In The SAGE Handbook of Digital Journalism (Witschge et al., 2016), the discussion of ethnographic approaches to digital news production emphasizes immersion in the dynamic, hybrid practices of contemporary journalism. Juliette De Maeyer’s contribution in Chapter 31, “Adopting a ‘Material Sensibility’ in Journalism Studies” (De Maeyer, 2016), extends this line of inquiry by proposing a fundamental epistemological shift. Drawing on science and technology studies (STS), actor-network theory (ANT), and material culture perspectives, De Maeyer advocates treating materiality not as a passive context but as an active constituent of journalistic processes. Journalism, in this view, is irreducibly material. News emerges through concrete engagements with technologies, infrastructures, and objects: keyboards, screens, servers, smartphones, content management systems, data centers, and archival substrates. A material sensibility therefore requires scholars to move beyond analyses of discourse, professional norms, or textual content alone. Instead, attention must focus on how physical affordances, resistances, and entanglements shape routines, power relations, and the construction of news itself (De Maeyer, 2016). Central to De Maeyer’s argument is the distinction between undifferentiated attention to all matter and a more selective focus on “matters of concern.” Not every object merits equal scrutiny; priority should be given to those that generate controversy, assemble heterogeneous alliances, or disrupt established practices. Relevant examples include the transition from print to digital workflows, which involves not only accelerated distribution but also the structuring effects of interface design (e.g., SEO-optimized headline fields and hierarchical publishing permissions); the fragility of hyperlinks, dependent on server stability, bandwidth, and the pervasive threat of link rot; and the everyday role of mobile devices, which enable perpetual connectivity while introducing constraints such as battery limitations and notification overload. This perspective complements ethnographic methods by insisting on the inclusion of non-human actors within the analytical frame. Algorithms, analytics interfaces, and network infrastructures function as active agents alongside human practitioners. De Maeyer cautions against both technological determinism and purely social explanations, proposing instead an analysis of socio-material assemblages in which agency is distributed across human and non-human elements (De Maeyer, 2016). The adoption of a material sensibility carries significant methodological implications. It encourages scholars to trace mundane artifacts that enable and constrain journalistic work, thereby revealing frictions often overlooked in more discursive accounts. In an era characterized by rapid technological “innovation,” this approach serves as a critical counterbalance. It highlights how new tools introduce dependencies, environmental costs (e.g., energy demands of cloud infrastructure), and inequalities related to access and affordability. Furthermore, a material lens enriches understandings of global journalism by illuminating how infrastructures reinforce or challenge power asymmetries in news flows. By foregrounding the physicality of production, the perspective underscores that journalism remains embedded in tangible ecologies, even as digital processes appear dematerialized. In conclusion, De Maeyer’s chapter advances journalism studies toward a resolutely socio-material orientation. It reframes the field as an arena where stories are not merely narrated but materially assembled and sustained. This orientation invites sustained empirical engagement with objects and their alliances, offering a pathway to more nuanced accounts of digital-era journalism.
References
- De Maeyer, J. (2016). Adopting a ‘material sensibility’ in journalism studies. In T. Witschge, C. W. Anderson, D. Domingo, & A. Hermida (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of digital journalism (pp. 460–476). SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473957909.n31
- Witschge, T., Anderson, C. W., Domingo, D., & Hermida, A. (Eds.). (2016). The SAGE handbook of digital journalism. SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473957909
Last modified on 2024-09-22