Tweets and Source Diversity: Newspapers’ Sourcing of Twitter Posts from 2009 to 2016

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study analyzes New York Times, Washington Post, and USA Today stories from 2009 to 2016 in which tweets were used as news sources to determine whether their use contributes to source diversity. Research consistently has shown that U.S. journalists rely on official sources such as governmental or business elites in reporting the news and that ordinary citizens and alternative voices are not well represented. Some scholars have theorized that social media platforms such as Twitter might disrupt journalistic norms, leading to greater source diversity in news reports. A content analysis of stories appearing in the three newspapers (N = 1,085) finds that the journalists’ use of tweets as news sources differed little from traditional sourcing practices. Tweets from politicians were cited most frequently while the tweets of non-official sources were rarely cited, a trend that grew more pronounced over time. Furthermore, the tweets generally were not featured prominently within the stories. Journalists at the three newspapers appear to have normalized Twitter to fit existing norms and reporting practices.