Social media as a source of information for foreign correspondents. Approach to the state of the art

Abstract

This is a state-of-the-art paper on academic research trends regarding the use of social media (Twitter, Facebook or YouTube) as sources of information for foreign correspondents. Methodologically, the studies reviewed are case studies focused on the transmitter, mainly involving press and television journalists. The authors chose a predominantly qualitative methodology with in-depth interview techniques, as journalists themselves are the object of study. As regards research in the field of social media, the predominant methodology appears to be quantitative content analysis. The results of most studies show a professional preference for traditional or official information sources, as opposed to alternative sources such as social media.

KEYWORDS: social media, information sources, foreign correspondent, press, television, verification.