Journalistica

Persona-driven journalism at Radio24syv

Steffen Moestrup — Mon, 29 May 2023 00:00:00 +0200

The article proposes an analytical approach to the study of persona-driven journalism. Drawing on concepts from performance studies, the article builds an analytical framework for engaging with empirical material where the performance of the journalist’s personality becomes a central part of the journalistic product. The analysis of journalist and radio host Ditte Okman identifies a journalism practice that draws on bodily expressivity, outspoken attitudes and the creation of a socializing media space. This practice is used to showcase an unashamed persona that creates journalism based on a performance of authenticity and sincerity, which is read as an example of doing affective labor. The main contribution of the article is to conceptualize a methodological approach to the study of persona-driven journalism practices by drawing on ideas and concepts from performance studies, thus adding methodologically to journalism studies.

From investigative to critical local journalism

Magnus Danielson, Ari Nykvist — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Journalism is considered to fulfil a societal watchdog role. However, research indicates that local news rarely lives up to established state-of-the-art definitions of investigative journalism. Therefore, this article argues that the assessment of local accountability journalism must include research on the extent to which it assumes a societal watchdog role in a more basic sense, namely by being critical of events and conditions in the local society in some way. A content analysis of approximately 1600 articles in three local Swedish newspapers shows that criticism, even in its mildest form, constitutes less than a fifth of the overall output, and that journalists themselves are the agents of criticism in less than 15 % of the critical articles, disregarding editorials, and that they more often criticize national than local power. In news articles, journalists are less often agents of criticism than both politicians, the public, and representatives of organizations. Actors in the public sphere are targets of criticism in 75 % of the critical articles, whereas those articles rarely target the private sector or civil society.

From stark opposition to partial adaption

Miriam Kroman Brems — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Alternative media are defined by their position as challengers of mainstream media and politics alike. However, recent studies suggest that they act out their opposition to mainstream media and their political partisanship in different ways. Against this backdrop, the study at hand investigates how 12 Danish alternative media construct and position themselves against the media- and political mainstream. The study identifies substantial differences regarding the outlets’ commitment to or rejection of the ethical rules and norms of professional journalism, whether they adopt or deviate from a neutral journalistic style, what ideological agendas they advocate, their political ties, and the media- and political criticism they voice. In doing so, the study adds to a growing body of research suggesting that alternative media are a heterogeneous group. Based on these findings, the study discusses the different potentials for impact that alternative media have on the media- and political systems they enter.

Begivenhedsstyret eller emnestyret klimajournalistik?

Line Weldingh — Wed, 30 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0200

The media play a decisive role in informing the public about climate change. However, research indicates that the coverage of the climate poses a challenge for news journalism. Among other things, journalism's focus on events means that the coverage is largely tied to key events, such as climate summits. This article examines whether the daily climate coverage is also event-driven, and in addition contributes with new knowledge about what characterizes event-driven and topic-driven climate journalism, respectively. Based on a quantitative content analysis of climate journalism in nationwide dailies between 2018 and 2021 (n=367), the analysis shows that topic-driven climate journalism occupies slightly more space than event-driven, and that there is a difference between the two types of journalism. Where event-driven climate journalism focuses more on politics, business and political sources, articles with people at the center and citizens as sources take up more space in topic-driven climate journalism. However, citizens are generally underrepresented in relation to elite sources. The article concludes with a discussion of the definition of event-driven journalism and recommendations for a broader climate coverage.

Kulturjournalistikens världar: Om kulturbevakningens politiska, globala och digitale dimensioner

Erik Svendsen — Wed, 11 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Journalistisk langtidsvarsel

Harald Hornmoen, Yngve Benestad Hågvar, Jørgen Alnæs — Sun, 15 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Journalistic stories about the future occur frequently in Norwegian and international news media. But what techniques do journalists use to narrate truthfully about something that has not yet happened? The article discusses how narratological categories can be used to understand and analyze future narratives in contemporary journalism. A key concept is prior narration, i.e. a narrative position where the reported reality does not yet exist, but may arise. A basic premise is that journalistic narratives go beyond the traditional conception of narrative journalism, that is, retrospective reportage written in a fictional form. Even conventional news journalism has narrative elements, and such narratives do not have to be about events that have ended. The climate crisis, the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine are examples of topics that have generated journalistic narratives about the future. The article develops a conceptual framework for analysing such future narratives. We analyse three different texts that illustrate the difference between what we call stories about the future, stories from the future and evocations of the future.

Varying narrative perspectives and a self-critical reporter complicate the picture:

Cecilia Aare — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200

What messages do three recently published reportage books convey about Swedish gang criminality and what kinds of narrative techniques are used in the stories? With a mix of narratological and media rhetorical analysis methods, this article investigates how content and narrative form interact in Mammorna by Alexandra Pascalidou, Familjen by Johanna Bäckström Lerneby and Tills alla dör by Diamant Salihu. One conclusion is that varying narrative perspectives can counteract one-sidedness, while narrative compassion without parallel narrative empathy can block the reader’s ability to imagine the situation of the depicted people. Dramatized events may heighten the reader’s sense of being present in the story, while a reporter questioning his own authority encourages the reader to avoid simplistic conclusions. Finally, descriptions of persons and selections of facts in the three books contribute to different messages. The study illustrates that the genre of reportage/narrative journalism, thanks to its narrative form, has the potential to depict social problems in complex ways. This is especially true when the depiction is combined with solid factual research.

Digital Storytelling as Sociotechnical Imaginary: The performative power of journalistic innovation discourse

Frank Harbers — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0100

This article zooms in on the sociotechnical imaginaries within the discourse on digital storytelling as journalistic innovation in the Netherlands. It analyzes how digital storytelling is discussed since 2015 on the online platforms of the Dutch Journalism Fund and the Dutch Association of Journalists, two central intermediary organizations within the Dutch journalistic landscape that play a vital role in the debate about journalistic innovation and journalism’s future. My analysis shows that this discourse provides a rather one-dimensional and uniform sociotechnical imaginary that presents the future as one in which digital-savvy news consumers can only be engaged through a more captivating way of reporting, allowing for more interactivity and forms of storytelling that draws them into the story on an experiential and emotional level. The techno-centric focus reinforces the already prevalent understanding of journalistic innovation as primarily a matter of mastering and exploiting the digital affordances of new technological tools and platforms without questioning or problematizing how this impacts journalism’s professional ethics and subsequently its cultural authority.

Online text-based focus groups in journalism studies

Morten Thomsen — Mon, 09 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200

In this section, Journalistica puts a spotlight on research methods used in journalism studies and/or journalism practice.

Discourse analysis in journalism studies

Johan Farkas — Fri, 30 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0200

In this section, Journalistica puts a spotlight on research methods used in journalism studies and/or journalism practice.

Listen to the Journalistica podcast episode about this article on Spotify.

Psychophysiological methods

Nils Holmberg, Lene Heiselberg, Jenny Lindholm, Erik Knudsen — Thu, 04 May 2023 00:00:00 +0200

In this section, Journalistica puts a spotlight on research methods used in journalism studies and/or journalism practice.

Listen to the Journalistica podcast episode about this article on Spotify or in your browser.