ABSTRACT
News genres are “in a constant process of negotiation and change”, and the emergence of the smartphone as a tool for creating and consuming it has had an effect on what is reported and the way it is reported – the shape of news. The narrative approach is less formal and more accessible and lends itself to a less ‘newsy’ and more sociable style of writing. This brings its own potential problems and may have a counter-effect on the credibility of news reporting if writers mix opinion and fact, for example, as is the norm in storytelling. Editors’ attitude towards multimedia is best characterised as experimental as they explore business models, story structures, multi-skilling journalists or creating cross-functional teams to create narrative packages interweaving text, image, interactivity, video and sound. As more people access news on smartphones, and more citizens share photographs and videos from newsworthy events, news narratives may become increasingly visual.
