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Showing papers in "Journalism Studies in 2017"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A review of recent literature contextualises the findings of a fresh content analysis of news values within a range of UK media 15 years on from the last study, concluding that no taxonomy can ever explain everything.
Abstract: The deceptively simple question “What is news?” remains pertinent even as we ponder the future of journalism in the digital age. This article examines news values within mainstream journalism and considers the extent to which news values may be changing since earlier landmark studies were undertaken. Its starting point is Harcup and O’Neill’s widely-cited 2001 updating of Galtung and Ruge’s influential 1965 taxonomy of news values. Just as that study put Galtung and Ruge’s criteria to the test with an empirical content analysis of published news, this new study explores the extent to which Harcup and O’Neill’s revised list of news values remain relevant given the challenges (and opportunities) faced by journalism today, including the emergence of social media. A review of recent literature contextualises the findings of a fresh content analysis of news values within a range of UK media 15 years on from the last study. The article concludes by suggesting a revised and updated set of contemporary news values, whilst acknowledging that no taxonomy can ever explain everything.

589 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article found significant differences in how journalists and the public evaluate news media performance and journalistic roles and found that news consumption and social media use predict stronger support for traditional journalistic roles among journalists and citizens.
Abstract: This paper reports findings from a 2013 survey of 1080 US journalists and a 2014 survey of 1230 US citizens, focusing on their views of traditional journalism roles and the performance of journalism in the United States. The study finds significant differences in how journalists and the public evaluate news media performance and journalistic roles. It also finds that news consumption and social media use predict stronger support for traditional journalistic roles among journalists and citizens.

154 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a comparative study of the United States, Brazil and Argentina explores what values and topics present in news shared online predict audience interaction on social media, and shows that the former lean more toward government-related news and conflict/controversy news values than online native media.
Abstract: Audiences play a fundamental role in disseminating and evaluating news content, and one of the big questions facing news organizations is what elements make content viral in the digital environment. This comparative study of the United States, Brazil and Argentina explores what values and topics present in news shared online predict audience interaction on social media. Findings shed light on what news values and topics trigger more audience responses on Facebook and Twitter. At the same time, a comparison between popular content produced by traditional media versus online-native media reveals that the former lean more toward government-related news and conflict/controversy news values than online native media. Brazilian stories prompted more social media interactivity than content from the United States or Argentina. Through content analysis, this study contributes to improving our understanding of audiences’ news values preferences on social networks. It also helps us to recognize the role of users’ onl...

109 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors studied what makes news popular in social media settings and found that news sharing across different social media platforms is increasingly impacting on our news habits, however, we know very little about what makes the news popular.
Abstract: News sharing across different social media platforms is increasingly impacting on our news habits. However, we know very little about what makes news popular in these settings. The current paper de...

100 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the value of different platforms, genres, and practices in everyday life by mapping patterns of cross-media news use was analyzed by combining Q methodology with think-aloud protocols and day-in-the-life-interviews.
Abstract: The current news media landscape is characterized by an abundance of digital outlets and increased opportunities for users to navigate news themselves. Yet, it is still unclear how people negotiate this fluctuating environment to decide which news media to select or ignore, how they assemble distinctive cross-media repertoires, and what makes these compositions meaningful. This article analyzes the value of different platforms, genres, and practices in everyday life by mapping patterns of cross-media news use. Combining Q methodology with think-aloud protocols and day-in-the-life-interviews, five distinct news media repertoires are identified: (1) regionally oriented, (2) background oriented, (3) digital, (4) laid-back, and (5) nationally oriented news use. Our findings indicate that users do not always use what they prefer, nor do they prefer what they use. Moreover, the boundaries they draw between news and other information are clearly shifting. Finally, our results show that in a world with a wide ran...

87 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: For instance, the authors found that journalists are frequently doing some of their daily work on social media, spaces they did not create but have appropriated for journalistic purposes, and that they do not create the spaces themselves.
Abstract: Journalists are frequently doing some of their daily work on social media, spaces they did not create but have appropriated for journalistic purposes. Building on previous studies of how political ...

82 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper explored how journalistic doxa and cultural capital come to be discursively formed in a broad range of US journalism trade publications and sites from 1997 to 2015 in order to examine the discursive construction of transparency within the journalistic field.
Abstract: Drawing on Bourdieu's field theory, this study explores how journalistic doxa and cultural capital come to be discursively formed. The study culls references to journalistic transparency from a broad range of US journalism trade publications and sites from 1997 to 2015 in order to examine the discursive construction of transparency within the journalistic field. The analysis focuses on what members of the journalistic field in the United States mean by transparency and how transparency is or is not discursively legitimized. Implications for field theory are considered.

81 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors analyzes the emergence, development, and stasis of the news fact-checking website through the institutional perspectives of population ecology and institutional logics, and finds evidence of a budding fact checking site population, increasing legitimacy, and in fact checking sites will respond more to other sites within the population itself than to changes in the immediate environment.
Abstract: This study analyzes the emergence, development, and stasis of the news fact-checking website through the institutional perspectives of population ecology and institutional logics. The population ecology approach suggests that like other new media forms, fact-checking sites will mimic one another in pursuit of legitimacy, and this will encourage formation of media “populations,” and tendencies to buffer the external environment and stabilize. Over time, these sites will respond more to other sites within the population itself than to changes in the immediate environment. However, the institutional logics approach accommodates conflict and agency, suggesting that entities pursue complex strategies to retain legitimacy when faced with conflicts within the wider institutional environment. The fact-checking site is a product of such a strategy, as it straddles both traditional journalism and digital network logics. Findings show evidence of a budding fact-checking site population, increasing legitimacy, and in...

73 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a content analysis of big data journalism stories from The Guardian, a pioneer in contemporary Big Data journalism, was conducted to investigate how the practice of Big Data Journalism compares with traditional news values, norms, and routines.
Abstract: Through a content analysis of big data journalism stories from The Guardian (N = 260), a pioneer in contemporary big data journalism, we sought to investigate how the practice of big data journalism compares with traditional news values, norms, and routines. Findings suggested that big data journalism shows new trends in terms of how sources are used, but still generally adhere to traditional news values and formats such as objectivity and use of visuals.

68 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that media professionals have historically shown a keen interest in adopting novel modes of content distribution in order to capture the interest of the elusors of online trends and platforms come and go.
Abstract: Online trends and platforms come and go, and media professionals have historically shown a keen interest in adopting novel modes of content distribution in order to capture the interest of the elus...

68 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper examined diversity in online news with special attention paid to the role of different types of media ownership and media systems (meso level) and discussed the economic implications of ownership and market conditions for diversity.
Abstract: This paper examines diversity in online news with special attention paid to the role of different types of media ownership (meso level) and media systems (macro level). After identifying relevant perspectives and operationalizations of diversity, and discussing the economic implications of ownership and market conditions for diversity, the study tests four hypotheses with a content analysis of 1660 stories from 48 news sites in six countries (United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, and Switzerland). Findings show that online news attains the highest levels of diversity (measured with three different indices) in national environments with strong public service media, and that even in the internet age, public broadcasters add considerably to the diversity of political news. The much discussed category of made-for-Web outlets (including the Huffington Post and Rue89) revealed considerable variety in ownership and escape simple explanations with regard to diversity.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: StopFake as mentioned in this paper evaluates news stories for signs of falsified evidence, such as manipulated or misrepresented images and quotes, whereas traditional fact-checking sites evaluate nuanced political claims but assume the accuracy of reporting.
Abstract: When faced with a state-sponsored fake news campaign propagated over social media, in a process we dub “peer-to-peer propaganda,” a group of volunteer Ukrainian journalistic activists turned fact checking into a counter-propaganda weapon. We document the history of StopFake, describe its work practices, and situate them within the literatures on fact checking and online news practices. Our study of its work practices shows that StopFake employs the online media monitoring characteristic of modern journalism, but rather than imitating new stories it applies media literacy techniques to screen out fake news and inhibit its spread. StopFake evaluates news stories for signs of falsified evidence, such as manipulated or misrepresented images and quotes, whereas traditional fact-checking sites evaluate nuanced political claims but assume the accuracy of reporting. Drawing on work from science studies, we argue that attention of this kind to social processes demonstrates that scholars can acknowledge that narrat...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed how The New York Times (NYT) discredits fake news accusations, which are prominently expressed by US President Donald Trump, in the first 70 days following his inauguration and revealed four delegitimizing strategies: First, the accusations are taken as a "badge of honor" for professional journalism but are morally evaluated to damage journalism's role as the fourth estate in democracy.
Abstract: News organizations in many Western democracies face decreasing trust amid fake news accusations In this situation, news organizations risk losing their license to operate and need to defend their legitimacy This study analyzes how The New York Times (NYT) discredits fake news accusations, which are prominently expressed by US President Trump A critical discourse analysis of the NYT’s news articles about fake news accusations in the first 70 days following President Trump’s inauguration reveals four delegitimizing strategies First, the accusations are taken as a “badge of honor” for professional journalism but are morally evaluated to damage journalism’s role as the fourth estate in democracy Second, using sarcasm, the articles criticize President Trump’s capacity to govern and thus question his legitimacy Third, reporting implies that fake news accusations aim at suppressing critical thinking as in authoritarian regimes Fourth, accusations are described as irrational responses to professional repor

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors employed measurements of actor and viewpoint diversity at the article and newspaper level, and investigated factors that have an impact on content diversity of immigration newspaper articles in Belgium, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom (2013-2014).
Abstract: News media can be considered to fulfil their democratic role as a “marketplace of ideas” only if they present a diverse content that gives space to a wider range of ideas and viewpoints. But how can content diversity be assessed? And what determines actor and viewpoint diversity in the first place? By employing measurements of actor and viewpoint diversity at the article and newspaper level, this study provides a complete overview on the content diversity of immigration news, and it investigates factors that have an impact on content diversity of immigration newspaper articles in Belgium, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom (2013–2014). The results of a multilevel analysis indicate that both the articles’ size and the elite character of a newspaper play a key role in enhancing news’ multiperspectivalness. Also, the findings show that these two measurements of content diversity are different yet related to each other.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Democracies with sharp violence and public insecurity have proliferated in recent decades, with many also featuring extreme economic inequality as discussed by the authors. But these conditions have not been explicitly considered. But they have been considered.
Abstract: Democracies with sharp violence and public insecurity have proliferated in recent decades, with many also featuring extreme economic inequality. These conditions have not been explicitly considered...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present the results of a longitudinal tri-nation quantitative and qualitative content analysis of the reportage in three mainstream newspapers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia across three decades, along with industry insights provided by interviews with reporters in each of the countries studied.
Abstract: During the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008, the financial press attracted criticism for its coverage: specifically that it did not provide any forewarnings to the general public; that it lacked sufficient scepticism when reporting on financial and economic trends; and that reporters were too close to the sources they used for information. This paper argues the GFC represents only the latest manifestation of dissatisfaction with the financial press, with similar concerns being raised in previous financial crises such as the recession of the late 1990s and the Dot Com boom in 2000. The paper presents the results of a longitudinal tri-nation quantitative and qualitative content analysis of the reportage in three mainstream newspapers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia across three decades, along with industry insights provided by interviews with reporters in each of the countries studied. The interviews and empirical evidence indicate there has been a decline in mainstream financia...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors conducted an eye-tracking study that measured use, by means of direct attention to visualizations, on three different news platforms (print newspaper, e-newspaper on tablet, and news website).
Abstract: In recent years, the use of visualizations or infographics in the news has become increasingly popular. We know, however, surprisingly little about how news consumers use and appreciate news visualizations. We apply a mixed-method approach to answer these two questions. First, we conduct an eye-tracking study that measures use, by means of direct attention to visualizations on three different news platforms (print newspaper, e-newspaper on tablet, and news website). Second, we conduct focus groups and a survey among readers of three news media to study the extent to which news consumers actually value the inclusion of visualizations in the news. Our results show that news consumers do indeed read news visualizations, regardless of the platform on which the visual is published. We also find that visualizations are appreciated, but only if they are coherently integrated into a news story and thus fulfill a function that can be easily understood. With this study, we provide the first comprehensive picture of the usefulness of information visualizations in the news, and contribute to a growing literature on alternative ways of storytelling in journalism today.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In addition, recent years have seen renewed interest in journalism's role in everyday life, in addition to the traditional focus on journalism's relatio... as discussed by the authors, which has been neglected by journalism scholars in the past.
Abstract: Having been neglected by journalism scholars in the past, recent years have seen renewed interest in journalism’s role in everyday life, in addition to the traditional focus on journalism’s relatio...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a range of methodological and logistical challenges persist in existing comparative studies of journalism, and a special introduction to the special i.i.d. problem is presented.
Abstract: Comparative studies of journalism have become immensely popular in recent times, yet a range of methodological and logistical challenges persist in existing work. This introduction to the special i...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors trace the life cycles of Nordic populist parties by exploring the relationship between media coverage and contemporary populist parties in Finland (Finns Party), Sweden (Sweden Democrats), Norway (Norwegian Progress Party) and Denmark (Danish People's Party).
Abstract: The article traces the life cycles of the Nordic populist parties by exploring the relationship between media coverage and contemporary populist parties in Finland (Finns Party), Sweden (Sweden Democrats), Norway (Norwegian Progress Party) and Denmark (Danish People's Party). Empirically the study is based on a content analysis of 3337 journalistic articles published in the leading quality and popular newspapers of Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark during the first parliamentary elections of the 2010s. The analysis confirms the life cycle model introduced in The Media and Neo-Populism. A Contemporary Comparative Analysis edited by Gianpietro Mazzoleni, Julianne Stewart, and Bruce Horsfield (2003, Praeger, Westport, CT), which found that parties in their insurgent phase gained more media attention than parties in their established phase. This study found populism currently a more important topic in Finland and Sweden, where populist movements were entering parliament, whereas in Norway and in Denmark, af...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors take Schudson's pioneering work in the historical sociology of journalism as the starting point for an argument as to why the concept of objectivity can and must be re-evaluated in the digital era, if such a thing as a globalised public sphere, able to support further democratic progress in the decades ahead, is to be built from the "cultural chaos" of the internet.
Abstract: This essay takes Schudson’s pioneering work in the historical sociology of journalism as the starting point for an argument as to why the concept of objectivity can and must be re-evaluated in the digital era, if such a thing as a globalised public sphere, able to support further democratic progress in the decades ahead, is to be built from the “cultural chaos” of the internet. It explores the often ambivalent role a revised, more nuanced notion of objectivity plays in the legitimation of the proliferating journalisms and quasi-journalisms—what I will refer to collectively as the cultural form of factuality—now competing for users, market share and revenue on the internet. Finally, I will make some suggestions as to what objectivity could come to mean in the post-factual era.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors identifies 10 key narratives that together forge the battlefield for information warfare between nuclear powers and, with particular respect to mainstream, West media news, and finds little basis for optimism in the future.
Abstract: In several recent cases of actual or attempted regime change, Western governments alleged their opponents’ possession of weapons of mass destruction as pretexts for war. Many such allegations are now known to have been false or exaggerated. The Ukraine crisis (since 2013) is arguably of a different order of concern, since it has invoked the participation, in one sense or another, of the United States, the European Union and Russia, each of which possesses abundant nuclear weapons capacity. Can Western consumers of mainstream media news, potentially now more informed of the failures of mainstream media to exercise due caution in the face of their own governments’ propaganda, reasonably expect superior future performance? This paper finds little basis for optimism. Drawing from a broader work that monitors mainstream and alternative media, the study identifies 10 key narratives that together forge the battlefield for information warfare between nuclear powers and, with particular respect to mainstream, West...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the interplay between journalists' role perceptions, the core values of journalism, and ongoing change in the industry and show that journalists who rely on an e...
Abstract: The internet, and particularly social media, have brought far-reaching change to journalism by calling into question how journalists’ traditional roles are perceived. We introduce social identity theory—specifically the concept of professional identity—as a complementary approach to study journalistic role conceptions from a dynamic perspective. Building on existing findings in both research streams (professional identity and journalistic role conceptions), we undertook a qualitative study to explore the interplay between journalists’ role perceptions, the core values of journalism, and ongoing change in the industry. Our analysis of 26 interviews conducted in a Swiss newsroom provided an affirmative answer to the question whether journalists’ professional identity serves as a resource that helps them to cope with uncertainty. By identifying different identity negotiation mechanisms, we illustrate journalists’ sensemaking of developments in their work environment. We show that journalists who rely on an e...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper examined how news games The Refugee Challenge, Against all Odds and The Migrant Trail convey information about migration in interactive game-play, and how migrants and their situation are represented in these games.
Abstract: This study interrogates if newsgames are meaningful supplements to already existing forms of journalism. Using the case of refugee and migrant issues, this study examines how the newsgames The Refugee Challenge, Against all Odds and The Migrant Trail convey information about migration in interactive game-play, and how migrants and their situation are represented in these games. The games are discussed in relation to empathy, objectivity, complexity and the representation of distant suffering. The overarching question is how newsgames compare to traditional journalism when it comes to helping audiences understand political events of global concern and power asymmetries between “Others” and “us.” We find that these newsgames especially enhanced journalism when they cleverly employed game logics to generate experiential engagement with the existential crisis of involuntary dislocation. Nevertheless, the games did not use their game capabilities to the fullest, which would have entailed opening up a discourse...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors conducted a comprehensive scoping review of empirical research into US and UK media representations of Africa published between 1990 and 2014 and found that existing research has a remarkably narrow focus on a specific number of countries, events, media and texts, which provides insufficient basis for reaching any firm, generalisable conclusions about the nature of media coverage of Africa.
Abstract: This paper presents the results of a comprehensive scoping review of empirical research into US and UK media representations of Africa published between 1990 and 2014. The results show that existing research has a remarkably narrow focus on a specific number of countries, events, media and texts. Research into representations of North Africa, Francophone Africa, non-news genres, non-elite media and radio content, is particularly scarce. This, I contend, provides an insufficient basis for reaching any firm, generalisable conclusions about the nature of media coverage of Africa. The common assumption that representations are dominated by Afro-pessimism, for example, may be accurate – but it is not currently substantiated by the existing evidence. In short, the widespread belief that we know how Africa is represented in the US and UK media is shown to be a myth. This paper also discusses how this myth has been maintained through certain citation practices and interpretations of evidence as well as the implic...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper examined the impact of social media on Czech news media content and found that the main features of the utilization of SNSs as news sources in the Czech Republic can be characterized by low intensity, a preference for domestic affairs, and a bias toward tabloidization.
Abstract: This article examines the impact of social media on Czech news media content. The study relies on a content analysis of a six-month sample of news articles collected in 2013 and focuses on social networking sites (SNSs), namely Facebook and Twitter, in their capacity as acknowledged sources in the agenda of traditional news media in the Czech Republic. The results include information on the differences between tabloid and quality press, the topics and actors that are likely to be associated with social media in their capacity as sources, the links between social media sources and the geographical focus of the news, and the type of social media content that the news media are inclined to use. The main features of the utilization of SNSs as news sources in the Czech Republic can be characterized by low intensity, a preference for domestic affairs, and a bias toward tabloidization. In several examined categories, we found evidence of consistently disparate uses of Facebook and Twitter that caution against ge...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors conducted a content analysis of various media outlets and user rankings in order to explore current differences between journalistic news selection and selections of the audience and found similarities in news values and topics, but differences in preferred topics.
Abstract: User rankings provide detailed information about the news selection of internet audiences. Due to the difficult economic situation of many publishing companies, newsrooms are increasingly forced to take these data into account. This paper contributes to the debate about an increasing audience orientation in journalism. We conducted a content analysis of various media outlets and user rankings in order to explore current differences between journalistic news selection and selections of the audience. Our comparison criteria include news values and topics. The results show similarities in news values, but differences in preferred topics. Finally, we discuss the opportunities and challenges presented by user rankings for the analysis of audience behavior.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss how the ongoing transformations of the media ecology in the direction of greater digitization have increasingly blurred the boundaries between professional journalists and other information brokers; the fo...
Abstract: Ongoing transformations of the media ecology in the direction of greater digitization have increasingly blurred the boundaries between professional journalists and other information brokers; the fo ...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors conducted a content analysis to develop a typology of conflict news coverage and found that conflict news contain more interventionism and less strategic framing online, more journalistic intervention in quality newspapers and less substantive news in election times when compared to routine periods.
Abstract: Conflict-framing literature has suffered from a lack of consistent conceptualization and consequently the aim of this paper is to unravel the dimensionality of conflict frames. We conducted a content analysis (N = 1536) to develop a typology of conflict news coverage. Using factor analysis, different aspects of conflict news are distinguished with level of substantiveness and interventionism as the main dimensions. Furthermore, the study focuses on the occurrence of these different types of conflict frames in the news and the role of contextual factors. For example, results indicate that articles with conflict frames contain more interventionism and less strategic framing online, more journalistic intervention in quality newspapers and less substantive news in election times when compared to routine periods. The study contributes to the literature by offering a more nuanced view of the presence of different types of conflict news in the media.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The relevance of the gate-keeping framework in the twenty-first century is examined in this article, which argues that instead of focusing on the packaging of a news product by a news source, it should instead focus on the paths taken by news users to individual stories via search engines, gatewatchers and social media.
Abstract: This paper re-evaluates the relevance of the gatekeeping framework in the twenty-first century, arguing that in an age of digital journalism the gatekeeping metaphor has begun to restrict our study of journalism. Reviewing current research and utilizing a variety of surveys, case studies and theoretical work, the paper proposes a new framework. It argues that rather than online journalism studies focusing on the packaging of a news product by a news source (gatekeeping), it should instead focus on the paths taken by news users to individual stories via search engines, gatewatchers and social media (way-finding). To support this, five key areas of change are investigated: the increased capacity for storing and publishing news; new tools for news creation; increased use of aggregators and gatewatchers; competition on a story-by-story basis; and immediate audience feedback.