ArticleAuthors: Na Yeon Lee; Yonghwan Kim (2014)
This study examined whether Twitter can serve as a public sphere where opinion leaders – in this case, journalists – speak up about politically controversial issues.
Based on the theoretical framework of the spiral of silence (SOS), 118 Korean journalists from nine national newspapers and two network broadcasting companies were surveyed about their behavior on Twitter with regard to two controversial issues in South Korea. Results showed that journalists who perceived a greater discrepancy between their opinions and the opinions of Twitter users about controversial issues in South Korea were less willing to voice their opinions on Twitter; moreover, the journalists’ ideology was foun... 
