DRAFT: Do not cite without permission.

Abstract: This article argues that researchers should adopt an approach to the study of news production and distribution that is both material and discursive. I begin with a brief overview of the changes in journalism that prompt my empirical investigation and theoretical reflections, before moving on to a description of the contours of my ethnographic research at the New York City Independent Media Center. Focusing on a specific period in Indymedia’s history– the creation and functioning of the 2004 Republican National Convention convergence center in New York– I discuss three central moments that intersect with the material-semiotic perspective I use to frame my research. I analyze the technical and social assemblage of the independent media center, the coordination and of people, news stories and technologies across the border between the newsroom and the “outside world,” and, finally, the circulation of news objects and activist text-messages in the activist community. I conclude with some general reflections on the scholarly implications of the RNC IMC, and what it might mean for media criticism to adopt a focus that sees journalism as constructed, but not socially constructed.

Building the News