Investigative journalism in Central and Eastern Europe: autonomy, business models and democratic roles

This article presents a comparative study of investigative journalism in nine countries in the Central and Eastern European region (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia). The purpose is descriptive and analytical. Descriptively, the article charts the presence and provision of investigative journalism across the region and inventories and assesses the various funding forms that exist against the background of the recent (2008-2009) financial crisis. Analytically, the article focuses on assessing the relative autonomy (defined as autonomy from external actors) and effects (defined as the removal from office and sentencing of political actors revealed to be engaged in legal and moral transgressions, commonly various forms of corruption). The article finds investigative journalism across the region in general to be weak in terms of autonomy and effects, but stronger in countries that have had more stable and richer media markets (notably Estonia, Poland, and the Czech Republic). The article further finds that in some countries (notably Romania and Bulgaria), alternative news online sources play an increasingly important role as providers of investigative journalism

Journalism Studies

This entry traces the history of journalism studies and asks whether journalism studies are a discipline or field or research method. Different interests involved in journalism studies – journalists, journalism educators and journalism scholars - make it difficult to find a single vision of what it entails. As a new field it requires its own methodologies even though these may be borrowed from other disciplines. It also requires its own body of literature. The origins of journalism studies are somewhat imprecise but we can identify five phases of evolution: normative, empirical turn, sociological turn, global-comparative turn, and digital turn. Journalism studies also encompass the education of journalists. Many journalism scholars now reside in journalism departments side by side with their practitioner colleagues. Historically the study and practice of journalism was entwined over the debate of whether the occupation of journalism should be regarded as a craft or a profession and indeed its place in the academy

Management and resistance in the digital newsroom

What happens when there is conflict between the profit motivations of a news outlet and the professional values of its journalists? Questions of managerial influence and journalistic autonomy have interested media scholars from the seminal work of Warren Breed onwards. However, there have only been a handful of studies since the introduction of audience metrics which, this research suggests, allow managers to more efficiently monitor and discipline their journalists. This article presents an ethnographic case study of a Reuters newswire bureau during a time of conflict between the management and journalists. The article outlines the strategies that management used to incentivize their journalists to change their reporting priorities. These included the strategic dissemination of audience metrics and praise, and the hiring and promotion of ‘appropriate’ journalists to positions of influence. These interventions changed who was considered a ‘good journalist’ at the newswire, disrupting existing hierarchies, and eventually changing the culture of the newsroom. The article draws on the insights of Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory to help explain how managerial power operates, and the role that individual journalists play producing and reinforcing newsroom norms

Introduction: Questioning European Journalism

A research review introduction for the special issue editio

Technology and journalism-as-labour: Historical perspectives

Technological determinism is common among journalists when reflecting on changes in their profession; several studies show that journalists ascribe great power and independent agency to technology.There are at least two reasons for the persistence of technological determinism as an explanatory factor among journalists vis-a-vis their own work: first, technology is a highly integrated and therefore very tangible part of the everyday working life of journalists; and second, the technological paradigm for explaining change in journalism has deep historical roots. It is argued that analysing journalism as labour presents a way to address both the integration of technology in the everyday working practices of journalists, and the history of the inter-relations between journalism and technology. It is further argued that journalism studies as a field has not paid much attention to journalism as labour

Questioning European Journalism

A selection of cutting-edge research on European Journalism from several different European countrie

Reassessing journalism as a profession

Theoretical article on the value and use of the concept of "professionalism" in journalism studies Allan, Stuart (ed) The Routledge Companion to News and Journalis

Reassessing journalism as a profession

Theoretical article on the value and use of the concept of "professionalism" in journalism studies Allan, Stuart (ed) The Routledge Companion to News and Journalis