of Ferguson: Racialized changes in the quantity and quality of policing among Missouri police departments. Journal of Criminal Justice, 50, 42–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2017.04.003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shoemaker, P. J., & Vos, T. (2009). Gatekeeping theory. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sobieraj, S. (2011). Soundbitten: The perils of media-centered political activism. New York: NYU Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Starr, P. (2005). The creation of the media: Political origins of modern communications. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strömbäck, J. (2008). Four phases of mediatization: An analysis of the mediatization of politics. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 13(3), 228–246.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thorson, K., & Wells, C. (2015). How gatekeeping still matters: Understanding media effects in an era of curated flows. In T. Vos & F. Heinderyckx (Eds.), Gatekeeping in transition (pp. 25–44). New York, NY: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tremayne, M. (2014). Anatomy of protest in the digital era: A network analysis of Twitter and Occupy Wall Street. Social Movement Studies, 13(1), 110–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wagner, L. (2016, February 9). Ferguson approves police and courts overhaul – With some changes. National Public Radio. Retrieved November 21, 2017, from http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/02/09/466221524/ferguson-approves-police-and-courts-overhaul-with-some-changes.

  • Zeller, F., & Hermida, A. (2015). When tradition meets immediacy and interaction: The integration of social media in journalists’ everyday practices. About Journalism, 4(1), 106–119.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zúñiga, H. G. d., Diehl, T., & Ardèvol-Abreu, A. (2018). When citizens and journalists interact on Twitter. Journalism Studies, 19(2), 227–246.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY, USA

    Stephen R. Barnard

Authors
  1. Stephen R. Barnard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Barnard, S.R. (2018). Tweeting #Ferguson: Affective Publics, Boundary Maintenance, and Journo-Activism in a Mediatized Field. In: Citizens at the Gates. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90446-7_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90446-7_6

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-90445-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-90446-7

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation