Social media platforms, especially Twitter, have emerged as networks for real-time news and information where reports, rumours and speculation are challenged, contradicted or corroborated. The characteristics and use of Twitter nourish an always-on, ambient news environment, affecting how individuals interpret and communicate information in meaningful ways. This paper applies research in new literacies to contextualize the interplay between networked communication technologies and journalism. As new forms of communication emerge, journalism seeks to adopt and adapt new affordances that disrupt prevailing norms and principles through a contested process of negotiation. The new literacies of Twitter and similar platforms give rise to tensions between conventional ways of working and new possibilities in reporting, analysing and explaining the news. This paper explores how journalism is being shaped by, and shaping, the new literacies of networked communication architectures.