2017/08/22 by John Wihbey, Thalita Dias Coleman, Wihbey, John +5
Physics and Astronomy · Social Sciences · #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Media Studies and Communication #Opinion Dynamics and Social Influence #Social Media and Politics #Social and Information Networks (cs.SI)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1708.06727
openalex publication_date 2017/08/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The present work proposes the use of social media as a tool for better understanding the relationship between a journalists' social network and the content they produce. Specifically, we ask: what is the relationship between the ideological leaning of a journalist's social network on Twitter and the news content he or she produces? Using a novel dataset linking over 500,000 news articles produced by 1,000 journalists at 25 different news outlets, we show a modest correlation between the ideologies of who a journalist follows on Twitter and the content he or she produces. This research can provide the basis for greater self-reflection among media members about how they source their stories and how their own practice may be colored by their online networks. For researchers, the findings furnish a novel and important step in better understanding the construction of media stories and the mechanics of how ideology can play a role in shaping public information.