“Making us see science” : visual images in popular science articles and science journalism

The article explores how scientific research and scientists are represented visually in popular science and science journalism. It discusses communicative functions and cultural meanings of visual elements in science stories. Drawing on concepts from the visual grammar developed by Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen, the author indicates how different kinds of modality are used to address the audience in popular science articles in Scientific American and Illustrert Vitenskap (a Scandinavian magazine). It is argued that the visual elements in popular scientific magazines are conventionally arranged in a manner coinciding with a pedagogical/ educational intent typical of much popular science, taking the readers from a reality they are presumed to have experienced towards more abstract scientific knowledge. However, the two magazines analyzed differ markedly with respect to the audience competence that they implicate in their visual representations. The level of visual abstraction in Scientific American contributes to creating an identity for its audience as belonging to well-educated and advanced elites, as opposed to the images of Illustrert Vitenskap, where the emphasis is to a larger extent on a naturalistic coding. The author goes on to discuss how photographs, visual composition and verbal text work together in a multimodal rhetoric typical of many science and health stories in Norwegian newspapers

Førti år i forskningens tjeneste : presentasjon av en studie av forskningsomtale i A-magasinet og VG

Artikkelen presenterer en studie som analyserer artikler om "fremvoksende" medisinsk eller naturvitenskapelig forskning i VG og A-magasinet. Artikler fra 1966, 1986 og 2006 er valgt ut for næranalyse av verbale og visuelle dimensjoner. Analysen antyder hvordan måten å representere forskningen på endrer seg fra betydelig troskap mot vitenskapens egne diskurser og mot en tydeligere journalistisk bearbeiding av forskningen, der denne tilpasses journalistiske krav til vinkling og godt stoff. Men studien tyder ikke på at denne journalistikken har utviklet et selvstendig ståsted hvorfra den kan belyse utviklinger i forskning på en kritisk måte

Dialogue as a Journalistic Ideal

Discussions and practices related to participatory and interactive journalism emphasize the dialogical aspects of journalism. However, throughout history, the idea of dialogue in journalism has taken a variety of forms. This paper places dialogue as a journalistic ideal under scrutiny. Our aim is twofold: first, we map out the development and different functions of the ideal in some decisive eras in the history of journalism and in the current context of digital journalism; second, we present a model of how to best capture and understand the significance of dialogue to contemporary journalism. The model is based on an exploration of philosophical preconditions for dialogue as an ideal in journalism. We will also look at the significance of dialogue in different genres and in interactive dimensions of journalism

The Literary Journalist as Fellow Human Being

Three contemporary Norwegian literary journalists discuss the responsibilities of the literary journalist, and the problematic ideals of their genr

‘Add Twitter and Stir’:The Use of Twitter by Public Authorities in Norway and UK during the 2014-15 Ebola outbreak

This article examines how Norwegian and UK health authorities used social media, and especially Twitter, during the 2014-15 Ebola outbreak. The microblogging service has been regarded as a promising medium for crisis communicators due to its immediacy and dialogical potential. Twitter allows communicators to respond directly to users? concerns and provide them with more precisely tailored information. However, scholars have raised questions over organizations? ability to respond to the the medium. We address these questions in two ways: 1. we examine the social media strategies adopted by the health authorities at the time of the outbreak. 2. we conduct an analysis of tweets produced by health authorities concerning the Ebola outbreak. Our analyses display some differences between UK and Norwegian authorities in terms of the strategies they adopted and the tweets they produced. However, neither country fully exploited Twitter?s dialogical potential. Both countries authorities preferred a vertically integrated approach with minimal opportunities for the public to engage and little monitoring of the wider Twitter ?conversations?. We conclude that the emergence of social media has not led to a paradigm shift in crisis communication for these countries? health authorities, rather to an evolution and adaption of practices and policies.publishersversionPeer reviewe

"Pandemisk paranoia"? En analyse av nyhetsomtalen av "svineinfluensaen" i norske aviser

The study analyzes how a selection of Norwegian newspapers represented the swine flu in two critical phases in 2009. The analysis suggests how the news coverage was one-dimensional. Little space was provided for critical perspectives. With some exceptions in the subscription-based Stavanger Aftenblad and Aftenposten, the newspapers barely included lay perspectives. Information from health authorities was amplified in a crisis discourse, a key function seemingly being to scare people into precautionary action. A rhetoric of fear was most pronounced in the tabloids Dagbladet and VG, whereas Aftenposten’s coverage could appear as a confusing mixture of alarming and comforting messages. However, the analysis indicates how Stavanger Aftenblad in a different way than the other papers could represent lay persons as responsible citizens. To a greater extent, Stavanger Aftenblad’s coverage lived up to dialogical ideals of risk communication and journalism.Rådet for anvendt medieforsknin

Førti år i forskningens tjeneste. Fremvoksende naturvitenskapelig og medisinsk forskning i A-magasinet og VG i 1966, 1986, 2006

Hva kjennetegner journalistiske representasjoner av forskere og forskning i forskjellige perioder fra 1966 til 2006? På hvilke måter har representasjonene endret seg? Denne studien presenterer en sammenliknende kritisk diskursanalyse av artikler som tar for seg "fremvoksende" medisinsk eller naturvitenskapelig forskning i VG og A-magasinet. Eksemplariske artikler fra 1966, 1986 og 2006 er valgt ut for næranalyse av verbale og visuelle dimensjoner. Analysen belyser følgende spørsmål: Hvilket vitenskapsbilde skaper artiklene i utvalget? Hvor sikker/usikker fremstår kunnskapen i den forskningen som omtales? Hvilket bilde skaper artiklene av forholdet mellom ulike aktører (som forskerkilder, journalist og det impliserte publikum)? Analysen antyder blant annet at en monologisk "forsiktighetsdiskurs" dominerte i denne typen artikler i 1966. I 1986 er artiklene preget av en mer lovprisende diskurs som fremstiller forskning som en aktivitet med et betydelig potensial for innovasjon og problemløsning. I 2006 er det både i A-magasinet og VG typisk å presentere en blanding av kategoriske ytringer på fremtredende steder i layout og en mer forsiktig og forbeholden diskurs på mindre fremtredende steder i oppslagene. Måten å representere forskningen på endrer seg fra en stor grad av en troskap mot vitenskapens egne diskurser og mot en mer tydelig journalistisk bearbeiding av forskningen, der denne tilpasses journalistiske krav til vinkling og godt stoff – og krav til salgbarhet på et marked. I tråd med dette skjer det en endring fra et fokus på forskningens problemstillinger og prosesser og til en større oppmerksomhet rettet mot forskningens resultater og anvendelser. Tilsvarende er det en tendens som går fra å fremstille forskning som en teorimodifiserende prosess/grunnforskning og mot å fremstille forskning som en virksomhet i "applikasjonskonteksten" som avdekker sammenhenger, og utvikler innovasjoner, anvendelser og "nyttig" kunnskap. Trass i at omtalen av forskning de siste 40 årene i stigende blir underlagt journalistikkens egne struktureringsformer og talemåter, tyder ikke denne studien på at journalistikken om forskning i Norge har utviklet et selvstendig ståsted hvorfra den kan belyse utviklinger i forskning på en kritisk måte

Critically Contextualising a Mega-Event: Nordic Sports Commentaries During the 2022 World Cup in Football

Prior to the FIFA 2022 World Cup, Nordic news media emphasised their ambitions of persistently covering problematic aspects of this mega-event to be hosted in Qatar, a country subjected to severe criticism of its human rights breaches in the build-up to the event. Focusing on the genre of commentary journalism - a form committed to articulating opinions on social and cultural issues - this study illuminates how key Nordic news media argued for their views on the World Cup 2022. Drawing on empirical material from Danish and Norwegian broadcasters and tabloids, the study analyses commentaries (excluding "sports only" commentaries) published during the event, highlighting the types of arguments, the discourses they articulate or imply, and their attribution of agency to organisational actors. Although a critical and contextualising argumentation runs through commentaries made during the tournament, the reasoning changes its character to such a degree that it is pertinent to categorise the commentaries as reflecting two distinct discursive phases. Argumentation in the first phase sustains a critique of FIFA and the organiser. Arguments were typically formulated as personal attacks but tended to elaborate on their premises by providing fact-based background from investigations of power abuse. The argumentation in the second phase changes its character by more clearly emphasising the action needed to transform current problematic circumstances in accordance with stated goals, not least a reformation of FIFA. The commentators now tend to be less moralising and more diverse and reflective in how they argue for changes in the governance of mega-events in football

Editorial: Sports Journalists as Agents of Change in Nordic Countries

ports Journalists as Agents of Change: Shifting Political Goalposts in Nordic Countries identifies and describes changes prevalent in political narratives of sports journalism. Although tensions between professional autonomy and commercial influences in sports journalism persist, shifts in public expectations and increased interest in investigative journalism present new possibilities for sports journalists to reshape this field. The research in this thematic issue examines media content and considers how sports journalists reflect on their role, how gender issues are tied to, and addressed by, that role, and how critical sports journalism develops through engagement with relevant national and international sports journalist associations