Appropriating breaking news?The evolving Twitter coverage of the Lance Armstrong doping scandal

Tim HighfieldARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and InnovationQueensland University of Technology | Curtin UniversityBrisbane, Australia | Perth, Australiat.highfield @ qut.edu.au@timhighfieldhttp://mappingonlinepublics.net/ | http://socialmedia.qut.edu.au

OVERVIEW

• The Twitter coverage of, and response to, key events in the Lance Armstrong doping scandal, August – January 2013

• Twitter as a medium for breaking, sharing, reframing news:– What types of news events provoke spikes in attention?– Do different types of news events foster different styles of

coverage?– Are different types of users more or less prominent within

the individual spikes?

METHODS

• Previous data:– @lancearmstrong tracked as keyword during 2012 Tour de

France for wider project into coverage of the race on Twitter

• ‘armstrong’ tracked as keyword using yourTwapperKeeper between August and March 2013 (some gaps)– Filtered and analysed using Gawk scripts

PROLOGUE

• The 2012 Tour de France (June-July 2012)– Conflicting views about Armstrong’s innocence

• Reports as race begins that riders had testified against Armstrong

• Fans use Twitter to support (variously) these riders, Armstrong; criticise others for (seemingly) supporting particular views

• Extension of fan/athlete parasocial interaction on Twitter• As Tour continues, Armstrong fans protest USADA witch

hunt, maintaining innocence until proven guilty

TIMEFRAME: “ARMSTRONG” KEYWORD

24/8/2012 8/9/2012 23/9/2012 8/10/201223/10/20127/11/201222/11/20127/12/201222/12/2012 6/1/2013 21/1/2013 5/2/2013 20/2/20130

200000

400000

600000

800000

1000000

1200000

1400000

October 2012:

Armstrong steps down

from Livestrong; UCI accepts

USADA findings

January 2013: in interview with Oprah Winfrey,

Armstrong confesses to

doping during his TdF victories

August 2012: USADA strips Armstrong of

titles and results; Neil

Armstrong dies.

SPIKE #1: USADA AFTERMATH, THE DEATH OF NEIL ARMSTRONG

• Original tweets and RTs primarily here – limited @replying– Major mix of both dominant types after news about Neil

Armstrong breaks – RTing reaction, posting original RIP/vale tweets

2012-Aug-24 2012-Aug-25 2012-Aug-26 2012-Aug-270

200000

400000

600000

800000

1000000

1200000

1400000

Sum of retweetsSum of genuine @repliesSum of original tweets

LANCE AND NEIL

• Coverage of Neil far exceeds Lance, major breaking news topic – but, top RTs about Neil come from mix of news accounts, politicians, celebrities, sportspeople, scientists…

2012-Aug-2

4 10

2012-Aug-2

4 13

2012-Aug-2

4 16

2012-Aug-2

4 19

2012-Aug-2

4 22

2012-Aug-2

5 01

2012-Aug-2

5 04

2012-Aug-2

5 07

2012-Aug-2

5 10

2012-Aug-2

5 13

2012-Aug-2

5 16

2012-Aug-2

5 19

2012-Aug-2

5 22

2012-Aug-2

6 01

2012-Aug-2

6 04

2012-Aug-2

6 07

2012-Aug-2

6 10

2012-Aug-2

6 13

2012-Aug-2

6 16

2012-Aug-2

6 19

2012-Aug-2

6 22

2012-Aug-2

7 01

2012-Aug-2

7 04

2012-Aug-2

7 07

2012-Aug-2

7 100

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

Sum of Lance tweetsSum of Neil tweets

SPIKE #2: UCI ANNOUNCEMENT

• Resigns from Livestrong and loses Nike contract (17/10), UCI accepts USADA findings (22/10).

16/1

0/20

12

17/1

0/20

12

18/1

0/20

12

19/1

0/20

12

20/1

0/20

12

21/1

0/20

12

22/1

0/20

12

23/1

0/20

12

24/1

0/20

12

25/1

0/20

12

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

160000

180000

SPIKE #2: UCI ANNOUNCEMENT

• The UCI announcement sees a rush in repeat lines and jokes from August:– Both retweeting the August tweets (“RT @BBCSporf:

Retweet this tweet, if you have won the Tour De France as many times as Lance Armstrong.”) and coming up with new versions of the same punchlines

• e.g. stripped of Dodgeball cameo• Stripped of titles, keeps victory over cancer

– (or, cancer wants a rematch)• Takes ball(s) to do things

SPIKE #3: OPRAH INTERVIEWS

2013-Jan-17 2013-Jan-18 2013-Jan-19 2013-Jan-200

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

Sum of retweetsSum of genuine @repliesSum of original tweets

SPIKE #3: OPRAH INTERVIEWS

• RTs and original tweets again prominent (similar levels of tweets captured indicative of rate limiting?)– Pre-announced event, live broadcast invites more tweets

• Tweeting along with the television, sharing thoughts as they happen

• No single hashtag, though:– Tweets mention armstrong, lance– OWNTV, Oprah– Start new, snarky, rival hashtags

DISCUSSION

• @mentions of @lancearmstrong• Not generally used in Oprah interview (space at a premium

for live tweets?)• Some support messages, particularly at start of the scandal

– Responses to Armstrong’s own tweets, although his comments on scandal minimal/pointedly abstract

DISCUSSION

http://www.mobli.com/media/show/id/22700756?referer=tw

DISCUSSION

• @mentions of @lancearmstrong• But some criticism – from other riders, for instance (Mark

Cavendish mentions @lancearmstrong in linking to his piece in response to the interview)

• Limited use of @mentions of the subject of news?– By mainstream media, for instance– Although not universal, and other outlets do use

@mentions• Also fits in with wider pattern of original tweets and RTs, not

@replies, being dominant types?

DISCUSSION

• Changing frames– The hunting by the snark

• Especially by the time of live tweeting the interviews, the spread of support/critique is less even– Widespread mockery (and RTing of the mockery)

• Mixing news stories– Important for topical humour?

• Topicality of tweets – crossover – appropriation of breaking/unfolding news?

DISCUSSION

• Framing – humour vs. news, support vs. outrage– Promotion of humorous/general interest aspects in

addition to/as opposed to the details of the doping?• e.g. the wide sharing of the ‘books put in fiction section’ story

• The appropriation of hashtags (portmanteaux) and punchlines

Appropriating punchlinesRT networks of similarly-phrased

tweets during Oprah interview

DISCUSSION

• Focal accounts for breaking news (based on RTs):– News accounts but also celebrities

• New gatekeepers? News filters through personal interests (and the interests of these accounts)

– News accounts retweeted for the breaking story, celebrities for the personal responses?

• Extent of coverage– Major (live) news accompanied by unfocused commentary, with

several competing hashtags (if even used)– Space concerns for live tweets in particular – time to edit vs.

time to publish (hashtags and @mentions not essential as long as context known?)

CONCLUSION

• Twitter and breaking news• Humour and subjectivity• Topicality and immediacy• Live tweeting, knowns and unknowns• Celebrities and news sources• Other types of appropriation

– Hashtags• Custom hashtags• Spam – using trends to hook in

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