Journalism recent issues

Newswork

Deuze, M., Marjoribanks, T. — 2009-09-16

Between tradition and change: A review of recent research on online news production

Mitchelstein, E., Boczkowski, P. J. — 2009-09-16

Online news media have become a key part of social, economic, and cultural life in many societies. Research about these media has grown dramatically, especially in the past few years, but there have been few reviews of this research and none of the most recent scholarship. This article reviews scholarship on online news production published since 2000. It examines research on five key topics: historical context and market environment, the process of innovation, alterations in journalistic practices, challenges to established professional dynamics, and the role of user-generated content. A tension between tradition and change emerges from this discussion and is evident at two levels. First, the world of practice seems to straddle the re-enactment of established forms and tinkering with alternative pathways. Second, the modes of inquiry oscillate between using existing concepts to look at new phenomena and taking advantage of these phenomena to rethink these concepts and come up with new ones. The article concludes by identifying shortcomings in the existing scholarship and suggesting avenues for future studies to overcome them. It suggests how scholarship on online news production could contribute to rethinking some of the fundamental building blocks of understanding communication and society in the contemporary media environment.

Compressed dimensions in digital media occupations: Journalists in transformation

Schmitz Weiss, A., Higgins Joyce, V. d. M. — 2009-09-16

This study explores how much the concept of globalization via the internet is transforming the occupation of journalists. This research relied on the expertise of online journalists from Latin America, North America and Europe through their participation in three sets of online focus groups. Our findings pointed to a perception by these specific online journalists of a compressed social distance between themselves and the audience, as well as a more compact time dimension impacting the news cycle. This study supports similar findings of the roles, responsibilities and resources of media workers in other digital occupations, where requirements of multitasking and adaptability are necessary. This exploratory study aims to serve as a foundation to explain how this online medium is evolving and how online journalists perform and operate within it.

An actor-network perspective on changing work practices: Communication technologies as actants in newswork

Plesner, U. — 2009-09-16

New information and communication technologies (ICTs) such as email and the internet have altered the work practices of journalists. This article introduces Actor-Network Theory (ANT) as a framework for analyzing the relation between new ICTs and changing practices in newswork. It argues that ANT offers an exciting new perspective on ‘holistic’ studies of mass mediation practices, because it calls for a focus on heterogeneous actors: people, ideals, symbolic constructions, and material elements are seen as equally important elements to analyze. The article offers empirical examples of how ICTs have become elements of specific actor-networks, and argues that, at this point, the new aspect of them is their seamlessness. It is argued that while including materiality — technology — in analyses of journalism practices we should refrain from essentializing the ‘effects’ of ICT. Rather, technology should be treated analytically as an actant tightly integrated in networks with other actants, without being assigned particular forces or consequences.

Token responses to gendered newsrooms: Factors in the career-related decisions of female newspaper sports journalists

Hardin, M., Whiteside, E. — 2009-09-16

Female sports journalists work as tokens in gendered organizations where masculinity is integral to hierarchical logic and newswork processes. Through in-depth interviews, this longitudinal study explores how women in the industry manage their gendered and professional identities and make career decisions. Our findings suggest that although participants framed their decisions to stay or to leave in idealized terms, their choices were also guided by cultural and structural impediments acknowledged but accepted as natural and immutable. The women noted negative gender-related experiences, but most minimized them and saw their gender as an advantage. They also described their struggles to balance their work and social lives, the latter of which they saw as a necessary sacrifice to become ideal workers. We discuss these issues and suggest that sports media will fail to reach gender parity until these barriers are addressed; until then, the revolving door will keep turning.

The performative journalist: Job satisfaction, temporary workers and American television news

Ryan, K. M. — 2009-09-16

Television news operations are increasingly turning to freelance workers for newsroom staffing. This article traces the economic and industry conditions that led to the rise of a non-staff workforce. It proposes that US freelancers operate under a different paradigm from European or other freelancers, and analyzes results from a survey of news workers (freelance and staff) conducted in summer 2007. The survey uses intrinsic and extrinsic factors to measure overall job satisfaction. While there is little overall difference between either group of workers, freelancers do report greater satisfaction in certain areas, especially those relating to worker autonomy and freedom. The article argues that these results demonstrate how freelancers use adaptive strategies to react to temporary or per diem labor patterns in American news. By complicating the assumptions about freelancing, this article offers a more realistic perspective about the desires of the workers and the jobs which they perform.

Structure, agency, and change in an American newsroom

Ryfe, D. M. — 2009-09-16

Building on a prior ethnographic study conducted in the same newsroom, this essay offers a conceptual framework for understanding current efforts to transform metropolitan daily newspapers. At the time of the study, Calvin Thomas, a new editor and executive-vice president of the newspaper, mandated that his reporters produce more enterprise and less daily news. Yet, after a year, not only did reporters’ production of enterprise news decrease, their production of daily news actually increased. I explain this consequence as a result of the deep structure of daily newsgathering, coupled with the inability and/or unwillingness of reporters and editors to bear the costs of altering this structure. I argue that while the particulars of this case study may be peculiar to this newsroom, this conceptual framework is helpful for understanding the general process of transformation in American newspaper newsrooms that is currently under way.

Watchdog or witness? The emerging forms and practices of videojournalism

Wallace, S. — 2009-09-16

The introduction of new technology into news operations can affect working practices and often raises concerns about the impact on quality of output. Such is the case with videojournalism, an example of multiskilling enabled by new technology, where a solo newsgatherer acts as both reporter and camera operator. This article reports on a study into the introduction of videojournalism into three UK regional television newsrooms. It argues that ‘quality’ is a contested concept, influenced by professional and commercial imperatives. The notion of professional competence is also seen as a site of tension, critical to the discourse of professionalism, affecting negotiations around the values and identities of journalists. New technology is seen to contain the potential to improve as well as diminish quality of journalism and affect interpretations of journalists’ traditional role as watchdogs of society.

The shaping of an online feature journalist

Steensen, S. — 2009-09-16

This article explores the professional role and normative demands of online feature journalists. Through a longitudinal ethnographic case study of the work practices of feature journalists in the Norwegian online newspaper dagbladet.no, the article uncovers how the normative demands of a new professional role are negotiated within the online newsroom of a newspaper. It further reveals how the role of journalists is shaped by two axes: a historical axis of factors that have shaped the role of journalists throughout history, and a contemporary axis of the particulars of labour in modern society at large. The findings suggest that online feature journalists practise a more audience-driven and source-detached kind of journalism than their print counterparts. They further suggest that the remediation of feature journalism online yields increased status to the role of online journalists at large.

Changing journalistic practices in Eastern Europe: The cases of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia

Metykova, M., Waschkova Cisarova, L. — 2009-09-16

The article deals with changes in the journalistic profession and journalistic practices in the early 2000s in three new European Union member states: the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. It can be argued that Eastern European journalists face changes and challenges related to the ‘proletarization’ of journalistic work, commercial pressures, and ‘dumbing down’ as well as changing work practices related to new technologies. Yet they face these changes in the specific context of post-communist societies where the links between media and politicians often directly influence the professional practices and standards of journalists. We concentrate on developments in these three countries in relation to three areas: 1) dominant values in the journalistic profession and their change in the past 10 years; 2) influence of structures of ownership and market forces on practices and processes of journalism, and 3) influence of technological changes on journalistic practices and processes.

Politics, radio and journalism in Australia: The influence of 'talkback'

Turner, G. — 2009-07-15

This article draws on a research project examining the influence of talkback radio on politics in Australia, which focuses on the manner in which talkback formats have displaced the more conventional news and current affairs formats once prominent on the AM band in order to discuss the consequences of this change. An important consideration here is the fact that radio journalism has given way to the talkback host or entertainer at precisely the time when the political influence of the talkback format has become most pronounced, and when the regulatory control of that influence has become least effective. The result is a form of entertainment that mimics the forms and practices of journalism but which performs quite different social and political functions.

A chronicle of chaos: Tracking the news story of Hurricane Katrina from The Times-Picayune to its website

Robinson, S. — 2009-07-15

The extraordinary breaking news story of Hurricane Katrina offered an opportunity to document how multimedia and interactive features interfere with the carefully crafted news story of a newspaper. Scholarship on news narratives and medium theory informed this case study, a textual analysis of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina coverage in The Times-Picayune and its web partner Nola.com. The main finding was that the New Orleans' newspaper tale of a mythic Flood in an American city transformed into a chronicle about people's personal experiences in cyberspace. In the process, audiences joined with journalists and reshaped the news narrative, which took on unique cyber-temporal and cyber-spatial qualities.

A new sort of democracy?: The opinion pages in the Scottish daily quality press

Crawford, E. — 2009-07-15

Concern about perceived citizen disengagement from traditional representative democracies has prompted an upsurge in interest in the idea of deliberative democracy in many western countries. In Scotland, the establishment of a new Parliament in 1999 offered the opportunity to create what leading politicians at the time said would be a new democracy — with much greater participation from those disillusioned with, or traditionally excluded from, the democratic process. This article examines the role of Scotland's daily quality press in helping to achieve that goal of a new democracy. In particular, it discusses the extent to which newspaper opinion columns contribute to an inclusive, rational debate about policy issues which are under the control of the Scottish Parliament. The findings suggest that the opinion pages in Scotland's two daily quality national newspapers offer only limited evidence for those who hoped the Scottish press would contribute to a new democratic culture, which could in turn act as an example for proponents of deliberative democracy elsewhere.

The competing ideals of objectivity and dialogue in American journalism

Soffer, O. — 2009-07-15

Objectivity and dialogue are competing ideals in the practice of American journalism and in the way the press is analyzed and ethically evaluated. This article examines the relationship of these two ideals using tools from the dialogical philosophy of Martin Buber and Michael Bakhtin. I argue that 'objective' journalism is part of an atmosphere that observes, maps, gathers information, and objectifies social phenomenon while keeping an outsider position and avoiding entrance into dialogical relationships. Such a position demonstrates a monologue that speaks in the ostensibly factual voice of the real world. But as the belief in objectivity waned through the postmodern crisis, the dialogical perception — as a general theoretical and methodological array of thought — started to flourish in communication studies and journalistic practices. The undermining process of the modernist objective, message-driven model of communication encouraged the rise of scholarly perceptions and journalistic practices that 'privatized' the communication process into various dialogical sites. Online journalism, with its interactive technological potential, marks another peak in the dialogic potential.

Infographics in the United Arab Emirates newspapers

Bekhit, E. — 2009-07-15

In recent years, the number of infographics in the United Arab Emirates¹ (UAE) newspapers has generally increased. The newspapers publish different types of infographics, but not on a regular basis. This study examined 180 issues of six UAE newspapers, conducted a survey with 19 graphic journalists and interviewed their chief editors to explore the current uses of infographics, the factors affecting its use and graphic journalists' perceptions of infographics.

The study shows that the UAE newspapers still lag behind in the use of infographics and do not utilize all types of infographics. They mainly outsource services for infographics packages or illustration-based graphics. They do not have separate or specialized departments for infographics.² They rarely combine infographics with news stories, especially on the front pages. Type-based graphics are more frequently used than charts and illustration-based graphics. The study shows a significant difference between the UAE English and Arabic newspapers in the type of infographics used and in its use on the front page. The graphic journalists see infographics as supplementary to the text and not an essential part of the newspaper's content.

The Swiss video journalist: Issues of agency and autonomy in news production

Dickinson, R., Bigi, H. — 2009-07-15

Using the case of Swiss video journalists as an example this article examines how the structure-agency problem is reflected in the professional practice of contemporary news production. The trend in journalism and in news work in general is reportedly towards declining autonomy and increasing workplace alienation, hastened by the introduction of new production technologies. Evidence from a study of Swiss video journalists suggests that the impact of such change may not have the anticipated, wholly negative, consequences for news workers. The article concludes by suggesting that while it is difficult to see video journalists as skilled strategists contesting control in the increasingly market-oriented environment, neither can they be readily characterized as victims of commercialism enjoying little workplace autonomy. These extremes may exist among journalists as a whole, but the evidence indicates that professional practice in the world of the video journalist is the product of both the structure of their employment and their individual agency.

Book review: Ingrid Volkmer (ed.) News in Public Memory: An International Study of Media Memories across Generations New York: Peter Lang, 2006. 307 pp. ISBN 0820461946

Meyers, O. — 2009-07-15

Book review: Bob Ostertag People's Movements, People's Press: The Journalism of Social Justice Movements Boston: Beacon Press, 2006. 232 pp. ISBN 978 0 8070 6166 4

Bekken, J. — 2009-07-15

Book review: W. Joseph Campbell The Year that Defined Journalism: 1897 and the Clash of Paradigms New York: Routledge, 2006. 317 pp. ISBN 0 415 97702 9

King, E. — 2009-07-15

Book review: Laura Stein Speech Rights in America: The First Amendment, Democracy, and the Media Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2006. 166 pp. ISBN 0 252 03075 3

Forde, K. R. — 2009-07-15

Book review: Jill A. Edy Troubled Pasts: News and the Collective Memory of Social Unrest Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2006. 230 pp. ISBN 1 59213 497 1

Nimkoff, M. — 2009-07-15

Book review: Robert Hariman and John Louis Lucaites No Caption Needed: Iconic Photographs, Public Culture, and Liberal Democracy Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2007. 419 pp. ISBN 0 2263 1606 8

Griffin, M. — 2009-07-15

Book review: Sandra L. Borden Journalism as Practice: MacIntyre, Virtue Ethics and the Press Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2007. 165 pp. ISBN 978 0 7546 6060 6

Ward, S. J. A. — 2009-07-15

Book review: Deepa Kumar Outside the Box: Corporate Media, Globalization, and the UPS Strike Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2007. 237 pp. ISBN 0 252 07589 6

Dolber, B. — 2009-07-15

Book review: David D. Perlmutter and John Maxwell Hamilton (eds) From Pigeons to News Portals: Foreign Reporting and the Challenge of New Technology Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2007. 214 pp. ISBN 978 0 8071 3282 1 (hbk) ISBN 0 8071 3282 9 (pbk)

Cassara-Jemai, C. — 2009-07-15

Book review: Jeffrey E. Cohen The Presidency in the Era of 24-Hour News Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008. 256 pp. ISBN 978 0 691 13717 9

Farnsworth, S. J. — 2009-07-15

Call for Papers: A Special Issue of Journalism: Theory, Practice, Criticism New Media, Transcultural Journalism and Public Diplomacy Guest Editors Marie Gillespie, Gerd Baumann, Arnd Nohl, Ben O'Loughlin

2009-07-15

Editorial: Special 10th anniversary issue -- the future of journalism

Tumber, H., Zelizer, B. — 2009-04-28

The future of science journalism

Allan, S. — 2009-04-28

Why alternative journalism matters

Atton, C. — 2009-04-28

The fate of two stories: how US journalism is forgetting the people

Barnhurst, K. — 2009-04-28

Journalism in the broader cultural mediascape

Berkowitz, D. — 2009-04-28

The future of journalism in the digital environment

Bird, S. E. — 2009-04-28

Contra the journalism of complicity

Boyd-Barrett, O. — 2009-04-28

The future of journalism

Brennen, B. — 2009-04-28

Small earthquake in newsroom -- not many dead

Bromley, M. — 2009-04-28

A parachute of popularity for a commodity in freefall?

Conboy, M. — 2009-04-28

Journalism studies: coming of (global) age?

Cottle, S. — 2009-04-28

Prophecy and journalism studies

Curran, J. — 2009-04-28

The people formerly known as the employers

Deuze, M. — 2009-04-28

New media and new mechanisms of public accountability

Ettema, J. S. — 2009-04-28

`Anytime, anyplace, anywhere': Digital diasporas and the BBC World Service

Gillespie, M. — 2009-04-28

Journalism and the second-person effect

Glasser, T. L. — 2009-04-28

Let's improve `global journalism'!

Hafez, K. — 2009-04-28

Not the end of journalism history

Hallin, D. C. — 2009-04-28

Three-step flow

Jensen, K. B. — 2009-04-28

Reasons for optimism

Keeble, R. L. — 2009-04-28

The afterlife of print

Kitch, C. — 2009-04-28

Journalism as robust secular drama: Reading the future by amplifying the present

Kunelius, R. — 2009-04-28

Journalism in the 21st century -- evolution, not extinction

McNair, B. — 2009-04-28

The future of journalism

Mosco, V. — 2009-04-28

The death (and rebirth?) of working-class journalism

Nerone, J. — 2009-04-28

A renaissance on the horizon!

Nordenstreng, K. — 2009-04-28

On the future of journalism as a professional practice and the case of journalism in Israel

Nossek, H. — 2009-04-28

The future of journalism in emerging deliberative space

Reese, S. D. — 2009-04-28

News bust; news boom

Russell, A. — 2009-04-28

Ten years backwards and forwards

Schudson, M. — 2009-04-28

We are all journalists now!

Servaes, J. — 2009-04-28

Convergence and divergence

Singer, J. B. — 2009-04-28

Byte by byte: Journalism's growing potential to reflect the idea of India

Sonwalkar, P. — 2009-04-28

Disambiguating the `media' and the `media plot'

Steiner, L. — 2009-04-28

Australian journalism

Tiffen, R. — 2009-04-28

European news and multi-platform journalists in the lead

Tunstall, J. — 2009-04-28

Millennial journalism

Turner, G. — 2009-04-28

Research directions for global journalism studies: Ideas from Latin America

Waisbord, S. — 2009-04-28

US journalism in the 21st century -- what future?

Weaver, D. H. — 2009-04-28

Book review: Peter J. Anderson and Geoff Ward (eds) The Future of Journalism in the Advanced Democracies Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007. 297 pp. ISBN 978 07546 4404 0 Steven M. Hallock Editorial and Opinion: The Dwindling Marketplace of Ideas in Today's News Westport, CT: Praeger, 2006. 195 pp. ISBN 0 275 99330 2

McNair, B. — 2009-04-28

Book review: Tom Goldstein Journalism and Truth: Strange Bedfellows Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2007. 207 pp. ISBN 978 0 8101 2433 2

Lee Plaisance, P. — 2009-04-28

Book review: Michele Weldon Everyman News: The Changing American Front Page Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2008. 164 pp. ISBN 978 0 8262 1777 6

Mattson Lauters, A. — 2009-04-28

Book review: Betty Houchin Winfield (ed.) Journalism 1908: The Birth of a Profession Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2008. 356 pp. ISBN 978 0 8262 1813 7

Fee, F. E. — 2009-04-28

Towards a `Foxification' of 24-hour news channels in Britain?: An analysis of market-driven and publicly funded news coverage

Cushion, S., Lewis, J. — 2009-03-17

Drawing on three media content analyses between 2004 and 2007, we examine the differences in news coverage between BBC News 24 (a public service broadcasting channel) and Sky News (a commercial provider). We explore this longitudinal data in the context of recent claims that 24-hour news channels in the UK are succumbing to the kind of decline in news standards exemplified by the Fox network in the USA.

While there are some signs of `Foxifixation', the existing public service regulations in UK broadcasting and the presence of a full-blown public service broadcaster like the BBC act as a break on `Foxification' in commercial providers like Sky. Although Fox and Sky are both Murdoch channels, Sky conforms to some of the expectations of public service broadcasting in a way that Fox does not.

Making good sense: Transformative processes in community journalism

Meadows, M., Forde, S., Ewart, J., Foxwell, K. — 2009-03-17

Around four million listeners in an average week tune into community radio stations around Australia, primarily to hear local news and information — evidence of a failure by mainstream journalism to meet their diverse needs. This discussion draws from the authors' landmark national qualitative audience study of the Australian community broadcasting sector to explore the role being played by community journalism. The authors argue that journalism at the level of the local is playing a crucial role in the democratic process by fostering citizen participation in public life. This suggests a critique of mainstream journalism practices and the central place of audience research in understanding the nature of the relationships and processes involved. The authors argue that the nature of community journalism aligns it more closely with the complex `local talk' narratives at community level that play a crucial role in creating public consciousness.

From gospel to news: Evangelicalism and secularization of the Protestant missionary press in China, 1870s--1900s

Volz, Y. Z., Lee, C.-C. — 2009-03-17

By cross-examining a large volume of original sources, we investigate the social context in which the Protestant missionary press in China changed its primary orientation from gospel to news. Furthermore, by focusing on the case of the Globe Magazine , we argue that the missionary press provided an important foundation for the rise of the indigenous Chinese press at the end of the 19th century. Protestant missionaries in China invented certain journalistic practices and secularized their publications to appeal to Chinese readers. These innovations were not necessarily in line with mainstream western journalism, but they inspired Chinese editors who later came to model themselves after the language, content and format of the missionary press. The Chinese elite press was receptive to the missionary press model partly because both shared the goal of enlightenment and held business profit in contempt.

Broader and deeper: A study of newsroom culture in a time of change

Ryfe, D. M. — 2009-03-17

This essay offers an ethnographic analysis of The Daily Times,¹ a mid-sized American corporately owned newsroom. During the period under study, a new editor changed the way that reporters produced the news. In particular, he asked his reporters to attend less closely to the public agencies that composed their beats. Over time, his reporters alternately expressed confusion and indignation about the new rules. I explain their reaction in terms of conclusions drawn from the original ethnographic studies of newsrooms conducted in the 1970s. These studies showed that journalistic practices like routine visits to public agencies serve important functional and symbolic needs for journalists. The changes introduced by this editor threatened several of these needs, and this ultimately led the reporters to reject the new rules. This case study shows that journalists rely on a deeply embedded culture of professionalism to respond to the experiments taking place in their newsrooms.

The newspaper as political antagonist: Editorial discourse and the othering of Maori perspectives on the foreshore and seabed conflict

Phelan, S. — 2009-03-17

The 2003 political conflict over the ownership of the country's foreshore and seabed, which followed a June 2003 Court of Appeal ruling, was regarded by many New Zealanders as a defining moment in the evolution of the country's post-colonial relationship between the Crown and Maori. This article examines how the conflict was discursively constructed in the first editorial on the issue by New Zealand's four biggest-selling daily newspapers, all of which asserted their strong support for the Government's promise to quickly introduce legislation that would reinstate the status quo assumption of Crown ownership. My analysis shows how the editorials established an antagonistic discursive frontier between `national' and `Maori' interests. This was mainly done by constituting the conflict through a culturally available set of discursive assumptions that were prejudicial to nominal Maori perspectives and foreclosed open-minded assessment of the Court's ruling.

Review Commentary: Is the BBC biased?: The Corporation and the coverage of the 2006 Israeli--Hezbollah war

Gaber, I., Seymour, E., Thomas, L. — 2009-03-17

In the light of the findings of the BBC's 2006 impartiality review of their coverage of the Arab—Israeli conflict, and the fact that most of the accusations of bias against the BBC continue to come from pro-Israel lobbyists, this research sought to investigate whether their claims of anti-Israel bias during the BBC's reporting of the 2006 Israeli— Hezbollah war could be validated. Using ITV News as a control group, these claims were measured against the BBC's revised editorial guidelines for covering the Middle East. The article demonstrates that, whilst certain aspects of the coverage were problematic, BBC journalists broadly adhered to the Governors' revised editorial guidelines, and covered the conflict more or less impartially — if there was any bias it was towards, rather than against, Israel. ITV News coverage was more problematic but still achieved a significant degree of impartiality.

Book review: W. Lance Bennett, Regina G. Lawrence and Steven Livingston When the Press Fails: Political Power and the News Media from Iraq to Katrina Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2007. 263 pp. ISBN 0 226 04284 7

Carlson, M. — 2009-03-17

Book review: Sevanti Ninan Headlines from the Heartland: Reinventing the Hindi Public Sphere New Delhi: Sage, 2007. 308 pp. ISBN 978 0 76193 580 3

Udupa, S. — 2009-03-17

Book review: Caryl Rivers Selling Anxiety: How the News Media Scare Women Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England, 2007. 168 pp. ISBN 978 1 58465 615 9

Walker, D. — 2009-03-17

Book review: Edward Alwood Dark Days in the Newsroom: McCarthyism Aimed at the Press Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2007. 201 pp. ISBN 1 59213 342 8

Godfried, N. — 2009-03-17