Investigative journalism: a case for intensive care?

Is Investigative Journalism in the UK dying or can a ‘Fifth Estate’ model resuscitate it? This paper is an examination of whether the American subscription and donation models such as ProPublica, Spot.US and Truthout are the way forward. In January 2009 a group of the UK’s top investigative journalists met privately to discuss ‘What is to be done?’ about the perceived perilous state of investigative journalism. There is profound concern that the traditional media either no longer has, or wishes to employ the resources to maintain a sustainable level of investigative journalism. While the Iraq War and the Credit Crunch have revealed the desperate need for better in-depth investigative reporting, the number of viable outlets has contracted. Investigative journalism is accepted as a core determinant of high quality journalism. The need for a critical mass of investigative journalists is widely perceived as vital to democracy as characterized by Carlyle’s ‘Fourth Estate’ model. The UK group is currently examining the US experience where long standing non-profit organisations like the Centre for Public Integrity and the Centre for Investigative Journalism have used the combined foundation and donation funding model. But new ‘Fifth Estate’ web based models are also being innovated. ProPublica, which employs a substantial number of experienced journalists, is funded by a wealthy philanthropist. Spot.US posts possible investigative projects and appeals to the public to donate to fund specific identified investigations. This paper will address whether new funding models can be employed in the UK

Deer in the headlights: Towards an understanding of how journalism students engage with complex academic research methods modules

Journalism is at a crossroad. The rise of populist governments with accusations of fake news against what has always been considered to be Fourth Estate journalism means journalists face significant challenges to produce compelling, truthful, and accurate news at a time when reality is altered by those who do not agree with what journalists say. The current journalistic climate means journalists must move beyond the lexical meanings of what it means to be a journalist to a more critical one where they have to verify and analyse the news for the audience. One of the key ways in which journalists can respond to significant challenges to practice is by becoming more critically aware practitioners. A significant step in that direction occurs in journalism programmes at the university level where students are required to produce a critically researched dissertation as part of their conditions of earning a degree. However, with journalism being a traditionally vocational programme, challenges arise because students have difficulties drawing correlations between academic research and journalism practice. Our research aims to understand how students engage with academic research method modules. Based on our findings, we argue that students can use interactive learning methods and online resources to help engage with more complex and unfamiliar content

Journalism in the Academy, a MacIntyean account of the institutions and practices of journalism education in England

This paper to considers some of the systematic problems and constraints faced by academics teaching and researching in the field of journalism and journalism studies. To do this, I draw on MacIntyre’s philosophical concept of practice, applying it to the practice of journalism and the practice of academia, which I argue here have many commonalities. This conceptualisation of the practical activities of journalists and academics also takes account of their factual dependence on institutions. MacIntyre argues that although institutions should be considered to be necessary, in bureaucratic capitalist social systems they tend to pursue external goods at the cost of the goods internal to the practice. Practices thus become corrupted as institutions orient them to the pursuit of external goods. I argue that both journalists and academics are subject to similar processes of institutional domination, or colonisation, and that because of this, the capacity study, teach, and then practice a critical journalism adequate to a properly democratic community is stymied. The most significant problem on this analysis is that processes of colonisation are not discrete, they are systematic, extensive and commonly experienced. Consequently it is inadequate to consider discrete forms of resistance to these problems and constraints. Instead, I argue, we must consider common and collective forms of resistance

The Taming of Critical Journalism in China: A combination of political, economic and technological forces

© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This article examines how the interplay between political, economic and technological factors in China has resulted in the taming of critical journalism since the rule of Xi Jinping in 2012. While trying to reduce ideological ambiguity and revive Maoist ideology, the authorities operate overt and covert mechanisms of media control that dramatically limit reporting space. Market and digital communication technologies are currently contributing to tightening media control by worsening the context for critical journalism. The threat of the market to critical journalism that began in the early twenty-first century has deepened. The capitalisation of digital platforms, outperforming the empowering potential of digital communication technologies, has led to the pursuit of entertainment and capital in the media environment where critical journalism is practised. A hostile political climate and the pursuit of profit have radically diminished the necessary conditions for sustaining critical journalism. With this institutional crisis, critical journalism has little capacity and foundation to struggle with the party-state over reporting space. In this case, therefore, with neither the market nor digital media technologies being a liberalising force, they have helped the state to wield political power and to consolidate media control

Normative and Audience Discourses on Public Service Journalism at a “Critical Juncture”: the Case of TVE in Spain

The concept of journalism, its metatheory and, in particular, public service journalism is regulated by feedback between political models (legal and normative framework), academic precepts and social practices. Scant attention has been paid to date to the impact that these models have on citizens’ discourses, which is especially relevant at “critical junctures”, i.e. periods in which the old institutions are collapsing and require renovation (McChesney, 2007). Hence, this paper addresses the issue in the Spanish context in order to explore the similarities and differences between the academic/legal/normative framework and audience discourses. The former has been studied using documents, reports and legislation, and the latter explored by means of discussion groups with viewers of the newscasts of Televisión Española (TVE)

Critical Journalism and Democratic Governance in Nigeria

Democratic governance is the most popular system of government the world over. It is the government that enhances human rights as well as political participation among the citizens. Critical journalism is one of the factors of effective democratic governance. This paper is as assessment of the contribution of critical journalism to democratic governance in Nigeria. It adopted the descriptive research method whereby relevant literature, documents and records were consulted and analysed based on existing realities, and anchored on the precepts of the social responsibility theory. The paper reveals that, given the dynamic nature of the technology-driven society, journalism entails more than the mere conventional practice of reporting based on the 5W1H to an in-depth interpretation and analysis of the information so reported. Findings also reveal that, critical journalism has played an invaluable role in the sustenance of democratic governance in Nigeria, especially during the present era (1999- date) of democratic governance in the country. Such roles include checkmating excesses in governance, serving as a watchdog over government and breaching the communication gap between the government and the governed. Based on the findings of this paper it is recommended, among others, that Journalists should strive to go beyond merely reporting based on the 5W1H approach, but engage in in-depth investigation, interpretation and unbiased analysis to upgrade the standard of conventional journalism to critical journalism. Keywords: Critical journalism, democratic governance, democratic process, social responsibility, watchdo

Journalism Studies: A Critical Introduction

As the world of politics and public affairs has gradually changed beyond recognition over the past two decades, journalism too has been transformed... yet the study of news and journalism often seems stuck with ideas and debates which have lost much of their critical purchase. Journalism is at a crossroads: it needs to reaffirm core values and rediscover key activities, almost certainly in new forms, or it risks losing its distinctive character as well as its commercial basis. Journalism Studies is a polemical textbook that rethinks the field of journalism studies for the contemporary era. Organised around three central themes – ownership, objectivity and the public – Journalism Studies addresses the contexts in which journalism is produced, practised and disseminated. It outlines key issues and debates, reviewing established lines of critique in relation to the state of contemporary journalism, then offering alternative ways of approaching these issues, seeking to reconceptualise them in order to suggest an agenda for change and development in both journalism studies and journalism itself. Journalism Studies is a concise and accessible introduction to contemporary journalism studies, and will be highly useful to undergraduate and postgraduate students on a range of Journalism, Media and Communications courses

The Data Journalism Handbook

The Data Journalism Handbook: Towards a Critical Data Practice provides a rich and panoramic introduction to data journalism, combining both critical reflection and practical insight. It offers a diverse collection of perspectives on how data journalism is done around the world and the broader consequences of datafication in the news, serving as both a textbook and a sourcebook for this emerging field. With more than 50 chapters from leading researchers and practitioners of data journalism, it explores the work needed to render technologies and data productive for journalistic purposes. It also gives a “behind the scenes” look at the social lives of data sets, data infrastructures, and data stories in newsrooms, media organizations, start-ups, civil society organizations and beyond. The book includes sections on “doing issues with data,” “assembling data,” “working with data,” “experiencing data,” “investigating data, platforms and algorithms,” “organizing data journalism,” “learning data journalism together” and “situating data journalism.

Journalism, sociology and charisma

The study questions some of the attitudes towards framing journalism as a field of study. It suggests that a strong vein of sociological method and apparatus informs the scholarship and that one effect has been concept proliferation. Another is too much removal of the element of time and history. Moreover the centrality of sociological tends to reduce the scope of humanities, as opposed to science, in the approach, which is odd considering journalism is steeped in opinion that occurs a variety of contexts, cultures and forms. These enshrine freedom of expression, ethical concerns on the nature of humanity, proper government, and citizens’ lifestyles. Starting with Popper’s reflections on social science method, the argument concludes with some suggestions to bring narrative into stronger focus. The proposals are tentative and inevitably simplify an extremely complex issue in the weave of critical thought as the study of journalism evolves

Learning to teach data journalism: Innovation, influence and constraints

Journalism education has tended to respond slowly to developments in digital journalism, such as data journalism, despite or because of close links with the industry. This paper examines the obstacles to innovation in journalism education with particular reference to data journalism, drawing on the literature, a review of stakeholders and course documents, and the author’s reflections on developing a data journalism module as part of a new MA programme. It highlights the complexities linked to the particular demands of data journalism, and identifies critical issues around student satisfaction; reputation and job/career outcomes; relevance, currency and appeal; programme management; and coherence. Rather than holding it back, more specialized socialization could assist journalism education to innovate effectively, the author suggests