Studying Absence: The Ephemerality of Digital News Contexts

Despite the common perception that everything on the internet will remain there forever, certain news elements consistently disappear. This leads to the loss of essential contextual aspects crucial for news interpretation. Professionals relying on historical digital records often find fragments of information stripped of the original context in which the news was first presented to its audience. This article examines the implications of the ephemeral nature of digital texts. It underscores three ephemeral features of digital news essential for presenting and making news accessible to readers: the homepage, push notifications, and social media posts. The article further explores the consequences of not preserving digital news contexts and discusses the implications for scholars in communication and journalism.