Purpose

Approximately 75% of journalists in Western society maintain a Twitter account. This significant presence underscores Twitter's impact on the public agenda. The purpose of this paper is to gain an understanding of journalists' practices on Twitter, from the perspective of journalists in Israel, and explore whether journalists use Twitter's potential as a pluralistic platform of expression.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted in-depth interviews with leading journalists working on traditional media and those active on Twitter in Israel.

Findings

Although Twitter is an open, inclusive platform for opinion exchange, in which journalists have a sense of unfettered freedom of expression, findings indicate that in Israel, Twitter effectively functions as an echo chamber used by a clique of journalists and politicians in a manner than reifies the hegemonic system. The majority of the public do not use Twitter to draw attention to contentious issues, and journalists almost exclusively continue to set and control the agenda on this platform. As a result, journalists become even more disconnected from society. Therefore, Twitter has been found to be a complementary platform to traditional media that helps to preserve the existing social order.

Social implications

This paper offers not only a theoretical contribution but also social relevance, as the topics and issues discussed in the paper might concern citizens and policymakers. This paper contributes to the debate on freedom of the press, which is an important principle of pluralism and democracy. This study illustrates that the general public's opinions remain unheard-of on Twitter. Therefore, despite its potential to express a variety of opinions and voices, Twitter does not undermine the existing social order, but it is one of the cultural frameworks that help preserve the existing social order and reinforce it through uniform conformity thinking.

Originality/value

The novelty of this research lies in its identification and analysis of the characteristics of the Twitter scene, its meanings and its implications from the perspective of journalists. In addition, this research investigates the relationships forged in the Twitter space between journalists and politicians and among journalists themselves.

Peer review

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-07-2020-0324

中文翻译：

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推特作为一个集团：记者在以色列使用推特的模式

目的

西方社会约有 75% 的记者拥有 Twitter 帐户。这种重要的存在强调了 Twitter 对公共议程的影响。本文旨在从以色列记者的角度了解记者在 Twitter 上的做法，并探讨记者是否利用 Twitter 作为多元化表达平台的潜力。

设计/方法/方法

作者对在以色列从事传统媒体工作的主要记者和在 Twitter 上活跃的记者进行了深入采访。

发现

尽管 Twitter 是一个开放的、包容性的意见交流平台，在该平台上，记者有一种不受约束的言论自由感，但调查结果表明，在以色列，Twitter 有效地充当了记者和政治家集团使用的回音室，其方式并非具体化霸权体系。大多数公众不使用 Twitter 来关注有争议的问题，而记者几乎完全继续在这个平台上设置和控制议程。结果，记者变得更加与社会脱节。因此，推特被认为是传统媒体的补充平台，有助于维护现有的社会秩序。

社会影响

本文不仅提供了理论贡献，而且提供了社会相关性，因为本文中讨论的主题和问题可能涉及公民和政策制定者。本文有助于关于新闻自由的辩论，这是多元化和民主的重要原则。这项研究表明，公众的意见在 Twitter 上仍然闻所未闻。因此，尽管 Twitter 具有表达各种意见和声音的潜力，但它并没有破坏现有的社会秩序，而是有助于维护现有社会秩序并通过统一的整合思维加强它的文化框架之一。

原创性/价值

这项研究的新颖之处在于它从记者的角度识别和分析了 Twitter 场景的特征、意义和影响。此外，这项研究还调查了在 Twitter 空间中记者和政治家之间以及记者之间建立的关系。

同行评审

本文的同行评审历史可在以下网址获得：https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-07-2020-0324