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- Volume 7, Issue 3, 2018
Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies - Volume 7, Issue 3, 2018
Volume 7, Issue 3, 2018
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‘Professionally we’re definitely in this together’
More LessAbstractIn early April 2016, the websites Byline and openDemocracy published a number of articles alleging that the Culture Secretary, John Whittingdale, had been involved in a liaison with a prostitute. Remarkably, given most British national newspapers’ obsession with sex scandals, the national press not only refused to pick up the story but also attacked Byline and openDemocracy for running it, arguing that it was not in the public interest. Byline and openDemocracy responded that the nationals had refused to run the story because they did not want to harm Whittingdale, who was known not to be in favour of putting the recommendations of the Leveson Inquiry into practice. The nationals hit back by accusing Byline and openDemocracy, which supported Leveson, of trying to undermine Whittingdale and so improve the chances of the Leveson recommendations being adopted. But in the course of this extremely bitter battle between different sections of the news media, it soon became apparent that the nationals had in fact been sitting on not only the prostitute story but a number of other scandals as well concerning Whittingdale. This article will utilize the Whittingdale controversy to argue that most of the British national press puts serving its own interests far above serving the public interest, that it will use every means at its disposal to thwart the creation of the kind of system of press self-regulation proposed by the Leveson Inquiry and that it is far too deeply enmeshed in the political system, and in particular, with Conservative interests, to be considered as a Fourth Estate of the realm.
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‘Disruption’ in UK journalism education? A study of narratives of resilience
By John SteelAbstractThis article examines the narratives of journalism relevant to journalism education from the perspective of those who ‘do’ journalism education in the United Kingdom. It draws on interviews with twelve individuals between 2006 and 2016 from within two distinct groups, both of which share a professional interest in journalism education: journalism educators with the UK Higher Education (HE) sector and former practicing journalists from within the industry who have a particular interest in journalism education, either as employers or as trainers within the industry. Drawing on Bourdieu’s field theory and Carlson’s theory of metajournalistic discourse the interviews highlight what Mensing describes as ‘industry-centred journalism education’ as being particularly resilient in the English HE sector. Despite reflexive notions of ‘digital disruption’ from within centres of journalism education, the practice-driven, industry-orientated approach to journalism education remains remarkably resilient over time.
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The grey area in the practice of online journalism in China
By Tianbo XuAbstractConsiderable scholarly discussion, in broad terms at least, has focused on the disruptions that the Internet has delivered to journalistic norms and the changes to perceptions that journalists hold of their role. However, such discussion tends to emphasize the Internet as a globally used form of technology with a singular impact on journalism; it mentions only in passing that its understanding of this concept is mainly based on an Anglo-American model. This article explores Chinese journalists’ ideas about disruption in China. It finds that Chinese journalists use of the Internet falls within the margins of the censorship system, leading to a grey area surrounding the practice of online journalism within which certain specific constraints supposedly enforced by administration law and departmental policies can be broken without punishment. While working in this grey area signals a disruption of journalistic norms in China, the characteristics of this disruption differ from those found in western countries.
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Repairing a fractured field: Dynamics of collaboration, normalization and appropriation at intersections of newswork
More LessAbstractNew patterns of journalistic endeavour have altered the ways in which news and information reach the public, with new technologies enabling new types of journalistic actors to produce news both on their own and in collaborative arrangements with traditional journalists. From these intersections, new questions for understanding journalism amid change ask whether we are facing a fractured or more consolidated journalistic field. This article explores intersections of traditional and emergent news actors as disruptions to the dominant vision of the field. It shows the treatment of autonomous work of digital interlopers in news texts as reinforcing prevailing views of journalism by invoking traditional information authority and paradigmatic news-source relationships. Using field theory and analysis of narratives of journalistic roles in news texts to support its thesis, this article looks at reactions to the emergence of two independent news actors – WikiLeaks and ProPublica – representing distinct approaches to newswork born of a digital age. In its conclusion, this article outlines the initial framework for an ‘appropriation thesis’ that extends paradigm repair in instances when new journalistic actors’ newswork is subsumed under traditional routines, thereby muting narratives of a heterogeneous field that would contradict the field’s dominant vision and authority.
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Local news in a digital world: Stand up and start up, instead of copy and paste
More LessAbstractFor legacy media companies, the digital world seemed to be the perfect place for scalable initiatives in local journalism. But up until now, the scalability nut hasn’t been thoroughly cracked. Media companies have tried to copy the old habits and paste them into a new digital world, without asking themselves what problem – and whose problem – they were going to solve. The profession needs to realize that scaling isn’t something that comes automatically with the digital world, but has to be derived from the value proposition of the news product itself. To really internally reinvent the local news in an online world, it has to stand up and start up all over again, before it can scale up and – finally – stay up again.
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Constructive journalism
More LessAbstractDanielle Batist is a freelance journalist and editor who embraces an entrepreneurial and positive approach to journalism. She has lived and worked in several countries around the globe. In the fifteen years she has been working as a journalist, she has developed an interest in social change, which she pursued in her work as the editor of the International Network of Street Papers (INSP), reaching six million readers in over 40 countries, and which underpins her current focus on ‘Constructive Journalism’ – a project she co-founded in 2014. Drawing on a variety of behavioural and audience studies, constructive journalism can be defined as ‘as rigorous, compelling reporting that includes positive and solutionfocused elements in order to empower audiences and present a fuller picture of truth, while upholding journalism’s core functions and ethics’ – in other words, an approach that attempts to bring positive elements to conventional reporting. By using a ‘wellbeing’ model of the world instead of a ‘disease’ model, stories about what is working – rather than just what is broken – become part of the news eco-system. Last year, Danielle got involved in the re-launch of Positive News, founded in 1993 and re-launched in 2016 as a magazine. The publication showcases a new model for media ownership, as well as a new way to tell news stories. Owned by a community of 1526 journalists, readers and supporters from 33 countries, the magazine features ‘Constructive Conversation’, where thought leaders are challenged to find common ground; ‘Solutions Lab’, where forward-thinking responses to difficult social issues are unearthed; ‘What Happened Next?’ where stories reported upon previously are updated. All these aspects are highlighted in a conversation with Danielle Batist, who gives her insight on the discussed matters.
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Making sense of innovative and disruptive news in the digital age
More LessAbstractLaunched in 2012, Zetland (zetland.dk) is a Danish media company that approaches digital journalism as ‘a force of good’. Its mission contains a paradox: it is simple but simultaneously complex – not to make news but to make sense of it. Through its diverse practices that vary from daily publications in a custom-built platform to pioneering shows of ‘performed’ journalism, Zetland’s aim is to tell stories worth remembering that integrate audiences – as co-creators in all journalistic processes – to be able to distribute knowledge and build a well-informed community. Since their founding, a lot has changed. Although its core remained the same, Zetland recently expanded, raising two million euros, broadening its team with 25 new members and adding the publication of a daily in-depth digital newspaper, all the while experimenting with new paradigms of digital journalism.
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