CORRECTING THE RECORD

Contemporary journalists are, on a daily basis, adopting new work practices to remain relevant in the changing media environment. This study examines these changing practices to determine if, and how, they have been accompanied by changes in journalists’ abilities to enact traditional ethical standards in the newsroom. It posits that by examining the performance of ethics by news actors, as opposed to ethical standards themselves, the importance and impact of changing news practices can be realized and addressed. To illustrate these changes, I explore the use of news corrections as a means for maintaining journalistic accountability. The findings suggest that key attributes of the contemporary news environment, including the rapid speed with which online information is transmitted, and the increasing participation of news consumers in the media environment, can help journalists in their quests for accountability. However, other changes associated with the online news environment, such as the ease with which online information can be erased from history, and the continuous evolution of newsroom technologies, highlight the need for journalists’ ongoing pursuit of new techniques to ensure that the standard of accountability is maintained.     

ELIMINATION OF IDEAS AND PROFESSIONAL SOCIALISATION

This article investigates and interprets social and cultural production and reproduction as we turn our attention to an important part of routinised practice in the newsroom: the early newsroom meetings. These meetings are essential sites for the building of the craft ethos and professional vision. Our aim is to study how this building of expertise takes place at meetings with a particular focus on the decision-making process concerning ideas for new news stories. In order to do this, we perform linguistic analysis of news production practices, as we investigate how the journalists' ideas for potential news stories are eliminated by the editor at the daily newsroom meetings. The elimination of ideas for news stories are not just eliminations; they are also corrections of culturally undesirable behaviour producing and reproducing the proper perception of an important object of knowledge—what constitutes “a good news story”—in this community of practice.     

Between Silence and Salience: A Multimethod Model to Study Frame Building From a Journalistic Perspective

Research into frame building, which aims to investigate the development of news framing in the journalistic realm, is on the rise. While most frame-building studies focus on the relative contribution of journalists or sources to news frames, this article presents and evaluates an integrated methodological model. The model is based on constructionist premises with the purpose of examining how frames are created as part of the interaction among reporters, editors, and sources. Based on a review of the methodologies used in earlier frame-building studies, we propose an ethnographic four-phase model in which multiple methods are interwoven: newsroom observations, reconstruction interviews, and frame analyses of news products (which illustrate what is made salient) as well as production documents (which also reveal what is silenced). The model is illustrated with two multisited studies in newspaper newsrooms: an interview-based study of the news reports of preselected journalists and an observation-based study for which the news reports to be analyzed were selected based on their salience in newsroom meetings. Through this multimethod model, this paper offers some guidelines for the study of frame building from a journalistic perspective.     

OPENING THE GATES

In the light of newspapers’ struggle to maintain readers and viability in the digital era, this study aims to understand better how newspapers in Latin America are responding to this shift toward user-generated and multimedia content. Using a content analysis of 19 newspapers from throughout Latin America, this study found that newspaper websites are bringing citizens into the virtual newsroom on a limited basis, allowing them to interact with each other and with the newspaper but only to a modest degree. Thus, while all newspaper websites have some multimedia content and most have Facebook and Twitter accounts, few allow readers to report errors, submit their own content, or even contact reporters directly. Further, most online newspaper articles include photos, but video, audio and hyperlinks rarely are used. These results further our understanding of how online interactivity is changing the traditional role of journalists and how Latin America is responding to the challenge.     

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION IN UK NEWS PRODUCTION

This paper represents an exploratory study into an emerging culture in UK online newsrooms—the practice of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), which assesses its impact on news production. Comprising a short-term participant observational case study at a national online news publisher, and a series of semi-structured, in-depth interviews with SEO professionals at three further UK media organisations, the author sets out to establish how SEO is operationalised in the newsroom, and what consequences these practices have for online news production. SEO practice is found to be varied and application is not universal. Not all UK news organisations are making the most of SEO even though some publishers take a highly sophisticated approach. Efforts are constrained by time, resources and management support, as well as off-page technical issues. SEO policy is found, in some cases, to inform editorial policy, but there is resistance to the principal of SEO driving decision-making. Several themes are established which call for further research.     

The Bricks That Build the Clicks: Newsroom Investments and Newspaper Online Performance

As the world embraces the Internet for media consumption, the concept of a hybrid newspaper—a printed newspaper with a companion Web site—is becoming more prevalent. Many hope that online advertising revenue (OAR) will help newspapers make up for losses in print (offline) revenue. However, there is little research that has empirically investigated whether and how investment in the “bricks” (i.e., the newsroom staff and resources that produce news content) will help to build “clicks” (i.e., more online visitors and, subsequently, OAR). This article examines the issue via an econometric analysis of 12 years of longitudinal data from a hybrid newspaper. The results show that the basic success of the clicks model depends on the investment in the bricks of the newspaper (i.e., its newsroom). Specifically, although news gathering is a very expensive part of the news business, it is also a creator of value and directly brings in OAR in addition to print advertising revenue. Therefore, as newspapers seek to capture more OAR, they may need to increase, rather than decrease, investment levels in the newsroom.     

Media Convergence: A Case Study of a Cable News Station

Media convergence is happening around the world. This study looks at the current operation of a cable news station that produces 2 media products in 1 newsroom. It also explores the theoretical foundations of value creation in online news by examining how online news is selected, packaged, processed, and distributed. Observational results showed that media convergence still has a long way to go. More important, this study found several divides between the Web people and the news people, between the managers and the reporters, and between the news department and the advertising department. This article suggests that convergence would go more smoothly if stations would integrate Web producers into the newsroom; if reporters were given incentive to do extra work or if their daily work load were adjusted to give them time to file for the Web; and if the sales people better understood the value of the online product.     

A Typology of News Sourcing: Routine and Non-Routine Channels of Production

ABSTRACT

This article presents a novel typology for analysing the routinisation of news and daily newsroom practices. Drawing inspiration from the work of Sigal, Tuchman and others, the framework—comprising eight categories—provides a reconceptualisation of routine and non-routine channels of news production to facilitate an exploration of source material, focusing on initial story triggers. One contribution which is particularly useful relates to the subcategorisation of the traditionally singular “routine” channel; although the broad concept of routine source material is familiar, it has generally not been systematically deconstructed in previous analyses. Considering different types of routine news allows for a deeper understanding of how these channels are integrated into contemporary daily news production and the role of internal newsroom and external actor dynamics. This is particularly relevant in an era in which there is a high usage of information subsidies, passive news reporting, cannibalised content, and desk-bound work. As such, the application of this model provides insights into the dominance and subordinate use of various channels in contemporary newsrooms. The discussion also illustrates how such a typology can aid empirical research with reference to the content analysis study from which this framework was developed.     

When Routines are Not Enough

Interest in crisis management among journalism scholars grew in the wake of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. Yet, few studies explore journalists and their organizations from a newsroom and organizational crisis management perspective. In this study, we study journalists’ ability to conduct news work when faced with a frame-breaking news event—in this case, the July 22, 2011 attacks in Norway. Dividing the journalistic response to these events into three stages, each with its own particular challenges, we have been able to unpack how these Norwegian journalists were capable of reporting on the events despite the chaos and uncertainty that followed in their wake, including the fact that the newsroom itself suffered severe damage from the bomb blast. This study shows that coping mechanisms in times of organizational stress will range from the expected (routine, habit) to the unexpected (improvisation, bricolage). The individual must pick up where the organization leaves off, relying upon experience and professionalism as well as face-to-face interaction and the assistance of whatever technology survives.     

IMPROVING PRODUCTIVITY IN THE NEWSROOM?

In an attempt to produce more news stories, faster and on different platforms, the national Danish Broadcasting Corporation, DR, has introduced a new workflow. This new workflow is based on principles and practices known internally as “the news engine,” and it has brought with it changes in regards to both the news products, the news processes and the individual news producers. This article is based on newsroom observations, interviews with employees and content analyses, and it shows how the practice of journalism at DR News has been altered in several ways after the implementation of the news engine. The changes in DR News have become the inspiration for other television stations, and the study concludes by discussing how this particular workflow affects the profession of journalism. Rather than a proletarianization of the profession, this study points to a polarization where some journalists experience a deskilling and a decrease in autonomy, while others experience an increase in autonomy as part of a process of reskilling and multiskilling.     

Reinvention of the Public Library for the 21st Century,edited by William L. Whitesides,Sr.

Abstract

A first-person account of the drama inside the CNN newsroom on the day the Hurricane Katrina rocked the US Gulf Coast. Elliot Masie's document shows how the gathering and reporting of the news has become more eclectic, technical and under the influence of citizen-journalists who shape the news by what they send electronically to news outlets and to each other. In the librarian's job of helping researchers access information about the news has become more complex because the traditional linkage of reporting, editing and publishing has broken down.     

A PALEONTOLOGY OF STYLE

This article looks at the commonly understood rules and guidelines, which are set out and regularly modified in the Associated Press Stylebook, for how news about the Middle East “ought” to look and sound for US readers. By examining official news language longitudinally across a period from before the Iranian revolution to the second decade of the “war on terror,” it finds patterns that shed light not only on the normal evolution of news language but on the particularly Orientalized features of news about the Middle Eastern “other.” These findings are especially relevant in an era of shrinking newsroom resources in which centrally determined features of language are, increasingly, national decisions.     

NEWSROOM'S NORMAL ACCIDENT?

This study examines 10 recent high-profile cases of journalistic deceptions at major American news organizations, and analyzes deceptive news and authentic news in a comparative perspective. Applying disaster incubation theory and normal accident theory to newsrooms, it focuses on how newsroom organizational culture contributes to journalistic deceptions. Results suggest that prior to the final revelation of a reporter's deception, an incubation period occurs during which a “first flag”—an initial warning signal often related to the reporter's earliest work that gives rise to suspicion of authenticity—is overlooked. The study also identifies patterns in deceptive news that distinguish it from authentic news. Deceptive news stories are more likely than authentic news stories to be filed from a remote location, to be on a story topic conducive to source secrecy, to be on the front page (or magazine cover), to contain more sources, more “diverse” sources and more hard-to-trace sources. It is suggested that editors might use these recognizable patterns to help prevent journalistic deceptions.     

MANAGING VULNERABILITY

The notion that journalists can develop emotional problems after being exposed to violent or traumatic events has only recently become part of the dialogue about sound newsroom management. This study, based on a national survey of 400 US news people, examines issues related to journalists' coverage of tragic events. It also explores their views about management attitudes toward news workers who are experiencing profound emotional reactions after covering violent or traumatic events. It finds that when journalists see managers as empathetic on these matters, job satisfaction and perceived morale are higher, and journalists also are more likely to remain committed to their careers.     

Bob Lochte,Christian Radio: The Growth of a Mainstream Broadcasting Force. Jefferson,NC: McFarland, 2006.

A national survey of radio station general managers and news directors explored their demographic characteristics and stands on social issues. News directors’ support for a national health care program, their lack of support for unregulated business, their lack of trust in private enterprise to look out for the workers’ welfare, and their less negative view of labor unions may be explained through their own experience, as well as those of their newsroom employees.     

Just Getting By? Francophone Belgian Journalists Dealing with Dutch-language Sources in Their Public Broadcasting Service

ABSTRACT

In this article, we examine how the Dutch language is used when francophone Belgian journalists prepare and produce their reports—during all stages of the process—up until the actual broadcast. We conducted 16 qualitative interviews with TV news journalists employed by the Belgian French-speaking public broadcaster. Taking as a starting point the highly variable level of Dutch in the newsroom, we highlight four practices used by journalists when they have to cover a news story in Flanders or interview a Dutch speaker: avoidance, mutual assistance, specific efforts to deal with linguistic difficulties and what we call a “tactical use” of Dutch with the sources. This study reveals practices that are by no means a demonstration of excellent language skills. Journalists’ frequent lack of knowledge is compensated by a certain pragmatism: they aim to illustrate how their daily routines tackle a concrete problem in a relatively informal, flexible, and collective manner. Finally, we explore to what extent these practices impact journalistic performance and how the use of the Dutch language in the newsroom reflects the language divide in Belgium’s journalistic landscape.     

Not Good Enough?

An increasing flow of amateur images of global crises presents challenges and opportunities for mainstream news media. Furthermore, many news organizations now solicit eyewitness reports for near-instant upload to Web editions. Yet, there is a lack of empirical research on amateur images in the regular news flow, in particular in newspapers. Thus, this case study examines the general frequency of amateur content, the gatekeeping process and the opinions of editors making decisions about images for publication in the online and print editions of four Swedish newspapers. Our findings, based on quantitative content analyses and interviews, indicate that a majority of the content falls in the hard-news category in contrast to findings in previous research about user-generated text content. Moreover, it appears regularly but in small numbers in a tabloid-content daily and a regional paper but hardly ever in broadsheet-content papers, and that opinions in the newsroom about amateur images vary from a lack of interest to a stated need for them in the regular news coverage. The low impact of amateur content may be due to the gatekeeping process and professional standards of photography, as well as a lack of audience interest and difficulties in implementing new structures in the newsrooms. In sum, the findings disprove predictions in the literature of a near-paradigmatic rise of amateur content in the mainstream news media.     

EDITORIAL

Research on the sociology of news has tended to de-emphasize the impact that the social characteristics of journalists may have on news content. This study suggests that more attention should be paid to the link between these individual-level characteristics of news workers and the content that they produce. The study is a secondary analysis of short narratives from 327 reporters who worked with a high degree of newsroom autonomy. They were asked to give a recent example of their “best work”. The topics of the stories that they cited varied systematically according to some of the reporters’ social characteristics. This finding suggests that certain individual-level factors may have a stronger link to the production of news than is generally believed.     

Identity(ies) Explored: How Journalists’ Self-conceptions Influence Small-town News

Existing literature on community journalism suggests it is worthwhile to theoretically and conceptually examine journalists in small towns. These reporters and editors always wear multiple hats, including news worker, community member, and booster. Therefore, drawing on newsroom observations and interviews, and applying the interpretive lenses of sociology and identity theory, this study examines the self-perceived identities of weekly newspaper news workers, and how those identities influence their news production. Findings across three organizations show that for these journalists, professional identity is intertwined with personal identity as a church member or baseball coach. Simply put, these journalists see themselves as members of the community that their newspaper covers. Their interactions with friends and neighbors are also interactions with sources – and with advertisers. This sense of personal connection further serves as a key motivation to produce meaningful news for their communities, which the author suggests has served as a safeguard to declines in readership for many small-town weekly newspapers.