The journalism of Gannett Blog: Revealing communities of practice and social construction through collective dynamics

Gannett Company was one of the largest media operations in the United States but struggled in recent years with loss of revenue and circulation. Gannett Blog reported news related to the company from 2007 to 2014. The blog was independent and covered corporate news, job loss and issues of ethics. This used Gannett Blog to study how individuals reacted to their changing workplace. As information was gathered and presented from multiple users, a crowdsourcing dynamic gave context to Gannett’s landscape. Theories of communities of practice and social construction underpin this study. This study suggests that the rhetoric on Gannett Blog evolved into more than a distribution channel for information. It became a social space where original information evolved and helped negotiate social meaning for the users. Overall, this study found that communities of professionals could be influential in growing a journalistic product as per the tenets of the communities of influence model. This study also identified themes consistent with news workers using Gannett Blog for community building, expanding knowledge and maintaining professionalism during industry change.