WHO AND WHAT DO JOURNALISM? An actor-network perspective

Technology is typically seen as an instrument that aids journalistic processes. Digital artifacts, however, are seldom considered as active participants. Tautologically, journalism is defined as a practice of journalists. But journalism would not be the same without the role played by technological artifacts. To assess such a problem, this article discusses the ontological contributions from actor-network theory and how they may help to disclose the complex associations between a multiplicity of actors involved in journalism. Besides asking "who" does journalism, we argue that it is also necessary to assess "what" does journalism. We then show how technological actants transform journalistic practices in two recent processes: newsroom convergence and the creation of news by algorithms. Finally, we argue that this new ontology demands epistemological and methodological transformations in journalism studies.