What Counts as News? Audience Boundary Work on Digital Platforms

The shifting meaning of "news"

This talk examines how audiences define “news” in today’s hybrid media environment, where boundaries between journalism and other media genres are increasingly blurred. Drawing on 162 interviews and 8 online focus groups conducted in Brazil, India, the U.K., and the U.S. (2021–2022), our study shows that audiences classify news based on content, format, and perceived relevance – but these criteria shift in digital contexts, where broader and more contested definitions emerge. The findings point to a growing separation between “news” and “journalism,” offering an audience-centered perspective on what counts as news in contemporary media ecologies.

Bio: Tali Aharoni

Tali Aharoni is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and she is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Reuters Institute for the study of Journalism at the University of Oxford. Her research interests include news audiences, trust, news avoidance, social media, journalistic production, and the various intersections of media and psychology.