Through the Lenses of the Sociology of News Production: An Assessment of Social Media Applications and Changing Newsroom Cultures in Lesotho

Abstract

Using Lesotho as our case study and a qualitative methodology consisting of semi-structured interviews with journalists from three of the country’s leading newspapers – The Post, News Day and Lesotho Times – the study examined how social media applications are being embraced and changing news production and newsroom cultures in the country. The findings of the study show the pervasiveness of social media applications and their integration into news ecologies in Lesotho. The paper contends that mutations of the sociology of news provide a useful lens for examining how newsrooms are integrating far-reaching new technologies into newsrooms in the global South.