Katarina Stanoevska

When bloggers are analogous to reporters, some of their working principles can challenge traditional professional standards such as conversation with the audience, transparency in the reporting process or even participation in news production. In other word, the blogosphere has strengthened the belief that the Internet is transforming journalistic practices. In order to contribute to the debate on the influences of weblogs and social media on journalism, this paper focuses on a preliminary understanding of key relationship between Swiss French media covering international news events and the blogosphere. Blogs and social media seem to play a greater role in international news events than in other form of reportage: (1) they are complementary, (2) they add value, (3) they can be a source of information, (4) they report on events that are not covered by the mainstream media and (5) they revive information of past/forgotten conflicts. However, the quality of sources has a determinant role in the use of the blogosphere among journalists. The study also offers suggestions on how journalistic values and practices influence Swiss French media's choices of coverage of international news events. Main factors quoted by respondents were lack of time and space and the concept of mimicry and proxemics. Conclusions support the idea that new generations of journalists are willing to establish opportunities for blogs to be integrated into mainstream media routines. --> http://www.atiner.gr/papers/MED2013-0401.pdf