Saving some news for later: The making and gatekeeping process of the national TV news filler

This paper follows the news routine of the daily evening news broadcasts of the two Israeli commercial TV channels. It is about a very particular and significant moment in national TV news—the making and gatekeeping process of the national TV news filler, also known by the Israeli news people as the shelf item. Based on a thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with several Israeli TV news professionals and a textual analysis of a particular TV news item and its shelf potential, findings provide a glimpse at how and for what reasons news stories are prioritized, how gatekeeping is performed in national TV news, and the ways in which the stories that are kept aside and left for later illustrate the overall production of newsworthiness.     

Not All Countries Are Created Equal: Foreign Countries Prevalence in U.S. News and Entertainment Media

Why do some countries appear more popular than others in mass media? Although researchers have long sought to explain foreign countries’ prevalence in the media, to date they have exclusively focused on news, leaving other types of media content unexplored. In addition, focusing on media effects and media content, the literature on entertainment and politics has largely ignored the study of agenda-building processes. Thus, this study fills these gaps by exploring factors affecting the volume of references to foreign countries in both U.S. news and entertainment media. Analyzing more than 400 U.S. television shows, four news channels, and two newspapers spanning from 2000 to 2011, we reexamine past findings on salience of foreign countries in the news and apply these findings to a new field of research, entertainment media. We further suggest that the same factors shaping foreign countries’ prevalence in the news media are applicable to both news and entertainment and that in the context of foreign countries’ prevalence, the criteria for “newsworthiness” and “fictionworthiness” is similar.     

The effects of newscaster gender and vocal quality on perceptions of Homophily and interpersonal attraction

The research attempted to clarify the “ideal newscaster” concept. Only newscaster gender contributed to a significant difference, and only on physical attraction. Findings are discussed with regard to their implications for viewers’ selective exposure to news broadcasts.     

News values of sports events: an application of a newsworthiness model on the World Cup coverage of US and Korean media

This study examined whether news value indicators influenced sports coverage of the 2002 World Cup soccer games by using a newsworthiness model. The model hypothesized that the more significant and the more deviant an event is, the more prominently the event is covered by the media. Significance and deviance of each match in the World Cup games are operationally defined by using world rankings such as FIFA points, William Hill betting points, and CNN power rankings. Prominence of media coverage for each match was measured as the dependent variable in four different contexts: US traditional media, US online media, Korean traditional media, and Korean online media. The results of our study show that the newsworthiness model is partially effective in predicting media coverage of sports events. Traditional media coverage is better explained by the newsworthiness model than online media coverage.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Cultural departments in newspapers are reported to be encountering increasing pressures towards the production of news and more “journalistic” expression. However, journalistic values do not fit unproblematically into the dualistic professionalism of cultural journalism. The article elaborates an insight into the practice of arts journalism as an act of framing between the epistemic paradigms of journalistic and aesthetic tradition. The traditions are inspected as Bourdieusian fields, and the boundary-crossing between the fields is clarified by close-reading texts with deviations from the typical framings, accompanied by social tensions and indignation among the actors of the artistic field. By investigating the reconciliation between the two epistemic frames of cultural journalism, the journalistic and the aesthetic paradigm, certain restrictions between the generalist and specialist role-shifts can be found. This distinctive boundary between the fields leads into the question about how the newsworthiness of culture could be defined without losing the sensitivity to the characteristics of arts and culture, operated by their own logic.     

Competition in Danish Television News

We studied competitive behavior within Danish network television news to determine differences between broadcasts of the government-funded, public network and the commercially funded, private network. Denmark offers a unique opportunity to study the effect of competition and commercialism on national television news broadcasts because the country had a state monopoly television network until 1988, when a commercial network was introduced. Results reveal there is differentiation between the news broadcasts, but we argue that competition has not had deleterious effects on content but, conversely, has resulted in improvements in the content of state television.     

“Authentic” talk in broadcast news: The construction of community

Some recent assessments of public communication have demonstrated a concern for “authentic” forms of discourse in public life. This article uses a methodology derived from conversation analysis to examine different forms of public discourse in news interviews. Previous studies taking this approach have outlined the protocols for formal news interviews, but this article also looks at some types of “conversational” news interviewing that are increasingly prevalent in contemporary broadcasting. The modes of address (to the overhearing audience) in these types of interview can be usefully compared to the inclusive, sociable address associated with some genres of popular entertainment. It is suggested that the effect of “communality,” constructed by these conversational forms of talk, might be one factor in the development of new forms of participatory “public‐ness,” around some types of news events.     

How Ordinary MPs Can Make it Into the News: A Factorial Survey Experiment with Political Journalists to Explain the Newsworthiness of MPs

Parliamentarians have to compete against each other to make it into the news, and some of them succeed more than others. Based upon news value theory, I consider MPs’ characteristics as news factors to explain their newsworthiness. I take an innovative approach by conducting a factorial survey experiment with political journalists. This allows me to study first which MPs are considered newsworthy and second whether journalists judge MPs’ newsworthiness regardless of their own personal background. In total, 73 Belgian journalists each judged 8 fictional press releases in which we carefully manipulated 4 characteristics of the MP sending it: party affiliation, issue specialization, media reactivity, and political action. Results show that parliamentarians from larger parties, those who react on mediatized issues, and those who communicate about their bill proposals are more newsworthy. Journalists’ judgments do not differ according to their gender, age, education, or political leaning.     

新闻“透明性”原则:规避虚假新闻的可能性探讨--基于《新闻记者》2010—2018虚假新闻研究报告的分析

互联网时代的新闻传播环境发生了巨大变化,虚假新闻及其传播也呈现出新特点。作为互联网技术条件下新闻生产过程的方法论变革,新闻“透明性”原则在实践和理论两个层面不断发展。本文结合《新闻记者》2010—2018虚假新闻研究报告,从“新闻生产前”“新闻生产中”和“新闻生产后”三个层次分析了虚假新闻产生的原因,论述了透明性原则在新闻生产各阶段对规避虚假新闻的生产与传播起到的作用,探讨了透明性原则作为一种新的理念引入新闻工作实践对规避虚假新闻的可行性。     

THE JOURNALISTIC GUT FEELING

What goes on in editorial conferences and how do news journalists decide what is newsworthy? The journalistic “gut feeling” is an important part of the professional self-understanding of journalists and editors expressing how news judgements seem self-evident and self-explaining to the practitioners. This article presents an analysis of everyday news work drawing on the theoretical framework of Pierre Bourdieu and using ethnographic material from observations of editorial practices in a Danish television newsroom as a case study. The analytical concepts “journalistic doxa”, “news habitus” and “editorial capital” are put to empirical work on close-up observations of journalistic practices in editorial conferences and two types of news values are identified as part of the journalistic “gut feeling”: the explicit orthodox/heterodox news values which are part of the sphere of journalistic judgement, and the implicit, silent doxic news values which are part of the sphere of journalistic doxa. An important task for future studies of journalistic practice is to investigate the seemingly self-evident orthodox news values as well as making visible the doxic news values imbedded in journalistic practice.     

What Makes “Good” News Newsworthy?

To combat the constant supply of negative news, some online news outlets focus solely on “good” news. But what is the value of “good” news? A content analysis was conducted to determine which traditional news values (timeliness, conflict, impact, etc.) appear in stories on Web sites dedicated to positive news. The researcher compared “good” news sites to the New York Times. Results indicated that the majority of “good” news stories were entertaining and emotional, whereas the majority of New York Times stories involved authority figures and conflict. Good news stories were less committed to journalism’s core functions, such as holding power accountable and providing the public with information necessary for creating an informed electorate.     

如何实现“信任性真实”:社交媒体时代的新闻生产实践——基于对25位媒体从业者的访谈

社交媒体时代受众的主体性地位逐渐凸显,新闻真实性可以理解为一种“信任性真实”,即受众所相信的真实。依据德国社会学家卢曼的分类,并结合对25位新闻从业者的深度访谈,本文从“系统信任”和“人际信任”两个维度对新闻的“信任性真实”进行了分析。笔者发现,“可视化”以及“交朋友”策略是社交媒体时代形塑传受之间“人际信任”的重要路径,不过需要指出的是,“信任”是完整实现新闻真实性的重要环节,但是新闻真实并不依赖于受众的信任,事实真实仍然是衡量新闻真实性的终极性标准。     

The War of the Airwaves in Portugal: Foreign Propaganda on Short and Medium Waves, 1933–1945

This article focuses on the start of the “war of the airwaves” in Portugal. It provides data on the first foreign shortwave broadcasts in Portuguese, describing the background to those initial broadcasts and also analyzing their impact on Portuguese public opinion, as well as the degree of importance afforded such broadcasts by the Allies and the Axis Powers during World War II. Moreover, the article also details some of the strategies used by the warring nations to influence the editorial line of Portuguese radio stations.     

THE NEWS-GENERATING MACHINE

This paper examines the reporter–source interview in television news production. The starting point is that the interview as part of news production is largely ignored as a subject of research, especially considering its central importance in journalism. The interview is usually looked at as a method to gain information from interviewees. This study looks at the interview in a more constructivist way. The central claim is that the interview functions as a “news-generating machine” that compels replies from interviewees that can be used as raw material for news stories. The article brings forth the importance of the “pre-interview”, it examines and exemplifies standard question strategies, such as negative questions, and how the interviewee replies are edited and represented as news. In doing so, the article also shows how certain questions’ strategies are linked with the making of such common news frames as “the problem frame”, “the attraction” and “psychological news narratives”.     

When News is Everywhere

This article contends that not only journalism but also journalism studies can benefit from a stronger commitment to the public. While the bodies of literature on “popular journalism”, “public journalism” and “citizen/participatory journalism” have, in different contexts and from different angles, made a strong case in favour of a public-oriented approach to journalism, it is remarkable how few of the empirical studies on journalism are based on user research. As the control of media institutions over the news process is in decline, we should take the “news audience” more seriously and try to improve our understanding of (changing) news use patterns. Besides this rather obvious theoretical point, there are also societal and methodological arguments for a more user-oriented take on the study of journalism. Starting from a reflection on the key trends in news use in the digital age—participation, cross-mediality and mobility—this article attempts to show the theoretical and societal relevance of a radical user perspective on journalism and journalism research alike. Furthermore, we look at new methodological opportunities for news user research and elaborate on our arguments by way of an empirical study on changing news practices. The study uses Q-sort methodology to expose the impact a medium's affordances can have on the way we experience news in a converged and mobile media environment. The article concludes by discussing what the benefits of a radical user perspective can be both for journalism studies as for journalism.     

Historical constructions of journalistic communication in China: on three definitions of news*

This paper examines three definitions of “news” in the history of journalism studies in China. Xu Baohuang’s definition emphasizes the “facts,” with an aim to establish an objective and neutral press model. Lu Dingyi defines news through “reporting,” which has since then transformed into the principle of “reporting with the facts.” Fan Changjiang prioritizes the “masses” in his definition, attempting to explore new ways for the operation of party-owned newspapers in the new era.     

THE ONLINE JOURNALIST BETWEEN IDEALS AND AUDIENCES

How do online journalists define themselves? Journalistic self-perception plays a big part in understanding developments in the practice of online journalism in newsrooms. This article presents an analysis of the self-perceptions of online journalists using the theoretical framework of Pierre Bourdieu and data from empirical longitudinal observations based on ethnographic fieldwork in three Danish newsrooms. The analytical concepts “journalistic doxa”, “news habitus” and “editorial capital” are applied in an analysis both of ethnographic observations of journalistic practice, and a series of interviews with 35 journalists and editors. This analysis shows that online journalists position themselves in opposition to the “old” forms of journalism, which include the use of such well-known journalistic resources as specialist knowledge, technical skills, and research and writing as professional tools. However, at the same time they accept the “old” as “better” journalism, which indicates that online journalism is deeply embedded in a dominated position in the overall field of journalism. A scheme of four different analytical positions among online journalists is presented within a constructed “field of online news production”.     

USING CITIZENS FOR COMMUNITY JOURNALISM

Hyperlocal journalism is thriving. This article describes the case of a Belgian regional newspaper experimenting with citizen journalism and user-generated content (UGC) for hyperlocal news coverage. For each municipality of the region, an online news page has been created where all citizen contributions are published side by side with professional stories on local community news and events. The fact that the UGC is not separated from the professional articles makes it an interesting case to examine commonalities and differences between both types of community reporting. The findings, based on a content analysis of 474 news items, suggest that the newspaper seems to use citizen volunteers primarily as a means to outsource the “soft”, “good” and “small” news coverage of local community life, while preserving the “hard” and “bad” news provision as the exclusive domain of professional journalists. Further, the study's findings support previous research indicating that (1) local community journalism is characterised by a mix of crime reporting and news coverage of fires and accidents, on the one hand, and positive human-interest stories about social club activities, cultural events, health and sports, and school life, on the other; and that (2) citizen journalists tend to rely heavily on first-hand witnessing and personal experience due to a general lack of access to official sources of information.     

Discursive texts,reflexive audiences: Global trends in television news texts and audience reception

This study examines the process of media globalization at the level of meaning generation (by television news texts) and interpretation (by audiences) based on the analysis of news‐texts and focus groups from four countries. It is suggested that the narrative of television news is discursive: it provides a specific vision of cultural “others”. At the audience level there is the emergence of a global culture of critical media consumption. This reflexive mode is born of a familiarity with the narrative conventions of the genre and the institutional imperatives of the media industries.