Journalism, Activism, and Social Media : Exploring the Shifts in Journalistic Roles, Performance, and Interconnectedness

The emergence of the Hybrid Media System (Chadwick, 2017) has changed the actor constellations between political jour‐nalism, active members of the audience, and sources. How journalism responds to activism, pressure from politics, andemerging forms of connective action around news events is an important theme in journalism research. This thematic issuebrings together seven articles that look at these developments from different angles in a rapidly changing communicationecosystem. The focus is on journalistic authority and legitimacy, journalism and interpretive communities, and changesconcerning journalistic roles and practices