Tipping the Balance of Power: Social Media and the Transformation of Political Journalism

The advent of social media in politics has changed the relationship between political journalists and politicians. Especially Twitter has developed into a regular news beat. Journalists use it to build relationships with politicians and quote their tweets in coverage. For many politicians, tweeting has become a common practice to communicate their viewpoints and to influence public debate by bypassing the news media. Building on previous research on both journalism content and practice, this chapter analyses how social media are impacting political journalism and the power relations between reporters and politicians.