Social web and photojournalism: User-generated content of the Russo-Ukrainian war

 Carolina Fernández-Castrillo, Madrid (Spain)

 Celia Ramos, Madrid (Spain)

https://doi.org/10.3916/C77-2023-07

Keywords

User-generated content, digital illiteracy, war photojournalism, collaborative journalism, post-truth, and social networks

Abstract

The research is focused on the emerging practices of digital photojournalism in war contexts, in relation to the use of user-generated content from social networks. The focal point is the coverage of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict by the two main online newspapers of the belligerent countries: Ukrayinska Pravda and Rossiyskaya Gazeta. From the analysis of an initial sample of 7,194 articles (6,646 Ukrainian and 548 Russian), published during the first semester of the war, the preferred type of graphic content and the degree of presence of images from the different social platforms will be determined. Likewise, the article offers a theoretical innovation on the current state of the routine of war digital photojournalism, introducing the definition of the concept of “false collective source” due to the appropriation of mechanisms of collective intelligence for potential propaganda purposes. The informative use of the social web has generated a transition from “gatekeeping” to “gatewatching” that makes it necessary to review the state of the art to avoid a possible instrumentalization of the role of users. Finally, a decalogue is proposed to combat digital illiteracy and identify new appropriation practices, by distinguishing the use of the social web as an information source versus its use as a mere distribution channel.

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Fundref

The research has been carried out within the framework of the Iberifier project. Iberian Media Research & Fact Checking, funded by the European Commission under the CEF-TC-2020-2 (European Digital Media Observatory) agreement with reference 2020-EUIA-0252. The results of the work are also integrated into the line of research ”Archaeology of digital media: intermediality, transmedia storytelling and UGC” promoted by Carolina Fernández-Castrillo from the research group TECMERIN Television-cinema: memory, representation, and industry, of the Department of Communication and Media Studies from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. We are grateful for the support of Javier Pérez Vera in the methodological design of the statistical analysis using the ”R” programming language.

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Technical information

Received: 28-02-2023

Revised: 11-04-2023

Accepted: 02-05-2023

OnlineFirst: 30-06-2023

Publication date: 01-10-2023

Article revision time: 41 days | Average time revision issue 77: 31 days

Article acceptance time: 62 days | Average time of acceptance issue 77: 75 days

Preprint editing time: 169 days | Average editing time preprint issue 77: 182 days

Article editing time: 214 days | Average editing time issue 77: 227 days

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