Journalistic Practices on Twitter: A Comparative Visual Study on the Personalization of Conflict Reporting on Social Media

Abstract Purpose Using a mixed-method approach, this comparative study unpacks the way journalists personalized the controversial Yemen Civil War by examining the patterns of visual framing on Twitter. It further explores the influence of the individual level factor (home country or foreign identity of the journalist) and organizational level factor (countries affiliated with news organizations directly or indirectly involved in the conflict), on images shared on the Twitter platform. Design/methodology/approach A content analysis and a semiotic analysis of 2880 image tweets were used to investigate the different visual narratives related to the conflict and the extent of personalized journalism on Twitter. Findings The content analysis showed that while journalists offered some personalized reporting, by and large, they preferred to adopt a neutral stance when reporting the conflict. The semiotic analysis complemented the findings and identified more broadly that the image tweets analyzed emphasized the classic war-as-a-tragedy narrative, while at the same time shedding some light on the political conflict. Practical implications Researchers are given guidance into journalistic practices on social media and a deeper understanding of the extent and role of personalized journalism of conflict on Twitter. Social implications This study captured the fluctuating role of journalists on Twitter. Journalists occasionally fluctuated in their visual roles between being neutral observers and moral agents. These fluctuations were likely influenced by an array of factors, including the journalist’s home country or foreign identity and the country affiliation of news organizations they were working for. Originality/value This is the first study to show that journalists from different backgrounds have remained somehow obliged to carry on with their journalistic roles on Twitter. It also sheds light on different levels of influences on personalized war coverage on social media and extend the hierarchy of influence model (Shoemaker, Pamela & Stephen Reese. 1996. Mediating the Message; Theories of influence on mass media content. New York: Longman) in the context of personalized reporting on Twitter. It thus adds to the growing body of knowledge on how this model plays out in an online-first era, especially in non-western contexts.