Foundation-funded journalism, Philanthrocapitalism and Tainted donors

Not-for-profit news organisations are increasingly funded by private foundations, supported by wealthy entrepreneurs. This raises a range of ethical dilemmas for journalists, which are particularly serious when their donors are alleged to have been involved in unethical or illegal activities. Although this is a relatively common occurrence in the non-profit sector, so far there has been no critical discussion of these issues in relation to foundation-funded journalism. In this article, we interrogate a rich and detailed case study of the relations between a nonprofit news organisation and a donor accused of being involved in a massive, international fraud scandal. We document how the news outlet justified their acceptance of this donor’s money; the defensive strategies they used to protect their reputation, organisational values and editorial freedom; and the conditions that ultimately led to journalists parting ways with the foundation. In so doing, we draw on ideas about philanthrocapitalism, stakeholders and resource dependence in order to develop Dunn’s (2010) model of how nonprofits respond to “tainted” donors

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 “the shadowy figure always to be found on the edges of the century’s great events” (Inglis 2002, xi), updated to accommodate modern, digital dynamics

Journalists, PR professionals and the practice of paid news in Central and Eastern Europe: An overview

This article maps the practice of paid news in Central and Eastern Europe using a review of previous research and a set of exploratory semi-structured interviews with journalists and PR practitioners across 10 post-communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe N = 164. Paid news refers to the practice of journalists and/or news organizations taking money often offered through the intermediary of a PR professional or PR company to write puff pieces for businesses or political interests without indicating that the content is in fact paid for, i.e. a form of corruption of both journalism and PR. This presentation suggests that the existence of the practice is to a great extent systemic, as both journalists and PR professionals are part of a common “culture of corruption” and thus the continued existence of the practice is also a de-professionalizing influence on both occupations, where representatives of both spheres have strong incentives to keep utilizing paid news.   This article maps the practice of paid news in Central and Eastern Europe using a review of previous research and a set of exploratory semi-structured interviews with journalists and PR practitioners across 10 post-communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe N = 164. Paid news refers to the practice of journalists and/or news organizations taking money often offered through the intermediary of a PR professional or PR company to write puff pieces for businesses or political interests without indicating that the content is in fact paid for, i.e. a form of corruption of both journalism and PR. This presentation suggests that the existence of the practice is to a great extent systemic, as both journalists and PR professionals are part of a common “culture of corruption” and thus the continued existence of the practice is also a de-professionalizing influence on both occupations, where representatives of both spheres have strong incentives to keep utilizing paid news.&nbsp

In the Margins of Journalism : Gender and livelihood among local (ex-) journalists in Sweden

Research on journalists and journalistic work has focused on journalists with permanent, full-time employment. Given the rapid decrease of such employment opportunities, we argue that journalism research needs to pay more attention to those who those who have had to leave their jobs and either stopped doing journalism entirely, or who have switched to a freelance career (sometimes combining journalism with other work). This category of people is at once becoming more marginalized and “the new normal” within the occupation: In this paper, we furthermore focus on local (Swedish) journalists and ex-journalists. Based on a set of semi-structured interviews (n = 12) with ex-journalists who share the experience of having lost their permanent, full-time jobs, we use the concept of livelihood as an analytical tool. The concept of livelihood highlights the shift from journalism as a job practiced exclusive of other jobs to an activity conducted alongside other income-generating activities and makes it possible to analyse leaving the occupation from a context that incorporates the whole life situation of the respondents. This also contributes to the current wave of studies of journalism and job loss by adding qualitative data about individual experiences of job loss to the existing quantitative survey evidence

The Media Day, Revisited : Rhythm, Place and Hyperlocal Information Environments

Studies of hyperlocal journalism and news have not adequately taken into account audience members' everyday experiences of their own hyperlocal communities and the ways in which audiences' everyday information environments are integrated with their social and affective community environments. In this focus group study (six groups, 5-7 participants/group, total N = 38) of neighbourhoods in Rivertown, Sweden (a mid-sized Swedish municipality) we combine Henri Lefebvre's theory of rhythmanalysis and his idea of "the media day" with Ray Oldenburg's concept of third places to analyse the spatiotemporal aspects of hyperlocal information environments. The focus group participants created individual "media day" timelines and then discussed them, and their neighbourhoods, in the groups. Our findings are in line with other recent studies on digital and local news and information consumption, but also highlight how the media context has changed since Lefebvre's and Oldenburg's studies. In particular, we found that their juxtapositions of "authentic" interpersonal communication and "inauthentic" mediated communication still have some relevance in the contemporary media landscapes (particularly as related to the existence of neighbourhood third places) and that some hyperlocal digital information sources (Facebook groups) appear to contribute to dressage in Lefebvre's sense

Journalism and the Politics of Mobility

This paper presents a theoretical reframing of journalism as a fundamentally mobile practice and outlines a research agenda for studying the politics of mobility in journalism that is centered on the everyday work of journalists. Our reframing draws on geographer Tim Cresswell's work on the six components of a politics of mobility, which are motive force, speed, rhythm, route, experience, and friction (Cresswell, T. 2010. "Towards a Politics of Mobility." Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 28 (1): 17-31). Cresswell poses six key questions about mobility, and rephrasing them to to fit journalists, we get why do journalists move?; how fast do journalists move?; according to what rhythm do journalists move?; what route(s) do journalists take?; how do journalists feel when they move?; and what stops/impedes the movement of journalists? These questions entail a research framework concerned with the different conditions of movement for different bodies, thus drawing attention to previously under-studied areas of journalism studies

Recoding Journalism : Establishing Normative Dimensions for a Twenty-First Century News Media

This essay argues that there are overlooked yet important journalistic beliefs, norms, rules and practices regarding, aesthetics, automation, distribution, engagement, identity, and proximity that could be a part of formalized codes of ethics. There are four reasons why these should be formalized. First, making the implicit normative dimensions explicit allow for a shared understanding of journalism, cutting across institutional borders. Second, it promotes a more unified and homogenized understanding of journalism across the institution based on those shared explicit norms (normative isomorphism). Third, it reduces the fuzziness of these codes and sharpens their functions as boundary objects, simplifying the negotiation between journalists and audiences. Fourth, and finally, these implicit codes might be an untapped resource that could make journalism better connect with citizens and increase its legitimacy. The paper offers two main contributions to journalism studies. First, it shows that elements of journalistic practice and culture that seem disparate in fact play similar institutional roles, forming boundary objects as sites of tension where codes are negotiated by different actors. Second, systematizing these informal codes into the style of traditional codes of ethics renders them more visible and could help journalism scholars understand the uneven formation and evolution of journalistic norms.