Abstract
This study uses qualitative in-depth interviews to examine journalists' attitudes and decisions about social protest coverage in the wake of (a) journalists' own use of the internet and (b) the use of the internet by social movement organizations. Interviews were conducted with journalists who covered protests that formed part of the movement for democratic globalization in US cities and in Canada during 1999 and 2000. Although regarded as major success stories for the role of the internet in political communication, mobilization over the web seems to have had little impact on journalists. The in-depth interviews revealed skepticism, not early adoption, of web resources in the coverage of these protests. This study provides an exploratory model for the sustained study of journalists' internet use and their attitudes toward social movements and protest as the internet age evolves.
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