Search

"The Journalism Manifesto" by Barbie Zelizer, Pablo J. Boczkowski, and C. W. Anderson is a book that critiques and offers solutions for the future of journalism. The authors address the challenges faced by journalism in the current global political climate, particularly in response to the presidency of Donald Trump. They argue for reform and revolution in journalism, challenging the illusions of autonomy, centrality, cohesion, and permanence that have hindered its progress. The book examines the role of elites, norms, and audiences in journalism, and concludes with a discussion on whether reform or revolution is the more relevant solution. This thought-provoking and accessible book is recommended for journalism studies scholars and can be used in journalism courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels. [Extracted from the article]

Science journalism is a critical way for the public to learn about and benefit from scientific findings. Such journalism shapes the public's view of the current state of science and legitimizes experts. Journalists can only cite and quote a limited number of sources, who they may discover in their research, including recommendations by other scientists. Biases in either process may influence who is identified and ultimately included as a source. To examine potential biases in science journalism, we analyzed 22,001 non-research articles published by Nature and compared these with Nature-published research articles with respect to predicted gender and name origin. We extracted cited authors' names and those of quoted speakers. While citations and quotations within a piece do not reflect the entire information-gathering process, they can provide insight into the demographics of visible sources. We then predicted gender and name origin of the cited authors and speakers. We compared articles with a comparator set made up of first and last authors within primary research articles in Nature and a subset of Springer Nature articles in the same time period. In our analysis, we found a skew toward quoting men in Nature science journalism. However, quotation is trending toward equal representation at a faster rate than authorship rates in academic publishing. Gender disparity in Nature quotes was dependent on the article type. We found a significant over-representation of names with predicted Celtic/English origin and under-representation of names with a predicted East Asian origin in both in extracted quotes and journal citations but dampened in citations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lines between journalism and public relations (PR) have become increasingly blurred with the rise of organizational media. Within this landscape, certain publications mimic journalistic formats while concurrently serving as PR instruments to promote organizational interests. These hybrid endeavors are commonly known as "brand journalism." This paper presents the findings of a quantitative survey conducted among brand journalists in Germany, focusing on the perceptions of their roles and ethical orientations. We compare their responses to those of German journalists surveyed as part of the Worlds of Journalism research project. The data suggests that brand journalists largely align with journalists in terms of their professional roles and ethical orientations, with only a few noteworthy distinctions. One such distinction is that brand journalists tend to perceive their role less as critical observers who scrutinize political leaders and businesses. In essence, our study underscores the remarkable resemblance in role concepts between brand journalists and journalists, offering insights into the convergence of organizational media with modern journalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile technology is part and parcel of the news today, perhaps to such a degree that it is hard to imagine news without it. This technology has affected those platforms on which news is being produced, for example, but also the array of actors that are involved in its manufacturing through mobile technology, thereby illustrating news as an ongoing information construction process in which professionals and other participants join hands. Stemming from a socio-technical emphasis in journalism this paper addresses the interplay between mobile news technology and social actors by focusing on three leading Israeli WhatsApp news groups ("People of Silence", "Field Security" and "Reports from the Ground") and the daily supply of materials delivered via these groups from their participating members. Based on a thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with the groups' founders, supported by the groups' materials and messages data, findings show how these groups perform as unique pseudo-professional news groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The second generation of web tools shook the journalist profession approximately two decades ago with the proactive incorporation of audiences into the media. Citizen journalism and user-generated content arose as an object of interest due to the democratising value of participation attributed to them, with empowered citizens who could emulate the professional and institutional practises of journalists. However, difficulties soon came to the surface, and audience participation in news media began to be limited. Within this context, this article conducts a critical review of studies on audience participation in news media based on a systematic literature review. The results indicate that, in general, audiences showed low interest in the creation of informative content and that their participation has grown increasingly problematic. In addition, journalists are reticent as they defend their professional role above all else, while company strategies have prioritised making participation profitable. For this reason, the idea of citizen journalism that offers user-created content through the media appears to be a thing of the past, with many characteristics that could define it as a failed innovation. Therefore, the text concludes that audience participation in the media could be defined as mediatised participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the liberal international order has been falling, the heteropolar order coupled with politics of uncertainty has been rising. In this context, illiberal regimes of status-seeking powers have realized the value of public diplomacy to promulgate their versions of the "reality." Those illiberal regimes' adoption of public diplomacy tools (incl. international public news agencies) has generated discussions on theoretical and practical approaches to the field at the intersection of political science/international relations, media, and communication studies. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to contribute to the emerging literature on public diplomacy of non-Western illiberal democracies. With the assumption that those regimes' illiberal democratic characteristics will be reflected in their public agencies' coverage styles (e.g., monologic, conflictive, and unbalanced), the article raises the following question: How do illiberal democracies utilize international public agencies as public diplomacy channels? To answer this question, it compares framing strategies (peace/war journalism) of the Russian TASS and the Turkish Anatolian Agency public agencies during the Syrian crisis. The findings reveal that those illiberal regimes' public agencies have reported the crisis as a state-centric monolog in conflict with the West by distrupting the global public good (i.e., peace). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the wake of the recent attacks on democracy by a re-invigorated populist neo-fascism there is a pressing need to articulate a middle ground position in debates between the public sphere paradigm and its critiques. This requires an engagement with tensions between consensus and conflict, rationality and emotion, and the system and the lifeworld. Furthermore, there is also a need to scrutinize the role of hybrid media system in promoting populist neo-fascist discourses and actors, but also assert its normative task to combat it. Whereas conflict and power cannot be eradicated from the political, conflict is also a destructive force which requires a set of agreed upon ethico-political principles in order for a radical democracy to function. It is also argued that emotions need to be part of the democratic fight-back, but it is also suggested that a critical realist disposition combining epistemic relativism with judgmental rationality will be crucial to counter the relativism on steroids practiced by neo-fascist actors. Finally, the hybrid media system needs to be reconnected with the lifeworld, citizen interests and democratic values through a new regulatory framework, and the tradition of public journalism could provide inspiration for a democratic fightback from within the media system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Science journalism in Global South is hindered by several factors, including the absence of local science stories, insufficiently trained science journalists, and a communication gap between communities of scientists and journalists. Drawing on observations from South Asian science journalism and employing the communities of practice framework, this essay proposes ideas for a multi-stakeholder collaboration that aims to bridge the gap between science and journalism in the Global South and to bring science journalism to the mainstream, through a shared goal, partnership, resources, literacy, mentoring and content production. We propose a sustainable institutional interfacing structure — a reciprocal and iterative Coalition for Science Journalism (CSJ) — between science advocacy organizations (SAOs) that produce science knowledge, professional media associations (PMAs) that promote professionalism, and media organizations (MOs) that disseminate information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact of citizen journalism in Kazakhstan, utilizing quantitative and logical methods, drawing on both foreign and local insights. Findings reveal trust in mainstream media, concerns about bias and recognition of citizen journalism's value for diverse perspectives. Media professionals acknowledge its significance and express varied opinions on credibility and future development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the postwar economic boom, the American market was flooded with amateur cameras. While designed primarily to record domestic life, these cameras have become so ubiquitous that today we expect almost any event, from a family vacation to an act of police brutality, to have been captured on film or video. These moments where everyday citizen becomes accidental journalist highlight the democratic possibility of vernacular cameras to capture unofficial and uncensored records of history. Yet citizen photojournalism is also part of a broader epistemological shift in our perception of history. Such images not only offer evidence of what happened, they also situate the viewer as a citizen witness to history and thus encourage a "first person" affective response. To examine this shift, I focus on the urtext of citizen photojournalism: Abraham Zapruder's home movie of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. In contrast to the standard journalistic or forensic camera image, the vernacular Zapruder film offers a more participatory relation to history, but one that is also more subjective. This essay will explore three distinct iterations of the Zapruder film: in the pages of Life magazine, in the irreverent and humorous 1975 performance/video artwork Eternal Frame , and in the experiential museum display of The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. Each instance engages with amateurs and their cameras in distinct and revealing ways and draws attention to our evolving perception of citizen photojournalism as both empirical evidence and an experiential framework for feeling history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural journalists are news professionals, but also citizens engaged in their communities. The function and purpose of local journalism and public relations have become interdependent as media and communication has become more digital. These relationships create some tensions and it is in this environment that rural journalists make daily choices to cover a story or run prepared content provided by an outside source. Through the lens of boundary work, this study explores how (N = 33) self-identifying rural journalists navigated this gray area and walked the line between creating authentic journalistic content and publishing public relations content. We found that in principle they identified stark boundaries between public relations and rural journalism based on journalistic norms, but in practice these journalists were often put in a position to engage in public relations work to support their communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citizen journalism is growing very rapidly, along with many media that use citizen journalism as a source of news and information. In addition to mass media, citizen journalism uses social media as a platform to receive and disseminate new information. The @pulau.enggano account is an account that uses citizen journalism as a source of information. This study aims to analyze the role of citizen journalism in generating information about @pulau.enggano accounts using a qualitative descriptive paradigm based on postpositivism. Data collection techniques were conducted by conducting in-depth interviews and observations of two key informants and five informants. The theory used in this study is Tony Rodgers' theory of the role and concept of citizen journalism initiation. This research found that the role of citizen journalism is very important to provide information about tourism on Enggano Island on the @pula.enggano Instagram account because it can help the team to get information easily, quickly and in real time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Volume 48, issue 3 of the Journal of Communication Inquiry explores the theme of "Journalism Studies and the Power of Place." The issue contains eight peer-reviewed articles and one book review that delve into the influence of place on journalism. The articles cover topics such as rural news consumption, the impact of physical newspapers on readers, the role of education in shaping journalistic norms, the evolving discourse around the term "alt-right," the changing role of public broadcasting, the portrayal of journalism in film narratives, and the importance of community connections in effective journalism. The research presented emphasizes the need for journalism to engage with its local environment and develop responsive and responsible practices that support the communities it serves. [Extracted from the article]

The current increase in religiously motivated radicalism is a serious social problem in various countries. Through our qualitative research, which was based on the knowledge and experience of experts recorded during the focus group interview, it was possible to identify the most frequent causes of religious radicalism in Slovakia today. The Slovak Republic, a small post-communist country in the region of Eastern Europe, served as an empirical example for research purposes. Following the research findings, a second research objective was set, namely to present the possibilities and contribution of citizen journalism that can play a key role in tracking, documenting and sharing cases of religious radicalism. The research presents the causes of religious radicalism and the optimal possibilities of citizen journalism, which would adequately respond to contemporary religious radicalism with the use of online media. The activities of "people's journalists" appear not only as a trigger for public debate that takes place on social media, blogs, and independent journalistic platforms but also as a necessary voice calling for accountability and transparency of solutions concerning religious radicalism, which is inherently complex and a multifactorial process, often leading to extremism. This study attempts to answer the question of why civic engagement using online media is important in this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent developments in generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) have revitalized academic discourse on algorithmic systems, particularly on their potential, ethical considerations, risks, and regulatory challenges. Extensive research has examined how algorithms affect communication processes, focusing on their influence on news organizations, journalistic practices, public-media dynamics, media literacy, and combating disinformation and filter bubbles. An emergent strand of research defines and measures the multidimensional concept of algorithmic literacy. However limited research exists on the intersection of algorithmic literacy and journalism. This gap is particularly concerning given the pivotal role of journalism in shaping public discourse, informing citizens, upholding democratic values and contrasting disinformation. Understanding how journalists perceive and engage with algorithms is essential, as these technologies significantly influence their professional tasks, including content production and distribution. In Portugal, where newcomer journalists work in precarious conditions and digital media transformation is rapidly evolving, understanding how journalists interact with and perceive algorithms is vital. Our study, through a multi-phased approach, aims to fill this gap questioning how can algorithmic literacy, encompassing cognitive, attitudinal and behavioural dimensions, be effectively assessed among professional journalists? The exploratory results present a validated methodological tool, instrument based on a multidimensional analytical framework and specifically designed to measure algorithmic literacy levels and to assess journalists' experiences. Critical discussion addresses the methodological procedures and preliminary findings from the pre-test, offering insights into Portuguese journalists' understanding, perceptions, and competencies regarding algorithmic systems. By shedding light on the cognitive, affective, and behavioural aspects of journalists' engagement with algorithms, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of the algorithmic literacy among journalists, which is essential to sustain the quality of their work and for an effective counteraction against disinformation. It also opens avenues for similar studies in other geographical or professional contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social media platform TikTok is increasingly becoming an important space for sharing and finding news and information, especially for younger people. Most scholarly research examining news sharing on TikTok has focused on practices by professional journalists and news organizations; however, these are only a small percentage of the actors who make up the news information sharing ecosystem on the platform. In particular, citizen journalists play a large role in creating and disseminating news on TikTok. Thus, I interviewed 14 TikTok citizen journalists to understand their news reporting practices. Findings suggest TikTok citizen journalists are guided by the platform logics and concerns around misinformation in the content they post on the platform. This study contributes to the literature on the role of citizen journalists and social media in shaping news disseminated online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This article attempts to highlight the defining role that community media engagements play during times of the pandemic. It is argued that the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic forced community news media houses to reinvent their news reporting practices to cover issues pertaining to the marginalized and underprivileged sections of the society. It explores the role of community media in engaging and empowering the citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: Central to our study is the analysis of the news model of "Video Volunteers" (henceforth VV), an independent community-based online news platform based in India. To understand the level of citizen participation and engagement in the making and dissemination of news during the pandemic, the authors conducted 13 interviews with different stakeholders of VV, including founders and news audiences. Findings: It seeks to reveal that when the mainstream media have failed to represent the issues of a local community, it is the independent media platforms like VV which function as a veritable source of information and sharing of knowledge. Most importantly, this paper emphasizes that the communicative model of independent community-based online platforms has been most successful in the coverage of the pandemic and the level of engagement with the citizenry. Originality/value: The study contributes to the aspects of reciprocity and collaborative journalism in community news media and its potential impacts on news creation and dissemination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rural weekly newspaper industry rooted in traditional geographically bounded U.S. communities was long thought to have been shielded from industry dilemmas—revenue and circulation—at larger mainstream daily newspapers. However, recent data show a shift in these rural community journalism trends, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic. Using normative theory and diffusion of innovations, this study examines how rural weekly newspaper publishers perceived, nearly 18 months after the onset of the pandemic, how COVID-19 impacted their newspapers' advertising, news, technology, and community involvement. Survey results reveal short-term and long-term content and financial challenges plague U.S. rural grassroots information sources with circulation less than 3,000—indicating the end of the "golden era" of weekly newspapers. Despite the constraints, publishers remain optimistic and dedicated to their audiences, albeit reluctant to swift change, as they perceive themselves as the only reliable information source for their rural communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Journalism teaching hospitals have long been a steady source of news in the communities they call home. As these programs have a track record of increasing essential public knowledge and adding vitality to journalism programs, this study mines the knowledge of current and former journalism teaching hospital leaders to ascertain the necessary elements for starting what will be a sustainable program. Critical elements found included a passionate founder, a local coverage gap the program can fill, and support from academic leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Beacons in the Darkness: Hope and Transformation Among America's Community Newspapers" by Dave Hoekstra is a book that explores the world of community newspapers in the United States. The author, a former columnist and critic, interviews editors and publishers from various small-town newspapers to shed light on their dedication and perseverance. While the book is not a manual on saving community journalism, it offers inspiring stories of individuals who have devoted their lives to covering local news. However, the book lacks organization and fails to provide critical analysis or practical solutions. [Extracted from the article]

As in almost every part of the world, the issue of "Public Space" and "Private Space" is constantly discussed in our country. This situation is also frequently discussed in the media. This issue, which was also discussed in the traditional media (newspapers, radio and television), has been further fuelled by the emergence of the "Internet", which we call New Media, the addition of Social Media in the following years and the emergence of "Citizen Journalism" in recent years. In recent years, 'Drone Journalism' has also been added to these debates, which have been brought to the judiciary from time to time. While many news agencies and media organisations use drones to report news, Citizen Journalists also use drones to film everything and use it on their social media sites. In addition to these, some Communication faculties in our country have also opened a "Drone Journalism" Department. The "Public Space, Private Space" debate, which has been going on for many years and which has become insurmountable, has turned into an insurmountable situation, namely "Violation of Privacy" with "Drone Journalism". In addition to some benefits and conveniences that Drone Journalism provides to the media, it is often seen that it violates private life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores trust-building strategies in future-oriented news discourse, marked by a high degree of uncertainty. While current research mainly focuses on audiences' perceptions of news credibility, this study addresses news trust from a production standpoint. We examine the trust-building efforts of media actors, focusing on their discursive labor within the context of election projections. Drawing on rich data from five election rounds in Israel and the US, we qualitatively analyzed 400 news texts and 400 tweets that were produced by 20 US and 20 Israeli media actors. This textual analysis was supplemented by 10 in-depth interviews with Israeli journalists. Our findings demonstrate three types of journalistic trust-building rhetoric in election coverage: facticity, authority, and transparency. These strategies result in a two-fold form of trust, which re-affirms traditional notions of accuracy and validity, while also challenging the ability of newspersons to obtain them in contemporary political and media cultures. Overall, these strategies hold unique opportunities and challenges for sustaining public trust in journalism and illuminate the complex communicative labor involved in building trust with news audiences. Our findings also highlight the importance of studying trust not only in relation to the past and the present, but also in future-oriented discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As "the first draft of history," journalism is an essential agent of memory work. Although the relationship between the fields of memory studies and journalism studies has historically been underdeveloped, scholars in both disciplines have established productive and necessary connections between the two. One such connection is the area of anniversary journalism, or current news coverage of anniversaries of past events. Anniversary journalism is also a means by which journalism commemorates itself, particularly through the celebration of institutional anniversaries, and an opportunity for journalism organizations to summarize the past. Using a corpus of nearly 80 articles reflecting on the 50th anniversary of National Public Radio (NPR), the present study employs thematic analysis to examine how NPR engaged with its organizational past and American collective memory more broadly. This study identifies four themes throughout the network's commemorative coverage: the archive, nostalgia, democracy, and the public. I argue that the series should be understood as an organizational branding initiative that uses collective memory and anniversary journalism as a response to larger transformative change in the journalism industry, and thus, as a strategy to assert the continued cultural relevance of public service media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hyperlocal journalism that was the first used in 2004 is a type of journalism in which the news of communities in a small town or neighborhood is conveyed by citizens within a media outlet. In hyperlocal journalism, local people can produce and broadcast news as well as being the source of the news. One of the main features of hyperlocal journalism differentiates from local media is positive news production. Hyperlocal journalism is a promising model to the relationship between readers and media. Reaching small communities that cannot find a place in the media contributes to the formation of a new news network and to the expansion. The aim of the study is to describe positive and negative aspects of hyperlocal journalism to the local press. Adana local press is taken as a sample in the study. Qualitative research is conducted using the semi-structured interview method. In the research, it is concluded that hyperlocal journalism would diversify the news content, increase the circulation, citizen journalism would become more systematic, and all these would make significant contributions to the local press. Another result of the research is that in order to make these positive contributions, first of all, the readers should be educated, and economic support is needed for this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entertainment journalism has long been a marginal object of academic inquiry due to its reputation as a trivial distraction from public affairs journalism, yet this view has since been challenged by scholars who emphasize its substantive role in political discourse. Although previous research has disputed the idea that entertainment news helps audiences forge connections with public issues, the present study renews this line of inquiry at a time when this journalism has increasingly become a driver of political reporting and opinion, particularly in tandem with activism efforts addressing the media representation of marginalized identity groups as well as celebrity-fueled public advocacy. In-depth interviews are used to illuminate the interpretive processes of US audience members who engage online with this news, outlining how it is used as a resource for navigating the politics of media representation, for making political meanings from celebrity culture, and for fulminating right-wing backlash to cultural institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study integrates multiple theoretical perspectives of communication infrastructure, social capital, and citizen journalism to examine the interplay of interconnected community storytelling networks, social trust, and citizen contribution to the public sphere on civic participation. An analysis of nationwide survey data indicates that citizens' integration into community storytelling network and citizen journalism practice alike contribute significantly to their civic activity. The findings reveal significant interactions between one's integrated connection to storytelling network, their citizen journalism practice, and their political trust on online civic participation. Most notably, the three-way interactions suggest that the positive interaction between the integrated connection to storytelling network and citizen journalism practice is more pronounced among those who hold a high-level of political trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As more journalists rely on social media platforms like Twitter to gather information and report the news, scholars have identified an increasing tension between traditional journalistic values and reporters' construction of online personas. Moreover, networked journalists build these mediated personas—following platforms' affordances—to better engage with fellow journalists and algorithmic audiences. Drawing on data from 15 in-depth interviews with Kosovar Albanian political journalists and editors, this article offers a unique perspective by examining the negotiation process between professional standards and journalists' online personas on Twitter. Via their online personas, influenced by the audience and the platforms' affordances and logic, journalists and editors have given rise to new role conceptions and standards in local political journalism. The results show that political journalists and editors in Kosovo view Twitter as a platform where they can display both professional and personal layers of their identity. Furthermore, they feel unrestricted by journalistic standards, taking on roles outside the traditional scope of journalism: as good citizens, they express opinions on political issues; as activists, they advocate for personally meaningful causes; but they also see themselves as mordant critics of political figures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we sought to provide an accurate and detailed diagnosis of the transformations witnessed by Palestinian media institutions in light of the new environment of communication, and to know how Palestinian media institutions can establish a new communication model within their organizational structures in line with the new environment of communication in the digital age. It also discussed the mechanisms used by professional journalists in traditional Palestinian media institutions to deal with the contents produced by citizen journalists. In this context, we posed the following problem: What are the contexts of transformation and integration of traditional Palestinian media in the context of communication digitization, and how did citizenship journalism practices employed in newsrooms? In order to answer this problem, we followed the qualitative content analysis approach. The tool of the qualitative approach was the (codified) scientific interviews with editors-in-chief in the local Palestinian media. It sought to activate the participation of citizen journalists in furnishing news spaces, and created platforms for it to communicate with its audience" Crowd Sourcing", and to form supporters for its "crowd journalism" to take advantage of the feature of communicative interaction through social media, and this indicates that smart TV newsrooms are looking forward because Convergence News room [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After two decades of regulatory vacuum, powerful digital platforms such as Google and Meta/Facebook, also known as the "Digital Lords" (Brevini 2020), have faced growing criticism worldwide. They are accused of possessing excessive economic, political, and ideological influence while evading public accountability. Although there have been calls to address their monopolistic market dominance, such as antitrust measures to break their stranglehold on data, the most tangible interventions have focused on policy tools to make the Digital Lords contribute to journalism. With governments hesitant to allocate public funds for public interest journalism, policymakers in various countries are exploring avenues to make these wealthy and tax-avoiding Digital Lords pay for the news they distribute. The "Journalism Competition and Preservation Act" is presently being deliberated in Congress in the United States, with the objective of aiding small and mid-sized news organizations in their negotiations with digital platforms for fair compensation for the utilization of their content. The European Union has implemented a copyright reform granting press publishers the right to be remunerated by Digital Lords for the use of newspapers and magazines. One widely discussed policy tool in this regard is the Australian "News Media Bargaining Code." This article examines the successes and failures of the code, adopted a year and a half ago, in addressing Australia's journalism crisis and its pressing issues of media diversity and news scarcity. Ultimately, it argues that the Australian Media Bargaining Code exemplifies the progressive privatization of media policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The book "Avoiding the News: Reluctant Audiences for Journalism" by Benjamin Toff, Ruth Palmer, and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen explores the phenomenon of news avoidance and why a significant portion of the population chooses not to consume news. The authors define news avoiders as those who intentionally or unintentionally do not consume news produced by professional journalists. They find that news avoiders are more likely to be young, female, and from lower socioeconomic classes. The book argues that three key variables influence news avoidance: identities, ideologies, and infrastructures. The authors provide a framework for understanding news avoidance and call for change in journalism to meet the needs of these audiences. [Extracted from the article]

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the role news organizations play in disseminating information and shaping public response to the crisis. This study adopts an ecological approach in examining Russian regional journalists' adaptations to the pandemic. Based on in-depth interviews, the study found that a worsened economic situation has increased dependence on state subsidies. Journalists avoided questioning authorities' response to COVID, with some publishing government information and others focusing on practical tips for readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the historical roots of the role of successive Turkish governments' fear of media and Turkish media's fear of government authority with respect to the development of press freedom over the long run and closely analyzes the historical pressures imposed on journalists through legal and informal means. We focus particularly on the economic and political pressure on the media in Turkey and offer three arguments regarding the fear in Turkish media: (1) Media fear is historical rather than a rupture that happened during the Justice and Development Party era; (2) out of fear of losing power, the governments use structural, legislative and extra-legal factors to the advantage of the ruling party to support a friendly media-ecology; and (3) the repressed media attempt to come out of this ecology of fear by utilizing new tactics of reporting, such as alternative media and citizen journalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the changes in consumer culture and lifestyles within the framework of the projections of the transformations in Turkey's ecopolitical and cultural structure are analyzed with a critical political economy approach in the context of society magazines (Alem and Şamdan Plus). In the study, which also includes a distinct definition of community press and journalism, the ecopolitical structure of the Turkish media shaped by neo-liberal policies is questioned through society magazines. In the study, qualitative analysis method was adopted, and semistructured in-depth interviews and textual analysis techniques were used to collect the relevant data. In-depth interviews were conducted with three people from each magazine selected as the object of analysis. The interviewees were asked questions about the production dynamics and content of society magazines. In addition, a total of 32 issues (16 issues of Alem and 16 issues of Şamdan Plus) of the magazines from all the issues published in 2018 were selected as the object of analysis by using purposive sampling technique, and these issues were examined using textual analysis. The study concludes that society magazines play an important role in shaping and popularizing consumer culture and lifestyles in Turkey. It has been particularly determined that members of the upper class aim to reinforce the relatively privileged position and prestige of their social class by displaying their luxurious and ostentatious lifestyles through society magazines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People are biased in their consumption of scientific information. The current research investigated conclusion thresholds, testing the hypothesis that more scientific evidence is needed to arrive at a non-preferred than a preferred conclusion. Participants read brief summaries of scientific studies exploring the nature of homosexuality (Study 1; N = 126) and air safety that supported either the Democratic or the Republican position on the issue (Study 2; N = 311). Participants read summaries until a conclusion could be made about the evidence. Supporting the hypotheses, participants read fewer study summaries when the results of those studies supported their preferred conclusion than when they did not. Recommendations focus on how the scientific community and science journalism can address this bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under-investment in public service journalism has led to growing interest in the possibility of philanthropic support for the sector. Though long associated with non-profit journalism in North America, there is little tradition of philanthropy in UK journalism. This paper explains how recognition of public interest journalism as charitable can be achieved through more constructive interpretations of the existing law. Despite its initially conservative response, the Charity Commission has recently taken important steps towards recognising defined forms of journalism as charitable under the existing law. This paper reviews the democratic imperatives fulfilled by public interest journalism which justify such developments; and seeks to demonstrate how this framework for defining public interest journalism aligns with the public benefit requirement in charity law, opening up the possibility of new forms of charitably funded 'public benefit journalism'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategic litigation against public participation is a threat to public interest journalism. Although typically a defamation claim underpins a SLAPP, the GDPR may serve as an alternative basis. This paper explores how public interest journalism is protected, and could be better protected, from abusive GDPR proceedings. The GDPR addresses the tension between data protection and freedom of expression by providing for a journalistic exemption. However, narrow national implementations of this provision leave the GDPR open for abuse. By analysing GDPR proceedings against newspaper Forbes Hungary, the paper illustrates how the GDPR can be instrumentalised as a SLAPP strategy. As European anti-SLAPP initiatives are finetuned, abusive GDPR proceedings need to be recognised as emerging forms of SLAPPs, requiring more attention to inadequate engagement with European freedom of expression standards in national implementations of the GDPR, data protection authorities' role in facilitating SLAPPs, and the chilling effects of GDPR sanctions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The violent spectacle of the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot provides a case study of how online open-source investigation helped identify members of the mob and provide deeper understanding of the day's events. Considering this form of investigation as an emerging network for the hybrid institution of journalism, an assemblage extending beyond the newsroom, this study takes a mixed-method, networked ethnography approach to map out this open-source space. Using a network analysis of open-source investigators based on Twitter data shows that the recently emerged Bellingcat organization and similar open-source groups serve a liaison function, bridging professional journalists and largely anonymous citizen "sleuthers." Using this network as a guide, depth interviews were conducted with key participants, showing that the community was organized around an accountability ethos and a methodology of verification. We argue that this interlocking network has potential to strengthen the resilience of the journalistic institution, build citizen trust and resist politicized historical revisionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advancement in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are revolutionizing Development Journalism (DJ) into an effective strategy for building competitive economies globally. However, many countries in Africa including Tanzania are slow in tapping potentials of ICT for development journalism. Digital penetration in the form of the Internet and social media are changing the way in which journalists are mobilizing and engaging communities in journalism practises, a key strategy for a competitive digitalised economy. This paper was guided by Development Communication Theory and Diffusion of Innovation Theory to explore the use of online social media by journalists in Tanzania to practice development journalism. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods, this paper analyses risks and benefits of online social media platforms in contributing to national development goals. A total of 15 social media journalists and managers from Mwananchi Digital, Ayo TV and Azam TV gave their insights in this paper. Use of online social media platforms for development news is still in its infancy stage, key findings show that out of 270 (100%) studied news items, only 66 (24%) manifested development news practice. Non-development news accounted for 204 (76%) of news items analysed. There were only four (4) (27%) journalists who use social media as a source of information, and platform for disseminating development news in Ayo TV compared to 3 (20%) in Mwananchi Digital and 5 (33%) in Azam TV. Results call upon some intensive national efforts to empower journalists in the use of ICT and mobilize audience in the changing communication patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we make the case for public interest journalism that advances decolonial societies through the application of the quintessential African moral philosophy of ubuntu. In doing so, we discuss how ubuntu combats colonialism and apartheid to enable individuals to become the most that they can be. In this regard, we see decolonial journalism advancing freedom of expression under conditions that enable truth in the public good to emerge, thus challenging the widely purveyed view that freedom of expression or dissent is alien to the African cultural fabric. Indeed, while holding that decolonial journalism is part of the co-creation of communicative spheres that are marked by freedom, justice and dignity, we acknowledge that a decolonial African journalism is capacious enough to express contending perspectives and to serve goals that empower individuals and communities with truths that enable them to meet their needs in ever-changing circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In September 2018, the New York Times published an anonymous editorial entitled, "I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration." This study aimed to understand what tensions emerged for key stakeholders, including the whistleblower, the New York Times, President Trump, and others, as they made sense of the editorial. We found that three tensions characterized stakeholder perspectives. These tensions included a focus on message vs. a focus on whistleblower identity, credibility vs. protection, and good journalism vs. the public good. This essay concludes with a discussion of theoretical and practical implications of anonymous organizational whistleblowing and communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exploitation of data in the media industry has always played a significant role. This is especially evident today, since data (and in many cases big data) are generated through various activities that relate to the production and also consumption of news. This paper attempts to highlight the importance of big data utilization in the media industry. Specifically, it discusses cases of big data exploitation, such as media content consumption and management, data journalism production, social content utilization, and participatory journalism applications. The study also examines the changes that big data has introduced in all stages of the journalism practice, from news production to news distribution, by utilizing the available tools. Finally, it discusses new developments that relate to semantic web (Web 3.0) technologies, which have already started to be adopted by media organizations around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]