Journalism in Transition: Insights from Traditional and Online Platforms

Abstract

In an era where independent journalism is thriving on social media and transforming the journalism landscape, it is crucial to understand and identify the culture of online journalism and its distinctions from traditional journalism. This study examines journalists' perceptions of the values expressed in their online activities compared to traditional news values. Through in-depth interviews with leading journalists active on both traditional and online platforms in Israel, we explored their views on the culture of journalism across these mediums. The findings reveal that online platforms place a strong emphasis on autonomy, empowering journalists to adopt new values such as public service and immediacy. Additionally, traditional journalistic ethics and objectivity have been supplanted by online journalists' focus on promoting personal opinions, ideologies, and agendas.