The Affective Epistemology of Digital Journalism: Emotions as Knowledge Among On-the-Ground and OSINT Media Practitioners Covering the Russo-Ukrainian War

Abstract

In this paper, we seek to introduce the term “affective epistemology” into digital journalism studies. Building on twenty-seven interviews with media workers reporting on the Russo-Ukrainian War and digital documentation analysis, we address the following research questions: What is the epistemic value of media practitioners’ emotions? How do emotional attachments shape how media professionals and open-source analysts navigate fact-finding and neutrality? We argue that media professionals’ emotional engagement is a form of embodied knowledge with cognitive and strategic rationality. We identify four epistemological affordances of emotions and illustrate that emotions motivate journalistic practices and are motivated by reality on the ground and available knowledge, can serve as a methodological and an epistemological tool, and form a part of reality; emotions also drive innovations and facilitate team collaboration. Furthermore, we argue that the Russo-Ukrainian War is a context where the discourse on impartiality, neutrality, and detachment becomes experienced as problematic and counterproductive. We show how the work of journalists is changing as they align with discourses on human rights and justice and legal fact-finding bodies that are committed to legal objectivity.