Ethnographic journalism can be differentiated from other journalistic genres by three aspects, writes Anne Hermann, of University of Southern Denmark. Hermann interviewed a group of nine ethnographic journalists, who she classifies as a “tribe within ‘slow journalism'”.

Two aspects of ethnographic journalism have already been widely recognized: first, it abandons the common, busy journalistic work schedule, and second, it reports on ordinary, ongoing conditions instead of breaking news. The third aspect Hermann identified is ‘reorientation’, the pursuit of a moment which changes the journalist’s viewpoint from outsider to that of the story’s subject.

Hermann’s article, The temporal tipping point was published by the journal Journalism Practice. It is available online (abstract free).

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