THE CONTINGENCIES OF ORDINARY CITIZEN APPEARANCES IN POLITICAL TELEVISION NEWS

While few would deny the crucial role of citizens in democratic governance, there are still only a few studies that focus on ordinary citizens’ inclusion in political news coverage. First, we present a number of factors conditioning ordinary citizens’ appearances in the news. Second, based on the discussion of these factors, we formulate a number of research questions. After conducting an extensive content analysis covering almost 6000 actors appearing in political news coverage in the two major Danish broadcasters, DR1 and TV2, between 1994 and 2007, we find that ordinary citizens appear more often in reports on intrusive issues such as welfare, that they appear more often in news items positioned later in the news bulletins, that they, largely speaking, appear more often closer to election day, but that there are almost no differences between commercial and public service broadcasting. These findings are discussed in the light of past research on media source use and the ongoing changing foundations of political communication.     

TOWARDS A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON LOCATING ONLINE NEWS IN THE NEWS ECOLOGY

As, historically, has been common with newly emergent media, the World Wide Web in the mid-1990s was greeted with a discourse of revolutionary impacts, premised on a technological logic of development. In the case of news, the Web was expected to drive a more democratic, transparent and accountable journalism. This article argues that the application of a strong historical perspective to scholarship on online news is necessary to gauge the depth of any changes from and the strength of continuity with print and broadcast news. It examines the historical development of mass media and of journalism in the context of industrial capitalism to trace the emergence of the ‘news ecology’ that permeates print, broadcast and, now, online media. It examines this through a sample of websites maintained by Irish national and local newspapers, and the country's public service broadcaster, between 1994 and 2010.     

CRITICAL FOUNDATIONS AND DIRECTIONS FOR THE TEACHING OF NEWS JOURNALISM

It sounds like a laudable but vainglorious exercise to want to reconcile the diverse ways of teaching news journalism with each other, to show that they share common grounds, are driven by the same concerns and follow the same directions albeit in their own peculiar ways. Nevertheless, I believe that such reconciliation occurs when we ask what it is we are, as educators, responding to when teaching news journalism. I think we are responding to two things. First, a particular set of foundational questions which, when asked, force us to consider the rationale and purpose of news journalism itself. Second, bringing these considerations to light in the classroom where they can be cast into the setting of students who are actually practising news journalism itself. In this paper I argue that there are three foundational questions to which we, as news journalism educators, should respond and conclude that the classroom is a place where those responses are given dramatic practical expression. It is this process, undertaken in a self-knowing manner, which ultimately unites news journalism education no matter where it is taught.     

IN THE EYE OF THE OCCUPIER

This paper investigates how a mainstream American newspaper (The New York Times) and an Indian counterpart (The Times of India) construct political violence within the American occupation of Iraq, and how they reconcile notions of democracy and occupation. For both newspapers, Saddam Hussein's execution is the reference point to guide news selection. Findings indicate some differences in the two papers’ coverage, partly explained by the countries’ military involvement in the conflict and their history with Iraq.     

THE THIRST TO BE FIRST

This article explores the growth and character of breaking news on two 24-hour news channels in the United Kingdom, Sky News and BBC News 24. Our purpose is to examine, in detail, the nature and role of breaking news and, more generally, its impact on the quality of television news journalism. We draw upon a series of content analyses of news programming conducted in 2004, 2005/6 and 2007, and compare the elements of a breaking news item with more conventional forms of news. Our findings indicate that “breaking news” has become an increasingly important part of the 24-hour news culture. This growth means that the typical breaking news item is becoming increasingly predictable and routine. Moreover, by most measures, breaking news items are less well informed and feature less independent reporting than conventional news items. As a consequence, we argue, the decision to cover more breaking news stories impoverishes the quality of journalism.     

How Ordinary is the Ordinary (Wo)man on the Street?

Interviews with the ordinary man or woman on the street are omnipresent in television news. These vox pop interviews are used to represent the general public in the news. Several editorial and practical guidelines exist about the characteristics of a “good” vox pop. But what characteristics do journalists search for in vox pops in practice? This study answers this question by looking at visual and contextual characteristics of vox pop interviews as a means to gain a better understanding of which vox pops appear in the news as a representation of the entire population. We conducted a content analysis of 2000 vox pop interviews in Flanders, Belgium’s Dutch-speaking region, supplemented by interviews with television journalists. We find that, despite editorial guidelines to do so, journalists hardly ever contextualize vox pop interviews by clarifying that they are not necessarily a good representation of the entire population. The results show that journalists select vox pops which are representative of age and gender, but not of minority groups such as ethnic-cultural minorities and people with disabilities. In some regards, vox pops thus provide a biased representation of the population and might influence the public to make wrongful generalizations about public opinion.     

北欧四国的图书馆信息资源共享模式

从丹麦、挪威、芬兰、瑞典四国各自的图书馆之间、四国图书馆之间以及四国参与的图书馆国际合作项目等角度,介绍其图书馆信息资源共享的概况;并从四国图书馆在信息资源共享的管理和组织、采用的技术和标准、共享的特点以及所取得的成果等方面进行了探讨。     

西欧四国的图书馆信息资源共享模式

从图书馆联盟的管理体制、组织制度、经费来源、采用技术、共享内容、共享形式、联盟特点7个方面来探讨西班牙、葡萄牙、瑞士与比利时四个西欧国家的图书馆信息资源共享模式。     

基于点云数据的汽车发动机罩盖逆向设计方法研究

结合汽车发动机罩盖产品设计流程,通过双目视觉采集技术获取发动机罩盖A表面数据;通过点云数据精简及修复处理实现点云数据优化;通过点云数据空间定位实现曲面重构特征创建及点云空间修复;通过曲面重构实现基本曲面和过渡曲面的数模创建;最后通过重构曲面误差分析确定重构曲面的准确性。经实践验证．该方法能够明显缩短汽车A表面设计开发周期,大大提高汽车发动机A表面重构精度．为曲线和曲面重构提出一种新的解决流程。