Epp Lauk

REFLECTIONS ON CHANGING PATTERNS OF JOURNALISM IN THE NEW EU COUNTRIES

After the collapse of Communism, journalists and media professionals in former Communist countries faced the task of re-evaluating and redefining the role of the media and journalists in society. It was largely assumed that the newly free media in democratizing societies would naturally follow the path of the “liberal” model of journalism. There were also numerous not so successful efforts to “implant” “western” values and principles in post-communist journalism. This essay outlines the different trajectories from the normative concept that characterize the development of journalism in the new EU countries. As the most successful in their transitional reforms among former Communist bloc countries, the new EU member nations presumably also have the most favourable conditions for creating qualitatively new journalism cultures.

How effective is media self-regulation? Results from a comparative survey of European journalists

This article presents key results of a comparative journalists’ survey on media accountability, for which 1762 journalists in 14 countries had been interrogated online. The article explores how European journalists perceive the impact of old versus new media accountability instruments on professional journalistic standards – established instruments like press councils, ethics codes, ombudsmen and media criticism, but also more recent online instruments like newsroom blogs and criticism via social media. Thus, the study also adds empirical data to the current debate about the future of media self-regulation in Europe, ignited by the Leveson Inquiry in the United Kingdom as well as the European Commission’s High-Level Group on Media Freedom and Pluralism.

Chances and Challenges of Computational Data Gathering and Analysis : The case of issue-attention cycles on Facebook

Digital and social media and large available data-sets generate various new possibilities and challenges for conducting research focused on perpetually developing online news ecosystems. This paper presents a novel computational technique for gathering and processing large quantities of data from Facebook. We demonstrate how to use this technique for detecting and analysing issue-attention cycles and news flows in Facebook groups and pages. Although the paper concentrates on a Finnish Facebook group as a case study, the demonstrated method can be used for gathering and analysing large sets of data from various social network sites and national contexts. The paper also discusses Facebook platform regulations concerning data gathering and ethical issues in conducting online research.

Some reflections on journalism education and journalism culture

A consequence of globalization of media economy and technology for journalism lies in the unification of the production processes of media content. Differences between journalistic production routines and applied principles are diminishing towards more popularized, more commercialized production of content (Hallin & Mancini, 2004). Furthermore, journalists in many countries around the world work in basically similar professional environments; they use similar equipment and technology and share a common occupational ideology. Michael Schudson (2001:153) describes the occupational ideology of journalism as cultural knowledge that constitutes ‘news judgment’, rooted deeply in the communicators’ consciousness. This ‘cultural knowledge’ comprises certain characteristics and values, which journalists generally agree upon as a basis of journalistic practice, and function ‘to self-legitimize their position in society’ (Deuze, 2005: 446).

Finnish Media Policy: Less Restrictive, More Directive

Finland, along with the other Nordic countries, provides one of the world’s freest environments regarding press freedom, political rights, and civic liberties, as proved by the Reporters without Borders and Freedom House rankings for many years. The World Democracy Audit ranks Finland in 2010 as the first in democracy and press freedom, and the fourth in anticorruption level out of a total of 150 countries (World Democracy Audit, 2010). Against this background, it is fair to argue that the main focus of Finnish media policy today is not the protection of the media freedom or freedom of expression at large. Instead, ongoing structural changes in the media (commercialisation, ownership concentration, and ever increasing competition), together with the gradual ‘mediatisation’ of politics (Hjarvard, 2008; Stromback, 2008), have brought the issue of responsible use of these freedoms to the attention of media regulators and the public. Media policy is directed towards securing the population a plurality of choices among channels, programmes, and platforms, and providing access to information in all possible ways (Nieminen, Aslama and Pantti, 2005).

Frames and Contradictions of the Journalistic Profession

In his essay The Soul of Man Under Socialism Oscar Wilde wrote: ‘In old days men had the rack. Now they have the press’. His words reflect the noticeable power the press had acquired in society already by the end of the 19th century. Journalism began to obtain characteristics of a profession, developing from craft towards an occupation demanding certain specific qualities.

Ethical demands and responsibilities in online publishing. The Finnish experience

Rapid advancement of online communication and publishing poses new challenges to media policy-makers and regulators for both statutory regulation and self-regulation. For journalists, ‘the Internet shapes and redefines a number of moral and ethical issues … when operating online or making use of online resources’ (Deuze and Yeshua, 2001: 276).