Nurturing Authority

When considering the role of local journalism in a networked media environment, it is crucial to examine how audiences attribute news with the power to define social knowledge. In particular, television news programs need to appeal to audiences by reinforcing a sense of local journalistic authority to assert the parameters of who and what is worthy of coverage. This article presents the findings from interviews with a range of commercial television news viewers in Sydney, Australia. It positions viewership in the context of people’s wider engagement with news, and in relation to their interpersonal and digital social interactions. The paper argues that local audiences have conflicting attitudes to the role of television news, both contesting and re-inscribing the programs with the power to demarcate social, political, and cultural knowledge. It traces how local audiences challenge the ability of news to convey boundaries within the community through processes of exclusion, connecting the contestations to the lived experiences of the individuals. It identifies that television news programs nurture journalistic authority in terms of their local relevance, and it contributes insights on the significance of local news by engaging with the means by which audiences themselves attach social power to journalism.     

Contesting Communities

This introductory article to the combined special issue of Journalism Studies and Journalism Practice provides an overview of some of the key contemporary approaches to studying journalism and social order. It argues the need to step beyond a functionalist framework when considering the news media’s central role in shaping social connections, community and cohesion. To advance our understandings of social order, our paper suggests a greater emphasis of the significance of journalism’s relationship to the wider social sphere along with three other key considerations, including (1) a critical focus on the relationship between media, politics and social order, especially in defining and/or negotiating “anti-social” practices and social disintegration; (2) a more refined focus on the “imagined” and geographic boundaries of news audiences in digital spaces; and (3) the changing relationship to norms and conventions of journalism practice from trust and legitimacy to the role of journalists as arbiters and connectors across social spaces.     

A Follower-Centric Approach to Leadership in the Newsroom

This article analyses leadership in the newsroom of the Spanish newspaper El País as well as its impact on the craft of journalism more generally. Through 23 in-depth interviews, we try to elucidate how the newsroom constructs its leaders (in the newsroom, what does it mean to be a leader?), paying particular attention to the main skills considered to be necessary. According to our newsroom findings, not all heads of section or editors-in-chief are leaders, a fact that questions formal authority relations and proclaims expertise and know-how as discriminatory skills. This study emphasizes that the collective recognition of a leader is not an ultimate disposition, but can vary over time: consequently leaders who do not achieve the professional requirements of the newsroom can be denied the status, despite their expertise and experience. Our findings indicate that leaders at El País are those journalists (no matter what their positions) with strong capacities and skills (fundamentally experience, expertise and creativity) to manage form (relationships) and substance (contents) in the daily work of the newsroom. In short, journalists seen as leaders combine reiterated and strong qualities and merit, graphically reflected in the texts they have published for years in the newspaper.     

Overhyped Fad or Missed Opportunity? A History of Academic Libraries and the Social Web

The emergence of social media has radically transformed the way we create and consume information. These changes have in turn given rise to new models of librarianship centered on principles of participation, interaction, and collaboration. Over the last decade, academic libraries have eagerly adopted social media as a means of enhancing services and connecting with a new generation of users. But how exactly has this technology changed libraries? In what ways has the social web transformed library services or our relationships with users? This article attempts to assess the impact of social media on academic libraries in the United States through a review of the literature published since 2005. In particular, it looks at how academic libraries have used social media to improve or develop new services. By comparing published case studies with the theoretical literature, this article seeks to separate theory from practice and determine the extent to which the social web has transformed library practice. The author concludes that, despite several noteworthy examples, the majority of social library applications ultimately fail to live up to the transformative potential promised within the literature and that this failure may have more to do with philosophical rather than technical limitations.     

Back to the Future

The emergence of “fake news” during the Brexit referendum and Trump election campaign sent news organisations scurrying to establish teams of journalists to debunk deliberately misleading stories and verify facts. This paper examines steps to counter false stories and asks whether normative values of objectivity are about to enjoy a comeback. Typical markers of objectivity (freedom from bias, detachment and fact-based reporting) date back to the nineteenth century and, despite being ingrained in the Anglo-American news culture, have always been subject to challenge. Recently, the growth of partisan and populist media has illustrated deep distrust in traditional news outlets and is questioning whether it is time to jettison objectivity. But are we experiencing a backlash? Through interviews with senior UK-based journalists at legacy news organisations and analysis of editorial policy statements prompted by a UK parliamentary inquiry, the paper explores how fake news is rekindling debate about objectivity and its potential to make quality journalism stand out. It argues that legacy news organisations in the United Kingdom have seized the opportunity to highlight the value of normative practices that draw on familiar components of the objectivity paradigm. But few have the financial strength to bolster the rhetoric with additional editorial resources.     

Altmetrics分析方法体系构建研究

[目的/意义]从方法论层面探索Altmetrics学科范式,推动其理论框架的进一步完善。[方法/过程]根据事件模型,分析引用事件和社交媒体事件的共性和差异,将引文分析方法移植到Altmetrics中,探讨并扩展Altmetrics分析方法及其应用思路,从而构建Altmetrics分析方法体系。[结果/结论]Altmetrics分析方法体系包括:社交媒体事件的特征分布分析、Altmetrics计数分析、文本分析、网络分析和自提及分析,这些方法能够支撑Altmetrics在学术评价中的有效应用,进一步提升领域成熟度。     

网络健康社区中的主题特征研究

[目的/意义] 探究不同类型网络社区中健康主题特征分布,促使各网站平台能够更好地提供在线健康信息服务。[方法/过程] 以糖尿病为例,选取来自健康论坛的社会化标签和社会化问答社区的问答记录作为研究对象;通过数据编码和文本处理的方法,得到八大类主题,并比较两种网络社区中该八大主题分布情况的异同。[结果/结论] 两种网络社区中糖尿病主题冷热分布大体趋于一致。在最为用户所关注的主题上,两类社区各有侧重,分别是“诊断和检查”、“社会生活”。以上探讨和发现对在线健康信息服务质量的提升有诸多启示。     

科技期刊编辑的社会责任及其实现

从科技期刊属性分析科技期刊编辑的社会责任,主要包括:弘扬科学精神,杜绝学术不端行为,倡导学术争鸣;关注国家大事,及时报道相关事件;规范使用文字和科学符号,维护中文的严肃性;关心科研成果的应用,服务产业发展;注重科研成果和技术保密,保护知识产权。提出了科技期刊编辑社会责任的实现途径。     

微博信息可信度分析研究综述

简述微博信息可信度研究的背景和意义,并对微博信息可信度分析等相关概念进行界定;对微博信息可信度的研究成果进行梳理,指出这些研究的不足,并认为微博信息可信度分析的关键问题是微博信息特征的提取和可信度分析方法的设计;结合微博信息的特点及已有研究成果,指出微博信息可信度分析的核心技术包括自然语言处理、社会网络分析、机器学习与数据挖掘等;最后总结全文,对微博信息可信度分析的未来发展方向进行展望,为进一步研究提供参考。