ARTICLE: Reporting skills are the most important for journalists

New study by Henrik Örnebring, of Karlstad University and Claudia Mellado, of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, concentrates on cross-national comparative studies of journalists. The study analyzes how different journalistic skills are valued among news professionals in six European countries. Authors conducted an email survey of 2238 journalists from Britain, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Sweden. Results show … Continued

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Published: 15 Jul 2016

ARTICLE: Freelancers express high job satisfaction

What characterizes the professional role as a freelance journalist today? ask Birgit Røe Mathisen. Her newly published study investigates the professional role of freelance journalists in Norway and it is based on 15 semi-structured interviews with local freelancers. Writer claims that autonomy in some regards might be higher among freelancers than among employed journalists. On the other … Continued

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Published: 15 Jul 2016

ARTICLE: Not partisans, but participants

In their recently published study Esa Reunanen and Kari Koljonen present a view of journalistic interventionism and how it’s linked in professional ethos of Finnish journalists. The authors conducted semi-structured interviews with journalists working in mainstream newsrooms. Analysis paradoxically shows that Finnish journalists want at the same time to avoid being partisan in political debates and to … Continued

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Published: 14 Jul 2016
Picture: Syrian Violence Continues by Sorian Soosay, license CC BY 2.0

ARTICLE: News fixers’ perspectives on conflict reporting

News fixers often face some trouble with foreign correspondents causing issues with reporting the events, giving credit and safety. Lindsay Palmer of University of Wisconsin–Madison interviewed 21 news fixers living and working in Middle Eastern conflict zones. ‘Fixers’ are local media workers who work with foreign news correspondents in setting up interviews, translating text, navigating … Continued

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Published: 7 Jul 2016
Picture: Paris by Moyan Brenn, licence CC BY 2.0

ARTICLE: Ideology of travel journalists

Travel journalists adopt some practices characteristic to bloggers, states a new study. Bryan Pirolli of Sorbonne University studied the professional identity of travel journalists. The article compares travel journalists’ opinions and pieces of work to those of bloggers’ in Paris. How do travel journalists distinguish themselves from bloggers and other content creators? The study finds … Continued

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Published: 28 Jun 2016

ARTICLE: News organizations frame social media as a risk

The current social media environment provides unique opportunities for journalism that otherwise would not be available, writes Jayeon Lee. However, social media also poses various challenges to traditional journalism norms and professional values. Study analyzes how U.S. and British mainstream news organizations frame the current social media environment in their social media guidelines. Results show that news … Continued

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Published: 19 May 2016

ARTICLE: Journalists remain critical gatekeepers during crisis

Gatekeeping theory and practices still hold during a crisis, however, a more nuanced understanding is needed, write Toni G.L.A. van der Meer, Piet Verhoeven, Johannes W.J. Beentjes, Rens Vliegenthart, all of University of Amsterdam. Their new study explores how journalists select sources during a crisis. Van der Meer, Verhoeven, Beentjes and Vliegenthart conducted a survey among 214 Dutch journalists who had … Continued

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Published: 18 May 2016
Picture: A force-based network visualization by Martin Grandjean, license CC BY-SA 3.0 and Just after sunset by aotaro, license CC BY 2.0

ARTICLE: Journalists learning data skills online

The Facebook group “Datajournalistik” has functioned as an important platform for Nordic datajournalists for developing their data journalism skills, states a new study by Ester Appelgren of Södertörn University. The paper looks at the social functions of the group, which was during the time of the study a unique forum for exchanging ideas and knowledge … Continued

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Published: 16 May 2016

ARTICLE: British journalists stick to self-depreciation

Metaphors used in the British Journalism Review about journalism, by journalists, tend to be negative, write Martin Conboy and Minyao Tang, both of University of Sheffield. They investigated 16 BJR issues, published since the Leveson inquiry of 2012, and analysed the themes and nature of the 834 journalism-related metaphors found in those issues. The four … Continued

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Published: 6 May 2016

ARTICLE: Journalists struggle with personal branding on Twitter

In the social media age, individual journalists have become more visible than ever, write Cara Brems, Martina Temmerman, Todd Graham and Marcel Broersma. In their new article the focus is on journalists personal branding on Twitter. According to the writers personal branding offers journalist the opportunity to become “news and opinion hubs” and to increase their “market … Continued

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Published: 4 May 2016