Metacoverage and Mediatization in US Presidential Elections

This article develops a theoretical model consisting of three mechanisms that link metacoverage, a type of election campaign news, to mediatization, a meta-process in which media organizations influence politics. The mechanisms hinge on the point that metacoverage—consisting of both topics and frames—constitutes a rich set of process-oriented cues that influence how campaign organizations adjust to the media logic in the course of performing functions associated with the office-seeking political campaign logic. A case study of 2012 US presidential election news was conducted to illustrate how metacoverage influences campaign strategies.     

Social Media References in Newspapers

Social media are increasingly being used as sources in mainstream news coverage. Yet, while the research so far has focused mainly on the use of social media in particular situations, such as breaking news coverage, during crisis news events or in times of elections, little attention is paid to journalists' routine, day-to-day monitoring of social media platforms. The aim of this study is to examine the use and selection of social media as sources in routine newspaper coverage. First, it presents a quantitative overview of all the articles published between January 2006 and December 2013 in the print editions of two Flemish (north Belgian) quality newspapers, De Standaard and De Morgen, that explicitly refer to Facebook, Twitter or YouTube. Next, a content analysis is conducted of a sample of newspaper articles published in 2013 that explicitly mention Facebook, Twitter or YouTube as sources of information. The goal of this content analysis is to examine the different appearances and functions of social media references in the news. The study thus provides a first insight into Belgian newspaper journalists' regular sourcing routines in relation to social media.     

The educational design of textbooks: a text for being interdisciplinary

This paper provides insights into both the educational design of textbooks and interdisciplinary education. The author introduces two educational principles for textbook design – instructional alignment and balancing diversity and meaningful guidance for readers – and applies them to writing his own textbook chapter for being interdisciplinary. The two broad conclusions are: textbook design can be a new area of study in higher education, illuminated by curriculum design and reflective practice; and textbooks can provide a useful method of interdisciplinary education.     

发挥大学生党员先进性建设工程的实践探索——以北京化工大学为例

大学生党员是大学中的一个特殊群体,他们有着坚定的信仰、丰富的知识和出色的能力,他们是中国未来最可靠的建设者和接班人。可通过启航工程,升华工程,引领工程,旗帜工程等建设工程,进一步发挥大学生党员的先进性。     

The effects of media commercialization on journalism and politics in Greece

This paper tries to describe the effects of media modernization and commercialization in journalism and politics, taking as example the case of contemporary Greece. This paper is organized into two parts. The first deals essentially with the effects that the new structure of the Greek media system has imposed on professional journalism, while the second deals with the changes that this new media environment has caused in the political world. It argues that these changes have led to a new battle between the media owners and politicians over who will control the public and political agenda and a new relationship between them.     

Militant Distribution: Votes for Women and the public sphere

The late nineteenth century American mass circulation press developed a style of ‘new journalism’ that gave rise to celebrity journalism. It is widely accepted that this new approach to reporting replaced news values with entertainment as a consequence of the need to cater to the tastes of a mass readership and this is seen to explain the incredible innovations that occurred in the press in the US at the time (Ponce de Leon; Roggenkamp; Tebbel; Turner; Schudson Discovering the News). This article questions this version of American press history by arguing that those papers also had to appeal to the politics of poor immigrants and the working class and that the conventions associated with celebrity overlapped and often coincided with a ‘radical’ populist campaigning style of reporting that was as important (and at times, more important) to building and sustaining mass readerships.     

How the international news agency business model failed – Reuters in Australia, 1877–1895

Case studies regarding institutional change and the mechanisms that drive it provide nuanced views into internal and external organizational dynamics. For decades, journalists in Argentina plied their trade in a context of contentious media–state relations, economic and political instability and organizational directives. As the political environment stabilized and private industry opened, an innovative news organization gained prestige from reporting on high-level scandals. Other, more market-powerful competitors followed suit. However, as democracy continued, declines in the original innovator's watchdog content startled press observers. Other organizations translated changes in different manners. In terms of institutional change, the diffusion of watchdog journalism and then its subsequent organizational re-accommodation reflects ongoing processes of articulation of commercial logics, ideological ideals and state strategies, knotty relations with deep historical ties.     

The Feeling of ‘Silverland’

This is a discussion of the group of journalists working in and around Virginia City during the 1860s and 1870s, when the area became the world centre of the silver mining industry. The so-called Sagebrush writers reported on mining prospects for readerships locally and internationally, as well as writing anecdotes and stories about the life of the highly transient local communities generated by the search for silver. Theirs is writing characterised both by caution in responding to the mining industry and by an aggressive humour in depicting the local life of a cosmopolitan instant city. These newspaper writers have been considered in the local context of the Nevadan frontier. Here, I discuss their engagement with a complex and internationally networked industry, and also their address to the collectivities of the local population.     

Journalism as institution and work in Europe,circa 1860

This article presents a comparative historical analysis of the relationship between journalism as institution (i.e., a particular set of organizations in society) and journalism as work (i.e., an activity practiced by individuals) in four European countries: Britain, Sweden, Germany, and Estonia. The analysis compares the institutional context of journalistic work in these four countries around 1860, focusing in particular on the organization of journalistic labor at the national newspaper of record. The historical comparison reveals how exceptional the British case is. The study finds that British journalism circa 1860 exhibited a high division of labor, high labor specialization, and was increasingly focused on news gathering and production. Swedish and German journalism exhibited an emerging division of labor and labor specialization, and was focused on political debate (rather than news gathering and production). Estonian journalism exhibited hardly any division of labor or labor specialization, and was focused on raising national awareness.