“Things are moving much quicker” Kandidatuppsats Journalistprogrammet HT 2017 Institutionen för journalistisk, medier och kommunikation Göteborgs Universitet Författare: Martin Wood Robin Ridell Handledare: Gabriella Sandstig – en kvalitativ studie om attityder till felaktigheter och rättningar i nätbaserade nyhetsmedier

Abstract

The online news cycle is seemingly only growing more rapid. This in turn is paving the way for harsher competition in reaching the readers. This fast-paced environment naturally increases the risk for more errors to occur, but also presents the opportunity for instant corrections. The available research within the area of online news media errors and corrections is limited, even more so on the topic of source opinion in contrast to that of the journalists. In this study, we investigate Swedish journalists’ and sources’ views on the matter using semi-structured interviews. The results emphasise the contrasts between those who report and those who feed the information. One finding we found particularly interesting was that the journalists we interviewed tended to view texts as ongoing projects that develop as events unfold. As we will show this could potentially have profound implications for verification and what constitutes an error. Given the complexity and the diversity of errors, our research has clarified ways in which journalists can perceive their own mistakes. The more severe errors can either have consequences for innocent people or affect society as a whole. Among the sources there is widespread agreement that news media have to implement correction policies online as a way of sustaining its credibility, so at the very least, it is clear and transparent for readers to notice when errors occur.