Browsing by Author "Ernste, Thomas John"
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Item The enduring importance of newspaper journalism in a networked information economy.(2011-07) Ernste, Thomas JohnThis study explores the economic crisis in the newspaper industry and its implications for the enduring needs citizens have from the media for effective participation in democracy in our changing media environment. A conceptual framework orienting the place of newspapers at the heart of a vibrant public sphere provides a basis for arguing that having meaningful diversity in the marketplace of ideas today is directly tied to the preservation of a robust and diverse body of newspaper journalism organizations. An empirical study assesses the prospects for maintaining a diverse system of newspaper journalism in the online media environment based on assessments of two forms diversity: source diversity and audience exposure diversity. Findings in this study reveal that audience exposure diversity among the growing online newspaper readership is significantly lower than audience exposure diversity for newspapers in their traditional format. Prospects for a better networked public sphere for the democratic needs of citizens from the press will depend on identifying a viable economic model to support a system of journalism organizations within the new media environment that retains the adequate source diversity and the traditionally high standards for public affairs news quality that have long been characteristic of newspaper journalism.Item Towards a networked gatekeeping theory: Journalism, news diffusion, and democracy in a networked media environment(2014-01) Ernste, Thomas JohnThis dissertation describes the development of a networked gatekeeping theory for the study of an increasingly internet-mediated news diffusion process. Prior gatekeeping research provides a rich theoretical and methodological framework for investigating and illuminating the process through which certain events and issues on an international, national, and local level become the mediated messages that reach the public. Towards a framework for reconceptualizing gatekeeping theory in which I incorporate principles of graph theory and social network analysis, I describe the development of a more participatory but still asymmetrically structured networked gatekeeping process that is forming according to the communication infrastructure afforded by the internet and its associated technologies. In particular, this dissertation focuses on the implications of these developments for both the practice of and research about news diffusion, journalism, internet-mediated communication, and democracy. In an empirical study of the Twitter-based news ecology of a large Midwestern metropolitan area, I conduct a case study using primarily social network analysis methods that uncovers insights about the patterns that emerge within this dynamic participatory news construction and diffusion process. The findings of this dissertation can be useful for media scholars, media practitioners, and for anyone with an interest in understanding the evolution of the new media of the public sphere.