Journalism's interactions with Silicon Valley platforms

This review of articles published in four leading journals re-evaluated research involving journalism’s interactions with Silicon Valley social media, internet search, and mobile technology platforms from the perspectives of new institutional, field, and assemblage theories. Much of the research confirmed the view that journalists normalized or adapted their use of Silicon Valley platforms to existing journalistic values and practices and sought to protect journalists’ traditional gatekeeping authority, consistent with new institutionalism. However, some studies indicated that individual journalists or news organizations expanded journalistic boundaries by adopting market/innovation or social media logics, but did not abandon traditional journalistic values. Digital journalism research pioneers noted platforms’ potential to transform journalistic practices, but most of the articles did not suggest that journalists embraced a role in the formation of new information assemblages. Nevertheless, numerous articles indicated that platforms asserted algorithmic gatekeeping authority and transformed audiences’ interactions with news and other public information.