What I miss most: Journalists’ rationalization of relational social media use

Abstract

Journalists’ social media use is a recent example of long-standing gaps between journalistic discourse and journalistic practice. This manuscript applies the sociological concept of rationalization to explain the persistence of this gap, theorizing that the need for rational explanations of one’s work is so powerful for journalists that they offer one description publicly, or to their bosses, while practicing something different. We apply rationalization theory to reflect on journalism’s love affair with Twitter, now that many journalists and their organizations have deprioritized the platform. In interviews, journalists indeed could readily offer rational explanations for Twitter’s use and purpose in journalism, but further questions revealed that common practices didn’t serve the stated purposes; instead, journalists’ attachment to the platform was primarily relational. We argue humans’ inherent sociality, individuals’ response to a field in crisis, and journalism’s acute need for social validation may contribute to this disconnect.