The boys on the timeline: Political journalists’ use of Twitter for building interpretive communities

Abstract

During the 2012 presidential election, Twitter emerged as a key reporting tool for journalists on the campaign trail. Through a textual analysis of over 5700 tweets from 430 political journalists, this study sought to understand how the platform was used as a channel for community building during the first 2012 presidential debate. Building upon Zelizer’s definition of journalists as interpretive communities and Goffman’s dramaturgical model, results reveal that journalists used the online tool for constructing narratives. In addition, online interactions uncover facets of campaign reporting previously confined to backstage regions. Narrative-building, interpretive community discourses, and backstage behaviors were found in tweets in which journalists gave opinions about the political process and used humor to construct the traits of a professional group. Findings suggest that Twitter coverage helps establish new professional boundaries for political communication.

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