99 research outputs found
Comparing journalism cultures in Britain and Germany: confrontation, contextualization, conformity
Many British newspapers proclaim strongly partisan political and moral positions, with headlines such as ?Get Britain out of the EU.? In contrast, German newspapers, during national events such as the refugee crisis, often take on the role of reflective observers. Previous comparative research has shown a link between journalists? output and professional attitudes. Using data from the Worlds of Journalism Study, this article analyses the professional attitudes of British and German journalists (N=1475) across three constituents of journalism culture: societal, epistemological, and ethical. Our analysis shows significant differences in all three constituents. We conclude that British journalists conceive of their professional role as more confrontational to those in power than their German colleagues. We also find some evidence that German journalists believe it more important to provide context and analysis ? aiming to assist audiences in their civic roles ? and that they are more likely to conform to professional codes, although only in general terms. Our findings contradict some earlier comparative studies that claimed a more passive role for British journalists. Our findings may also hold interest for others engaged in international comparative research, showing how the two-country comparison can identify, and account for, what is hidden in multi-country research designs
Hero or anti-hero?: Narratives of newswork and journalistic identity construction in complex digital megastories
Exploring constructions of journalistic identity in a digital age has been a lively area of
scholarship as the field of digital journalism studies has grown (Franklin 2013, 2014; Steensen
and Ahva 2015). Yet despite many approaches to understanding digital change, key avenues
for understanding changing constructions of identity remain underexplored. This paper
addresses a conceptual void in research literature by employing semiotic and semantic
approaches to analyse performances of journalistic identity in narratives of newswork
facilitated by and focused on digital megaleaks. It seeks to aid understanding of the way
narratives describe changing practices of newsgathering, and how journalists position
themselves within these hybrid traditional/digital stories. Findings show news narratives
reinforce the primacy of journalists within traditional boundaries of a journalistic field, and
articulate a preferred imagination of journalistic identity. Methodologically, this paper shows
how semantic and semiotic approaches lend themselves to studying narratives of newswork
within journalistic metadiscourses to understand journalistic identity at the nexus of
traditional and digital dynamics. The resultant portrait of journalistic identity channels a sociohistoric,
romantic notion of the journalist as âthe shadowy figure always to be found on the
edges of the centuryâs great eventsâ (Inglis 2002, xi), updated to accommodate modern, digital
dynamics
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