Abstract
This study investigates the implications of social media algorithms on news personalisation, placement, distribution, and monetisation in South African newsrooms. Through semi-structured interviews with 13 journalists and editors from three prominent South African publications; News24, Daily Maverick, and City Press, the research explores how algorithmic systems reshape editorial decision-making, content distribution strategies, and professional practices. Employing the Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and gatekeeping theories as analytical frameworks, the study reveals that social media algorithms function as powerful non-human actors that fundamentally transform traditional journalistic gatekeeping processes. The findings demonstrate that while South African journalists possess varying levels of algorithmic literacy, they consistently recognise algorithms as influential gatekeepers that prioritise engagement metrics over traditional news values. Algorithms have established platform companies as obligatory passage points in news distribution networks, creating structural dependencies that grant platforms significant power over journalistic practice. This dependency manifests differently across newsrooms based on resources, producing a two-tiered journalism system where smaller publications face disproportionate algorithmic pressures whilst well-resourced organisations maintain greater editorial autonomy.
The research identifies profound tensions between algorithmic imperatives and journalistic principles, particularly concerning the marginalisation of minority voices, amplification of existing biases, and privileging of entertainment over public interest content. Journalists navigate these ethical dilemmas through hybrid gatekeeping models that attempt to balance algorithmic efficiency with editorial integrity, multi-stage verification processes that resist pressures for speed, and various forms of resistance grounded in professional values. However, economic pressures, platform dependencies, and resource constraints increasingly compel newsrooms to adapt content formats, story selection, and distribution strategies to suit algorithmic preferences. The study contributes to scholarship on algorithmic journalism by providing contextualised understanding of how these systems operate within the specific political, economic, and social landscape of South Africa, where historical inequalities and contemporary challenges shape algorithmic impacts differently than ...