Opposites Fertilizing One Another: Networked Journalism and Political Communication in a Changing Media Landscape

Kejanlioglu, B. (2012). Opposites Fertilizing One Another: Networked Journalism and Political Communication in a Changing Media Landscape. Communication beyond mediatization: Budapest workshop 23-24 Nov. 2012.

Abstract: Walter Benjamin once described the newspaper as “the scene of literary confusion” where “science and belles letters, criticism and literary production, education and politics fall apart in disorder and lose all connection with one another.” For him, “in our writing, opposites that in happier ages fertilized one another have become insoluble antinomies.” Current networked journalism, I would argue, is bringing those opposites back together without asking for their reconciliation in the force field of the web. Even though current scene demonstrates both the overlapping forms and a tension between emergent and traditional forms of journalism, what is at stake is that the central role of professionalism is receding. News publics tell stories, disseminate opinionated pieces, make jokes or even make fake news, exchange ideas via e-mails, on social network platforms and in the blogosphere. In fact, amateur production, networking and the aesthetics of parody and political remix are in ascendance. News publics also report news, mimicking the role of professionals. However, theirs does not seem to be a claim to truth but mere observation. They simply observe life and join the talk. “The storyteller takes what he tells from experience –his own or that reported by others. And he in turn makes it the experience of those who are listening to his tale” (Benjamin). There is a new opportunity in the crisis of traditional form of journalism: the engagement of multiple publics and even some journalists with crafting new forms of journalism against the business of journalism; thus, a more direct and pluralistic form of democratic expression. This presentation would give some examples of new journalistic forms to highlight such an opportunity though it is still in the making and may not alter the power structure. References Benjamin, Walter (1999). M. W. Jennings, et al. (eds.), Walter Benjamin Selected Writings. Vol. 2, Part 2, 1931-34. Cambridge, Mass. & London: Belknap Press of Harvard U. Press. Benjamin, Walter (2002). M. W. Jennings, et al. (eds.), Walter Benjamin Selected Writings. Vol. 3, 1935-38. Cambridge, Mass. & London: Belknap Press of Harvard U. Press. Russell, Adrienne (2011). Networked: A Contemporary History of News in Transition. Cambridge: Polity.