The Paradox of Connection

Using a framework of online connection and disconnection, The Paradox of Connection examines how journalists’ practices are formed, negotiated, and maintained in dynamic social media environments. The interactions of journalists with the technological, social, and cultural features of online and social media environments have shaped new values and competencies--and the combination of these factors influence online work practices. Merging case studies with analysis, the authors show how the tactics of online connection and disconnection interact with the complex realities of working in today’s media environments. The result is an insightful portrait of fast-changing journalistic practices and their implications for both audiences and professional identities and norms.

“The Paradox of Connection shows strikingly how professional journalists negotiate with the promises and perils of the connected world and walk the line between personal branding, organizational pressures, and private life. The book provides a compelling snapshot of how journalists fine-tune their connectivity and offers tools for us all to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of living online. Social media tools have revolutionized journalism. Yet professional pressure to live online, online abuse and harassment, and increasingly precarious and unpaid labor have gone hand in hand with people in the trade mediating ever more complex forms of online communication.”--Tero Karppi, author of Disconnect: Facebook’s Affective Bonds

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