Narrative authority in online video: Legacy media and digital native production styles

Abstract

This project examines the way journalists establish narrative authority in online video news through their strategic uses of epistemological production elements. Journalists have historically constructed video news stories with a combination of linguistic and photographic epistemic components to assert their role as authoritative arbiters of factual reality. Online news makes extensive use of video, but production formats and their associated epistemic strategies vary, largely in accordance with the traditions and values of different organizations. This study represents one part of a larger content analysis of video news narrative. It examines the epistemological choices in online video news narratives as produced by legacy print organizations (LP), TV stations (TV), or digital natives (DN). The results show that legacy traditions still divide print and TV organizations, while authority in DN video is constructed in a more diffuse and participatory style reflective of online culture.