Digital Platforms and Journalism as a Profession: The Rise of the Influencer Journalist
Esma Gültüvin Gür OmayDigital platforms are entities that operate through digital spaces and mainly occur as social media companies that have positioned themselves in various markets. Digital platforms began their journey as social media sites that enable users to create social network connections with the help of profiles. The programmability of social media sites has evolved them into platforms, and this notion of programmability changed the overall structure of the web. Digital platforms generate revenue through user interactions; in return, content producers also help them generate revenue. Journalism has been deeply affected by the platformization of news, and digital spaces have also changed traditional journalistic practices. Under the platform capitalism, digital spaces curate individuals’ life styles and how they perceive, react, and see things. In return, journalism as an ethical practice transformed itself due to the new odes of communication and commercialization. The rise of digital journalism has paved the way for new modes of sharing and producing news, and this can easily be termed as producing content. The production of news became highly dominated by the mechanisms that govern platform logic. Platform logic can be detected in the datafication, commodification, commercialization, and consumption that have affected the role of journalists in society. The rise of digital platforms, especially social media platforms such as Instagram, has transformed not just journalism itself but also journalism as a profession. The ethical and professional principles of journalism have been eroded, with journalists having begun to be seen as influencing people and their starting to act with the logic of digital platforms. The corporate umbrella that protected journalists has been replaced by the principles of platform capitalism. The aim of this paper is to examine the precarization of journalism as a profession under the dominant power of digital platforms.
Dijital Platformlar ve Gazetecilik Mesleği: İnfluencer Gazetecinin Yükselişi
Esma Gültüvin Gür OmayDijital platformlar, dijital alanlar üzerinden faaliyet gösteren, ağırlıklı olarak kendilerini çeşitli pazarlarda konumlandıran sosyal medya şirketleridir. Bu şirketler, kullanıcıların profilleri aracılığıyla sosyal ağ bağlantıları kurmalarını sağlayan sosyal medya siteleri olarak iş hayatına başlamıştır. Sosyal medya sitelerinin programlanabilirliği onları platformlara dönüştürmüştür. Programlanabilirlik kavramı ise internet ağlarının genel yapısını değiştirmiştir. Dijital platformlar, kullanıcıların etkileşimlerinden gelir elde ederken, karşılığında içerik üreticilerinin de gelir elde etmelerine yardımcı olmaktadırlar. Gazetecilik, haberlerin bu şekilde platformlaştırılmasından derinden etkilenmiştir. Dijital alanlar, geleneksel gazetecilik pratiklerini değiştirmektedir. Platform kapitalizmi altında, dijital alanlar bireylerin yaşam tarzlarının, olayları nasıl algıladıklarının, bunlara nasıl tepki verdiklerinin ve bunları nasıl gördüklerinin küratörlüğünü yapmaktadır. Buna karşılık, etik bir pratik olarak gazetecilik, yeni iletişim biçimleri ve ticarileşme nedeniyle kendini dönüştürmektedir. Dijital haberciliğin yükselişi, “içerik üretmek” olarak adlandırılabilecek yeni haber paylaşım ve üretim biçimlerinin yolunu açmıştır. Haber üretimi, artık platform mantığını yöneten mekanizmaların egemenliğine girmiştir. Platform mantığı, gazetecinin toplumdaki rolünü genel olarak etkileyen verileştirme, metalaştırma, ticarileştirme ve tüketim mekanizmalarında yatmaktadır. Dijital platformların ön plana çıkması, özellikle Instagram gibi sosyal medya platformlarının başat konuma gelmesi, haberciliği ve bir meslek olarak gazeteciliği dönüşüme uğratmıştır. Gazeteciliğin etik ve mesleki ilkeleri aşınmış, gazetecilik influencerlık (etkileyiciler/fenomenler) olarak görülmeye başlanmış ve gazetecilik dijital platform mantığında işleyen bir yapıya evrilme sürecine girmiştir. Gazetecileri koruyan kurumsal şemsiye yerini platform kapitalizminin ilkelerine bırakmıştır. Bu çalışmanın amacı dijital platformların baskın gücü altında kalan gazetecilik mesleğinin prekaryalaşmasını incelemektir.
Digital platforms are entities that operate through digital spaces and mainly involve social media companies that have positioned themselves in various markets. Digital platforms began their journey as social media sites that enabled users to create social network connections with the help of profiles. The programmability of social media sites evolved these sites into platforms, while programmability changed the structure of the web. Today’s digital platforms are more often referred to as markets because of the many actors they have participating in various processes. Digital platforms generate revenue through user interaction; in return, content producers also help them generate revenue.
Journalism has been deeply affected by the platformization of news. Digital spaces have changed traditional journalistic practices. Under the platform capitalism, digital spaces have curated individuals’ life styles and how they perceive, react, and see things. In return, journalism as an ethical practice has transformed itself as a result of the new modes of communication and commercialization. The rise of digital journalism has paved the way for new modes of sharing and producing news, which can easily be termed as producing content. News production has become dominated by the mechanisms that govern platform logic,a logic that lies in the mechanisms of datafication, commodification, commercialization, and consumption and that have affected the role of journalists in society.
Instagram as a digital platform has changed and influenced individuals’ life styles, with influencer being the term used to refer to those who promote different life styles or products on Instagram. Brands and companies that effectively use the platform logic of Instagram generate revenue with the cooperation of influencers as a part of brand communication. Today’s influencers have a celebrity status and enjoy the different role social media has given them. This paper discusses the rise of the influencer journalist in relation to journalists’ role in society and how they have been affected by platform logic and commercialization. In fact, journalists have found defining their roles that have become difficult with the rise of digital journalism.
The concept of platforms points to an infrastructure that supports the design and use of particular applications, such as operating systems, gaming devices, mobile devices, and digital formats.With the rise of digitalism, platforms have begun referring to central themes because platforms also provide opportunities for communication, interaction, and sales. A platform’s most important tenet is its programmability. The notion of programmability has enabled a change in the structure of the web. Today’s platforms are more often referred to as digital structures that exceed their technical connotations. Digital platforms are not simply technological tools that enable one to do things online such as chatting, sharing, commenting, searching, buying things, listening to music, or watching videos. However, these online activities actually shape the way people live and how societies are organized.
The rise of search engines also means that news organizations somehow began to lose control over the news. Most professional news organizations started to provide digital journalism for their readers on the basis of fast, accurate, and comprehensive news coverage. However, this process changed how news is produced, distributed, and monetized. The production of news is designed to obey the mechanisms and the organizing principles of the platform ecosystem.
The platform ecosystem has changed journalism practices overall with its principles. Digital platform dynamics have led journalists to struggle professionally with the change in the system. The rise of digital platforms, especially social media platforms such as Instagram, has transformed not just journalism but also journalism as a profession. The ethical and professional principles of journalism have been eroded, journalism began to be seen as influencing and starting to act with the logic of digital platforms. The corporate umbrella that protected journalists has been replaced by the principles of platform capitalism. The aim of this study is to examine the precarization of journalism as a profession under the dominant power of digital platforms.
This paper concentrates on changing journalism as a profession under the dominant platform capitalism. The precarization journalism has undergone at the hands of platform capitalism has led the rise of influencer journalists. Precariat refers to the workforce that works in non-permanent, irregular, insecure, and mostly part-time jobs without the benefit of protective measures. Precarization in journalism as a result of digitalism has led journalists to work under insecure conditions and in freelance positions. Therefore, most journalists have had to adapt themselves to new roles and working conditions. These new conditions also require them to be influencer journalists. The aim of this paper is to examine the precarization of journalism as a profession under the dominant power of digital platforms.
