Trends in Cultural Journalism |
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Authors: | Annemarie Kersten Susanne Janssen |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Arts and Culture Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands.;2. Department of Media and Communication, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands. E-mail: s.janssen@eshcc.eur.nl |
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Abstract: | Various studies report that cultural journalism increasingly focuses on service and entertainment instead of serious arts coverage. The press prioritizes popular culture over traditional high arts to a growing extent. However, this shift in journalistic attention does not necessarily signify a straightforward decline in aesthetic standards, as popular cultural forms like film have developed along the lines of high art principles in the past decades. This article charts trends in American, Dutch, French, and German film journalism between 1955 and 2005. It demonstrates that coverage is typified by a serious aesthetic approach from the 1970s onwards. The principles of art are seen to steer journalists’ attention to an important degree: the review remains the predominant journalistic genre, and newspapers devote more attention to films by prestigious directors than strictly commercial moviemakers. As such, film’s prominence in the press does not seem to indicate a decline in serious cultural journalism but rather a revaluation of a popular cultural form. |
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Keywords: | arts coverage commercialization cultural journalism film journalism popular culture reviews |
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