News at Work: Imitation in an Age of Information Abundance

272 Pages·2010·2.19 MB·English

by  Pablo J. Boczkowski

News at Work

News at Work
Imitation in an Age of
Information Abundance
Pablo J. boczkowski
The University of Chicago Press Chicago and London
Pablo J. boczkowski is a professor in the Department of
Communication Studies at Northwestern University. He is the author
of Digitizing the News: Innovation in Online Newspapers.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2010 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2010
Printed in the United States of America
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-06279-2 (cloth)
ISBN-10: 0-226-06279-1 (cloth)
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-06280-8 (paper)
ISBN-10: 0-226-06280-5 (paper)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Boczkowski, Pablo J.
News at work: imitation in an age of information abundance /
Pablo J. Boczkowski.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-06279-2 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-226-06279-1 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-06280-8 (pbk.: alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-226-06280-5 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Online journalism—
Argentina. 2. News audiences—Argentina. I. Title.
PN4784.O62B63 2010
079'.82—dc22 2009051785
a The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—
Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
Para el pibe de las frutillas con crema . . .

Contents
List of Figures ix
List of Tables xi
Preface xiii
Introduction: When More Becomes Less 1
1 Studying Imitation in the South 15
2 The Divergent Logics of Hard- and Soft-News
Production 34
3 Monitoring and Imitation in News Production 58
4 The Homogenization of News Products 83
5 The Consumption of Online News at Work 116
6 The Consumption of Increasingly Less Diverse
News Content 141
7 The Work of News in an Age of Information
Abundance 171
Appendix A: Research Design 187
Appendix B: Supplementary Studies 199
Notes 205
Bibliography 217
Index 245

Figures
I.1 Illustration of the news-at-work pattern 2
I.2 Front pages of Clarín and La Nación, July 27, 2006 5
2.1 Top portion of the homepage of Clarín.com, May 6,
2004 39
4.1 Front pages of Página/12, Clarín, and La Nación,
February 22, 2007 85
4.2 Front pages of Clarín and La Nación, August 8, 2000 87
4.3 Front pages of Clarín and La Nación, November 23,
2005 87
4.4 Top portion of homepages of Clarín.com, Lanacion.com,
and Infobae.com, November 17, 2005 88
5.1 Proportions of print stories among the most-clicked and
control groups on Lanacion.com 123