Réseaux (i.e.
“Networks”) is the French-speaking leading social sciences review about
communication, media and technology. It is published since 1984, and its founder and
director is Patrice Flichy.
The On-Line Press – How Has Research
Progressed?
E. Dagiral and S. Parasie
The appearance of the frst newspaper websites
ffteen years ago gradually called into question
the social sciences’ research on journalism.
This article reviews the international literature
on that research and highlights both the his-
torical continuities and the discontinuities of
journalists’ activities. Six main themes are
apparent throughout: technical innovation in
the press; the production of on-line news;
Internauts’ contribution to news production;
changes in professional identities; the
economic models of the on-line press; and the
uses of information on the internet.
Ethnography Of An Argentinian On-Line
News Site. The Contrasting Logics Of The
Production Of Hard And Soft News
P.J. Boczkowski
This article analyses the production logics of
hard news and soft news, through an
ethnographic study of the editorial offce of one
of the mainstream news websites in South
America and the Spanish-speaking world: the
Argentinian site Clarín.com. To meet the
assumed expectations of individuals who read
the news at work, this website divided its
editorial offce into two sections: one covering
immediate news and the other producing
magazine-type news. The comparative analysis
of these two sections reveals the evolution of
journalistic work on the internet, through
routines, atmospheres, timeframes, and
professional roles characterized by profound
differences.
The Journalists Of Le Parisien.Fr And The
Technical Devices Of News Production
S. Cabrolié
The on-line news press does not function in an
intangible world. The production of content
and its availability to internet users are based
on specific technical devices which are
mobilized by journalists and serve both to
support their actions and as constraining
frameworks. The case of the website Le
Parisien.fr shows that journalists use these
technical systems to coordinate their actions
and facilitate the articulation between different
social worlds (information sources, marketing,
Internauts, paper and web editorial staff). But
the uses of techniques are only partially
established and remain largely subject to the
organizational and practical conditions of
journalistic work.
Headline Video! Innovation In The Formats
Of The On-Line Press
É. Dagiral and S. Parasie
In the past few years, audiovisual content has
become a regular feature of the websites of the
on-line press, in the form of videos, sound
slide shows and web reports. This article takes
this phenomenon as the basis for an analysis of
the innovation dynamics in journalistic formats
on the internet. Are the sociotechnical
particularities of web publication leading to
profound changes in the formats that were, to
some extent, permanent in the printed press?
Drawing on a corpus on four sites
(LeMonde.fr, Libération.fr, 20minutes.fr, and
Rue89.com) and interviews with journalists
and technical staff, the authors show how
professionals alter traditional press formats and
explore the modalities of their socio-technical
embeddedness.
Advertising Departments Of The On-Line
Press
A. Ouakrat, J.-S. Beuscart and K. Mellet
This article examines on-line press advertising
departments. The authors begin by describing
these departments’ organizational
embeddedness in the frm. They then study
their positioning in the on-line display
advertising market and highlight the overall
power imbalance between supply (advertising
departments) and demand (media agencies).
Finally, they show that two competing
conventions exist in the qualifcation of
advertising products: a «traditional»
convention that promotes press websites’
products; and a «performance» convention that
is less suitable to them. The proliferation of
performance convention equipment has meant
that some press advertising department
products are subject to a process of
disqualifcation-requalifcation that results in a
drop in prices.
Infomediaries At The Heart Of The On-
Line News Sector. The Cases Of Google,
Wikio And Paperblog
F. Rebillard and N. Smyrnaios
Apart from the existing media (press, radio,
television), the on-line news sector involves
several categories of actors. One of them, the
infomediaries, is in a central position, half-way
between editing and publishing. The socio-
economic analysis of this category in three
case studies (Google news, Wikio, and
Paperblog) reveals its pivotal function in the
orientation of audience fows and advertising
income. In a situation of “coopetition” with
professional publishers, the infomediaries do
not participate directly in the fnancing of
journalistic creation. More generally, their
relations with the producers of content
infuence the type of news – professional or
amateur, dominant or alternative – made
available to internet users.
Journalists And Reader-Contributors On
Mediapart. Negotiated Roles
R. Canu and C. Datchary
The fact of “bypassing” professional
journalism on internet usually stems from the
advent of a «participative» journalism and the
proliferation of “citizen” or “ordinary”
productions. Based on an analysis of the
journalistic web-site Médiapart, the authors of
this article show that “bypassing” journalism is
also a matter of coming to terms with the
proliferation of interactions between journalists
and readers that has become possible with the
web 2.0, in order to reshape and assert the
boundaries of this profession. Médiapart, with
its political project, its economic model and the
structure of its technical platform, and with the
multiplication of the debates that it allows for
and facilitates, is an ideal case for examining
how the distance between professionals and
amateurs is challenged and restored.
The Social Uses Of News. Internauts’ Media
Experience
F. Granjon and A. Foulgoc
In the past few years, the news offer has
expanded as a result of the considerable
growth of the free daily press and especially of
TV- and internet-related content. The media
ecosystem has become more complex, both
upstream (production, dissemination) and
downstream (reception), and structurally
fragmented. To the profusion of programmes
and content, new uses have been added that
tend to shift information routines and
experiences, and to redirect individuals’ use
trajectories. The authors of this article posit
that the wide range of media sources, along
with the evolution of ways of obtaining
information, reconfgure citizens’ relationship
with news content and with its “social uses”.
From The Printed Press To The Digital
Press. The French Debate
J.-M. Charon
The printed press seems to be seriously
undermined. In view of the changes facing it
and all the media, the author of this article puts
forward two main hypotheses concerning its
evolution. In both, the publishing of on-line
news plays an essential albeit different role.
Based on the analysis of a representative
sample of French news websites, the author
raises a number of questions pertaining to: how
the content is shaped; how editorial offces are
organized; and the different dimensions of the
economic model of one of the main
components of political and general news
available on the various digital media.