Showing papers in "Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism in 2020"
TL;DR: In this article, 75 female journalists who work or have worked in Germany, India, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and the United States of America reveal that they face rampant online gendered discrimination.
Abstract: In-depth interviews with 75 female journalists who work or have worked in Germany, India, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America reveal that they face rampant online gendered ...
132 citations
TL;DR: This paper studied how social media users respond to fake news and why, using a mixed-methods approach in an explanatory subsequent study, and found that the diffusion of disinformation is a complex process.
Abstract: This exploratory study seeks to understand the diffusion of disinformation by examining how social media users respond to fake news and why. Using a mixed-methods approach in an explanatory-sequent...
123 citations
TL;DR: This paper found that journalists who use Twitter less in their work discount news they see on the platform, potentially causing them to dismiss information that many of their colleagues identify as newsworthy, and that the routinization of Twitter into news production affects news judgment.
Abstract: The literature suggests that journalists give a substantial amount of attention to Twitter and use the platform widely, but the impact of that use on news judgment has not been assessed. We hypothesize that Twitter affects journalists’ news judgment, impacting coverage decisions. To test this, we conducted an online survey experiment on working US journalists (N = 212). We find that journalists who use Twitter less in their work discount news they see on the platform, potentially causing them to dismiss information that many of their colleagues identify as newsworthy. Our results also indicate that the routinization of Twitter into news production affects news judgment – for journalists who incorporate Twitter into their reporting routines, and those with fewer years of experience, Twitter has become so normalized that tweets were deemed equally newsworthy as headlines appearing to be from the AP wire. This may have negative implications, such as pack journalism, but we also see positives, as Twitter may ...
99 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the key components and development of this still young and fast evolving genre, and investigate what the field itself defines as its "gold-standard": projects that were nominated for the Data Journalism Awards from 2013 to 2016.
Abstract: Data-driven journalism can be considered as journalism’s response to the datafication of society. To better understand the key components and development of this still young and fast evolving genre, we investigate what the field itself defines as its ‘gold-standard’: projects that were nominated for the Data Journalism Awards from 2013 to 2016 (n = 225). Using a content analysis, we examine, among other aspects, the data sources and types, visualisations, interactive features, topics and producers. Our results demonstrate, for instance, only a few consistent developments over the years and a predominance of political pieces, of projects by newspapers and by investigative journalism organisations, of public data from official institutions as well as a glut of simple visualisations, which in sum echoes a range of general tendencies in data journalism. On the basis of our findings, we evaluate data-driven journalism’s potential for improvement with regard to journalism’s societal functions.
83 citations
TL;DR: This article examined the effects of disclosure design characteristics in sponsored news on readers' ability to recognize such content as paid content as well as their ability to distinguish paid content from non-payed content.
Abstract: This experiment with a representative sample of US adults (N = 800) examines the effects of disclosure design characteristics in sponsored news on readers’ ability to recognize such content as paid...
81 citations
TL;DR: This article examined why fact-checking interventions are spreading globally at this point in time and offered empirical support that fact checking may be understood as a democracy-building tool that emerges where democratic institutions are perceived to be weak or are under threat.
Abstract: Since the emergence of FactCheck.org in the United States in 2003, fact-checking interventions have expanded both domestically and globally. The Duke Reporter’s Lab identified nearly 100 active initiatives around the world in 2016. Building off of previous exploratory work by Amazeen, this research utilizes the framework of critical juncture theory to examine why fact-checking interventions are spreading globally at this point in time. Seen as a professional reform movement in the journalistic community, historical research on reform movements suggests several possible factors influencing the emergence of fact-checking such as a decline in journalism, easy access to technology for the masses, and socio-political strife. This study offers empirical support that fact-checking may be understood as a democracy-building tool that emerges where democratic institutions are perceived to be weak or are under threat and examines similarities between the growth of fact-checking interventions and previous consumer re...
78 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the existing research literature on data journalism is explored, and the authors explore the existing approaches to data journalism and propose a new data journalism paradigm, which has attracted significant attention from researchers in different...
Abstract: This article explores the existing research literature on data journalism. Over the past years, this emerging journalistic practice has attracted significant attention from researchers in different...
72 citations
TL;DR: The influence of TikTok has reached the news media, which has adapted to the logic of the platform, in a context marked by the incidental consumption of news, virality and the intermediation of tec...
Abstract: The influence of TikTok has reached the news media, which has adapted to the logic of the platform, in a context marked by the incidental consumption of news, virality and the intermediation of tec...
65 citations
TL;DR: The moral panic about fake news internationally has formed the backdrop for debates about the impact of the spread of similar fabrications on politics in South Africa as discussed by the authors, which is the case here.
Abstract: The moral panic about ‘fake news’ internationally has formed the backdrop for debates about the impact of the spread of similar fabrications on politics in South Africa. News – whether ‘fake’ or ‘r...
61 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a general epistemological framework of data journalism in the devolved nations of the United Kingdom is presented, based on three conceptual lenses: materiality, performativity and reflexivity.
Abstract: This article outlines a general epistemological framework of data journalism in the devolved nations of the United Kingdom. By using an original model based on three conceptual lenses – materiality, performativity and reflexivity – this study examines the development of this form of journalism, the challenges it faces and its particularities in the context of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This research, therefore, offers unique insights from semi-structured interviews with data journalists and data editors based at, or working as freelancers for, the mainstream news organisations of these regions. The results suggest that data journalism in these devolved nations displays a distinctive character just as much as it reinforces the norms and rituals of the legacy organisations that pioneered this practice. While various models of data exploitation are tested, regional data journalists creatively circumvent generalised organisational struggles to lay the groundwork for their trade and professional com...
57 citations
TL;DR: The arrival of new actors in the journalistic field increasingly necessitates new conceptual approaches to better understand journalistic work in the digital age as mentioned in this paper, and social network sites have played a role in this process.
Abstract: The arrival of new actors in the journalistic field increasingly necessitates new conceptual approaches to better understand journalistic work in the digital age. Social network sites have played a...
TL;DR: This paper conducted interviews with editors and business managers at 12 newspapers and commercial broadcasters in six European countries to analyse how editors and managers describe the changing relationship between their departments and find that interviewees use rhetorical discourses and normative statements to de-construct traditional norms, build new professionally accepted norms and legitimise new working practices.
Abstract: The separation between editorial and business activities of news organisations has long been a fundamental norm of journalism. Journalists have traditionally considered this separation as both an ethical principle and an organisational solution to preserve their professional autonomy and isolate their newsrooms from profit-driven pressures exerted by advertising, sales and marketing departments. However, many news organisations are increasingly integrating their editorial and commercial operations. Based on 41 interviews conducted at 12 newspapers and commercial broadcasters in six European countries, we analyse how editors and business managers describe the changing relationship between their departments. Drawing on previous research on journalistic norms and change, we focus on how interviewees use rhetorical discourses and normative statements to de-construct traditional norms, build new professionally accepted norms and legitimise new working practices. We find, first, that the traditional norm of sep...
TL;DR: The authors argue for new approaches to the study of incidental exposure that better account for the role of algorithms, platforms, and processes of datafication in shaping the likelihood of news stories.
Abstract: This article argues for new approaches to the study of incidental exposure that better account for the role of algorithms, platforms, and processes of datafication in shaping the likelihood of news...
TL;DR: The authors explores the nature of harassment perpetrated by strangers, one-time sources, in the context of growing threats to the press worldwide, including in supposedly ‘safe’ developed democracies.
Abstract: At a time of growing threats to the press worldwide, including in supposedly ‘safe’ developed democracies, this article explores the nature of harassment perpetrated by strangers, one-time sources,...
TL;DR: This article investigated whether different types of news outlets emphasize different news factors, using a large-scale manual content annealing system, and found that news factors are correlated with newsworthy stories.
Abstract: Journalists use news factors to construct newsworthy stories. This study investigates whether different types of news outlets emphasize different news factors. Using a large-scale manual content an...
TL;DR: For instance, the authors found that even individuals who are not motivated to seek out news are believed to be a key part of online users' news diets on social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Abstract: Social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter have become a key part of online users’ news diets. On social network sites, even individuals who are not motivated to seek out news are believed t...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined how market orientation affects the use of web analytics in newsrooms and conducted 57 interviews with journalists working full-time in United States-based newsrooms.
Abstract: This study examines how market orientation affects the use of web analytics in newsrooms. The researcher conducted 57 in-depth interviews with journalists working full time in United States-based n...
TL;DR: The authors investigated how the media stigmatized Toxteth during, and immediately following, the disturbances in 1981, and found that the name of Toxtarth was largely defined by the media and that the residents were denied a voice in the press coverage in 1981 with fewer than 10% of all articles quoting a resident.
Abstract: This article investigates how the press stigmatized Toxteth during, and immediately following, the disturbances in 1981. It builds upon a body of literature on territorial stigmatization where there is a gap in understanding surrounding the production and formation of stigma. Drawing on the acceptance in literature that the media is a key contributor to territorial stigma, the author delves further to understand some of the techniques that the media uses to stigmatize place. The author engages in a combined quantitative and qualitative analysis of 496 newspaper articles from five British newspapers to examine how the press reports on Toxteth, and who constructs Toxteth’s identity. The author shows that the name of ‘Toxteth’ was largely defined by the media and that the residents of Toxteth were denied a voice in the press coverage in 1981 with fewer than 10 per cent of all articles quoting a resident. The author refers to this process as ‘stranger-making’, and it underscores the way that the media denied residents an ability to construct their own identity and the identity of their area. While stranger-making involves obfuscating the unique contours of Toxteth and silencing voices, the press simultaneously impose aspects of identity from a position of power through the techniques of naming, negativity, and oppositionality.
TL;DR: This paper examined how perceptions of personal bias and news bias affect news choices and news media literacy and found that the perceptions of bias and personal bias affect readers' news consumption and news choices.
Abstract: Drawing on interviews with a diverse group of adults living in the United States, this study examines news media literacy and how perceptions of personal bias and news bias affect news choices and ...
TL;DR: The Political Incidental News Exposure Model (PILSEM) as mentioned in this paper is a political event exposure model that considers incidental news exposure as a dynamic process and distinguishes two levels of discourse.
Abstract: This article outlines the Political Incidental News Exposure Model. The Political Incidental News Exposure Model understands incidental news exposure as a dynamic process and distinguishes two leve...
TL;DR: Culture has been viewed as the biggest obstacle to change in the legacy media newsroom as mentioned in this paper, and older as well as recent literature points out that professional culture typically hinders newsroom innovation.
Abstract: Culture has been viewed as the biggest obstacle to change in the legacy media newsroom. Older as well as recent literature points out that professional culture typically hinders newsroom innovation...
TL;DR: This article used 48 in-depth interviews with managers, editors, and reporters at local and regional newspapers and their parent companies in four countries (Finland, France, Germany, and the United States).
Abstract: This study uses 48 in-depth interviews with managers, editors, and reporters at local and regional newspapers and their parent companies in four countries (Finland, France, Germany, and the United ...
TL;DR: The authors posits a corollary to the notion of paradigm repair that explores how a journalistic paradigm gets built and formed over time, and seeks to historicize paradigm repair, showing that it is possible to construct a new paradigm over time.
Abstract: This essay posits a corollary to the notion of paradigm repair that explores how a journalistic paradigm gets built and formed over time. The essay seeks to historicize paradigm repair, showing tha...
TL;DR: This article demonstrates how techniques such as sentiment analysis, named entity recognition, supervised machine learning, and automated queries of external databases can be combined and used to study journalistic content.
Abstract: We investigate how news values differ between online and print news articles. We hypothesize that print and online articles differ in terms of news values because of differences in the routines used to produce them. Based on a quantitative automated content analysis of N = 762,095 Dutch news items, we show that online news items are more likely to be follow-up items than print items, and that there are further differences regarding news values like references to persons, the power elite, negativity, and positivity. In order to conduct this large-scale analysis, we developed innovative methods to automatically code a wide range of news values. In particular, this article demonstrates how techniques such as sentiment analysis, named entity recognition, supervised machine learning, and automated queries of external databases can be combined and used to study journalistic content. Possible explanations for the difference found between online and offline news are discussed.
TL;DR: Like many fields of communication research, journalism scholarship draws on theories from other disciplines and mostly applies social theories to make sense of journalistic practices as discussed by the authors, and one theory in particular is social theory theory.
Abstract: Like many fields of communication research, journalism scholarship draws on theories from other disciplines and mostly applies social theories to make sense of journalistic practices. One theory th...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose the notion of X Journalism as an observational tool and concept, which owes its existence to a simple observation: the evolution of journalism is accompanied by the emergenc...
Abstract: In this article we propose the notion of X Journalism as an observational tool and concept. It owes its existence to a simple observation: the evolution of journalism is accompanied by the emergenc...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors contribute to theorizing the dynamics of incidental news consumption through an analysis of 200 semi-structured interviews with people in Argentina, Finland, Israel, Japan, and Sweden.
Abstract: This article seeks to contribute to theorizing the dynamics of incidental news consumption. Through an analysis of 200 semi-structured interviews with people in Argentina, Finland, Israel, Japan, a...
TL;DR: For instance, this paper found that journalists are among the most frequent users of Twitter, and Twitter has become an important platform for personal branding, and social media logic promotes not only a chase for virality and impressiveness, but also a pursuit for impressiveness.
Abstract: Journalists are among the most frequent users of Twitter, and Twitter has become an important platform for personal branding. Social media logic promotes not only a chase for virality and impressiv...
TL;DR: Investigation of news consumption and news literacy through the eyes of early adolescents showed that early adolescents have broad definitions of news, and see news as important, but often as boring, repetitive and negative, and disconnected from youth.
Abstract: To function as well-informed citizens in democracy, early adolescents (12–16 years old) should become news literate news consumers. In this time of fragmented media use and evolving conceptions of ...
TL;DR: The authors focused on successful incidental news exposure, when unintended news contacts result in active engagement and knowledge gains. But their work was limited to the context of social media, and they focused on social media only.
Abstract: Research on incidental news exposure in the context of social media focuses on ‘successful’ incidental news exposure – when unintended news contacts result in active engagement and knowledge gains....