A new issue of Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies has been published. The journal focuses on research that combines theory and practice, and so these four articles we picked for you represent applied journalism studies by European authors.

The first article delves deeper into the theme of the whole journal: must academia and journalism practitioners live in separate universes, asks Kevin Marsh in his article. He presents both valid and invalid reasons for the age-old separation – and lastly, provides working examples of how these two universes can collide with positive results (for example, the Reuters Institute in Oxford) – even if for a while.

Sarah Niblock of Brunel University London suggests that to understand change in the field of journalism, the research methods used should be interactive, iterative and rest on communication between academics and practitioners. The article examines a reflexive, praxis-based methodology that draws from hermeneutics, cybernetics and constructivism.

Having interviewed all the key players in the political game, Ivor Gaber of University of Sussex and Sam Macrory compare the media management (or “spinning”) practices used by prime ministers Tony Blair and David Cameron in their first years’ in office. The article asserts that media management became more respectable under coalition government.

Not much has been written about views of journalists writing about Turkey’s EU bid, notes Alaaddin F. Paksoy of Anadolu University, and aims to fill this lacuna in his article. He uses data gathered from journalists working for the British media and combines it with the hierarchical model of Shoemaker and Reese.

Read the whole issue (4:2) here (abstracts free).