Ensuring News Quality in Platformized News Ecosystems: Shortcomings and Recommendations for an Epistemic Governance
Pascal Schneiders and
Birgit Stark
Additional contact information
Pascal Schneiders: Department of Communication, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany
Birgit Stark: Department of Communication, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany
Media and Communication, 2025, vol. 13
Abstract:
Social media platforms are fundamentally disrupting public communication in two ways. First, non-journalistic actors, such as social media influencers, now have easier access to audiences, increasing the range of epistemic authorities. Second, established news outlets are increasingly reliant on platforms, pressuring them to adapt to the demands of social media. This platformization threatens the quality of public communication and citizens’ realization of their epistemic rights. Drawing on these concerns, this article offers a holistic approach to systematically analyze and practically govern epistemic threats to news quality in the platform-driven hybrid news ecosystem by developing a comprehensive three-stage framework that distinguishes between the production, distribution, and reception of news quality. News quality needs not only to be produced (input) but also to be made visible on platforms (throughput) and processed by audiences (output) in order to contribute to an informed public discourse. Focusing on the EU, the article then discusses current regulatory shortcomings and the need for additional measures to safeguard news quality along its three dimensions.
Keywords: epistemic authority; epistemic rights; governance; media policy; media regulation; news quality; platformization; social media platforms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/10042 (text/html)
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:meanco:v13:y:2025:a:10042
DOI: 10.17645/mac.10042
Access Statistics for this article
Media and Communication is currently edited by Raquel Silva
More articles in Media and Communication from Cogitatio Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by António Vieira () and IT Department ().