Libyan Journalism and Its Reliance on News Content from Social Media Platforms: An Analytical Study

Abstract

This study investigates the extent to which the Libyan press relies on social media platforms as sources for news content, recognizing their role as channels for information dissemination alongside other communicative functions. Considering the growing dependence of Libyan newspapers on news material published across social media, the study sought to assess the level of reliance on these platforms, to analyze the types of news content extracted from them (such as reports and news stories), and to examine the verification mechanisms adopted by Libyan newspapers when incorporating such content. Employing the survey method, the findings revealed that political news topics derived from social media ranked highest in Al-Sabah newspaper, followed by security-related issues, economic topics, and, lastly, social issues. Within these categories, domestic political news was accorded the greatest importance, followed by domestic security news, external political news, external economic news, external security news, domestic social issues, domestic economic news, and finally external social issues.The study further demonstrated that political news reports represented the most prominent category of reports sourced from social media, followed by security reports, economic reports, and, at the lowest level, social reports. Among these, domestic political reports were the most significant, followed by both domestic and external security reports with equal frequency, then external economic reports, followed by domestic economic reports. Finally, domestic and external social reports were found to be of the least importance, occurring with equal frequency.