Paper presented at IR14, Denver, CO. 25 October 2013.

1. Appropriating breaking
news?
The evolving Twitter coverage of the
Lance Armstrong doping scandal
Tim Highfield
ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation
Queensland University of Technology | Curtin University
Brisbane, Australia | Perth, Australia
t.highfield @ qut.edu.au
@timhighfield
http://mappingonlinepublics.net/ | http://socialmedia.qut.edu.au

2. 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?

3. 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

4. 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

5. 1200000
1000000
800000
600000
24/8/2012
28/8/2012
1/9/2012
5/9/2012
9/9/2012
13/9/2012
17/9/2012
21/9/2012
25/9/2012
29/9/2012
3/10/2012
7/10/2012
11/10/2012
15/10/2012
19/10/2012
23/10/2012
27/10/2012
31/10/2012
4/11/2012
8/11/2012
12/11/2012
16/11/2012
20/11/2012
24/11/2012
28/11/2012
2/12/2012
6/12/2012
10/12/2012
14/12/2012
18/12/2012
22/12/2012
26/12/2012
30/12/2012
3/1/2013
7/1/2013
11/1/2013
15/1/2013
19/1/2013
23/1/2013
27/1/2013
31/1/2013
4/2/2013
8/2/2013
12/2/2013
16/2/2013
20/2/2013
24/2/2013
28/2/2013
4/3/2013
TIMEFRAME: “ARMSTRONG” KEYWORD
1400000
August 2012:
USADA strips
Armstrong of
titles and
results; Neil
Armstrong dies.
October
2012:
Armstrong
steps down
from
Livestrong;
UCI accepts
USADA
findings
January 2013: in
interview with
Oprah
Winfrey, Armstr
ong confesses to
doping during
his TdF victories
400000
200000
0

6. 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
1400000
1200000
1000000
800000
Sum of retweets
600000
Sum of genuine @replies
400000
Sum of original tweets
200000
0
2012-Aug-24
2012-Aug-25
2012-Aug-26
2012-Aug-27

7. 2012-Aug-27 10
2012-Aug-27 07
2012-Aug-27 04
2012-Aug-27 01
2012-Aug-26 22
2012-Aug-26 19
2012-Aug-26 16
2012-Aug-26 13
2012-Aug-26 10
2012-Aug-26 07
2012-Aug-26 04
2012-Aug-26 01
2012-Aug-25 22
2012-Aug-25 19
2012-Aug-25 16
2012-Aug-25 13
2012-Aug-25 10
2012-Aug-25 07
2012-Aug-25 04
2012-Aug-25 01
2012-Aug-24 22
2012-Aug-24 19
2012-Aug-24 16
2012-Aug-24 13
2012-Aug-24 10
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
140000
…
120000
100000
80000
60000
40000
Sum of Lance tweets
20000
Sum of Neil tweets
0

8. SPIKE #2: UCI ANNOUNCEMENT
• Resigns from Livestrong and loses Nike contract
(17/10), UCI accepts USADA findings (22/10).
180000
160000
140000
120000
100000
80000
60000
40000
20000
25/10/2012
24/10/2012
23/10/2012
22/10/2012
21/10/2012
20/10/2012
19/10/2012
18/10/2012
17/10/2012
16/10/2012
0

9. 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

10. SPIKE #3: OPRAH INTERVIEWS
250000
200000
150000
Sum of retweets
Sum of genuine @replies
100000
Sum of original tweets
50000
0
2013-Jan-17
2013-Jan-18
2013-Jan-19
2013-Jan-20

11. 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

12. 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

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

14. 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?

15. 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?

16. 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

17. Appropriating punchlines
RT networks of similarly-phrased
tweets during Oprah interview

18. 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?)

19. 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

20. http://mappingonlinepublics.net/
http://socialmedia.qut.edu.au/
@snurb_dot_info
@jeanburgess
@_StephenH
@DrTNitins
@timhighfield
@cdtavijit
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@dpwoodford
@tsadkowsky
@socialmediaQUT