Mobile Journalism as Lifestyle Journalism?

Mobile journalism is one of the fastest areas of growth in the modern journalism industry. Yet mobile journalists find themselves in a place of tension, between print, broadcast, and digital journalism and between traditional journalism and lifestyle journalism. Using the lens of field theory, the present study conducted an online survey of mobile journalists (N = 39) from six countries representing four continents on how they conceive of their journalistic role, and how their work is perceived within the newsroom. Participants were journalists in television, print, magazine, and digital local and national newsrooms. The present study sought to understand how mobile journalists see mobile production as a part of their journalistic role, and what field theory dimensions influence mobile production in their newsrooms. While prior research has established a growing prevalence of lifestyle journalism, the present study finds that the growth of mobile journalism represents the development of lifestyle journalism norms, such as content driven by the audience, within even traditional journalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]