Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies - Volume 14, Issue 2, 2025

This article explores a new style of journalism identified in the contents of 21 public Telegram channels from the second half of 2020. The case follows the poisoning of the Russian oppositionist Alexei Navalny as part of a broader research programme on the Russian public sphere. The qualitative analysis of the data provides insight into the use of Telegram as a source for ‘insider news’. This article distinguishes the linguistic peculiarities of the texts, such as markers of orality, and contrasts them with various modes of virtual journalism. The article proposes a model of a three-way proximity-building as a feature of a new journalism style. The article contributes to understanding the dynamics of the Russian public sphere and its overspill beyond the Russian territory and the institutional media outlets.

In 2019, 51 people were killed in terror attacks at two mosques in Christchurch, a city on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand with a population of around 400,000 people. It was the deadliest mass shooting in the country’s history and the first terror attack of its kind on home soil, attracting extensive international media attention. Given the city’s relative isolation, early coverage was by local media and included local journalism students who had responded to a developing event. This study explores the first-hand experiences of these undergraduate broadcast journalism students who, just a few weeks into a new academic year, covered the news story for national and international media. Using mini focus groups, this descriptive study sheds light on how students with little to no trauma training coped with reporting on such an extreme and unprecedented event and the crucial role soft skills played in guiding their actions.

The media landscape in Ireland has changed substantially. Traditionally, print publications were one of the main sources of news. However, this trend has shifted dramatically as patterns of news consumption have altered: digital delivery is now the norm and social media have become a key part of media content. Consumers want instant access to news 24/7. It is essential that trainee journalists are adequately equipped with the key skills required to take up posts and thrive in this industry where the multi-skilled approach is key. I taught an online journalism module to three groups of undergraduate students in an Irish university and examined their perceptions of the use of social media for work. This research found that just one in three students was willing to use social media for work, while the remaining two-thirds were either undecided or reluctant to do so. I also examined what form of social media they preferred to use and found that Facebook and Twitter were the preferred options. Overall, the majority of students were happy to blog or podcast, particularly if they were given the opportunity to concentrate on subjects of their choice.

During the 2020 lockdown, news outlets played an important role on the public perceptions on public health crisis. Through framing, news outlets shape a given reality, present possible interpretations, exclude certain persons and organizations while providing visibility to others. In that sense, media influence public perceptions of expertise. In the case of COVID-19, experts’ views were crucial in raising public awareness as well as promoting appropriate and effective ways with addressing the crisis. Present research considers as an expert any person or organization who was deemed capable by news outlets to consult the audience on how to protect themselves from COVID-19. This study focuses on major news outlets in the Greek media system and their framing of expertise from 1 February 2020 to 30 April 2020. This period begins with the emergence of COVID-19 as the dominant issue in news stories. The sample consists of 2389 news items from six websites and six television (TV) stations. The research aims to understand whether news outlets frame (or not) certain organizations and persons as experts. By employing quantitative content analysis, general tendencies in framing are analysed. The results infer that public officials were framed as the main category of experts. Greek news outlets in most cases avoided framing World Health Organization (WHO) representatives as experts, especially after the first death by COVID-19 in Greece (12 March 2020). In general, the reference period was proven to be a crucial factor as expertise frames were differentiated before and after the first death in Greece and the implementation of lockdown measures. Moreover, research also confirmed that during health crises journalists prefer the thematic frame.

How should we measure the impact of investigative journalism? Media scholars and practitioners have turned their attention towards understanding the causal effect of media reports on a range of social, political and economic outcomes. Their interest has been spurred by the increased availability of data, by the emergence of new tools for rigorously assessing causal effects and by pressure from donors interested in understanding the returns on their investments in media and journalism programmes. Drawing on literature from multiple disciplines, we propose a multi-faceted metric which future researchers, journalists and news agencies will be able to use when analysing media impact.