TRACING DIGITAL NEWS NETWORKS Towards an integrated framework of the dynamics of news production, circulation and use

Research on the evolution of journalism is still lacking appropriate theoretical tools to (re) conceptualise the blurring boundaries between professional news production in the media industry, the public actively engaged in using, circulating and producing information, and the diversity of social and material actors involved in these processes. This article suggests how actor-network theory (ANT) can contribute to overcome the limitations of existing paradigms in journalism studies through three complementary moves: dissociating news practices from specific theoretical categories, overcoming the disciplinary divide between the analysis of news production and news consumption, and problematising normative principles of journalism. The article concludes with a discussion of the practical challenges and methodological strategies researchers may need to address when using ANT to trace news networks: the practices performed by a remarkable diversity of actors for the production, circulation and use of news.