Laura Ahva

Theories of Journalism in a Digital Age

This special issue introductory article investigates contemporary notions of theory in journalism studies. Many scholars have argued that we need better ways of conceptualising what journalism is and how it develops in a digital age. There is, however, a lack of knowledge regarding what the theoretical trends within the interdisciplinary domain of journalism studies are today and to what extent contemporary inquiries into journalism are framed by emerging theories and perspectives. To fill this knowledge gap, we have conducted an analysis of more than 9000 metadata keywords and 195 abstracts found in the first 14 volumes (2000–2013) of the two most internationally acknowledged journals dedicated to journalism studies: Journalism—Theory, Practice and Criticism and Journalism Studies. The findings indicate that there has been a move towards greater theoretical awareness in journalism studies since 2000 and that the variety of theoretical approaches has increased.

Public journalism and professional reflexivity

The self-understanding of journalists is framed by shared norms, values, and a sense of belonging to a professional group. In this article, the journalistic profession is discussed from the viewpoint of journalists’ own work experiences in public journalism projects. The article examines the way in which public journalism projects in three different newspapers in Finland have acted as a ground for professional reflexivity for journalists. The present study suggests that public journalism, as a participatory news practice, challenges some of the core dimensions of classical professionalism. In the Finnish context, journalists generally regard public journalism as a moderately positive but slightly problematic set of ideas. Journalists re-articulate their role as a helper, accessible collaborator, discussion moderator or ‘connector’, and as a commercial representative of the paper. Thus, despite its stability, the journalist’s professional self-image is a construct that can be re-articulated, and public journalism is evoking much of this redefinition.

Theories of Journalism in a Digital Age: An exploration and introduction

This special issue introductory article investigates contemporary notions of theory in journalism studies. Many scholars have argued that we need better ways of conceptualising what journalism is and how it develops in a digital age. There is, however, a lack of knowledge regarding what the theoretical trends within the interdisciplinary domain of journalism studies are today and to what extent contemporary inquiries into journalism are framed by emerging theories and perspectives. To fill this knowledge gap, we have conducted an analysis of more than 9000 metadata keywords and 195 abstracts found in the first 14 volumes (2000–2013) of the two most internationally acknowledged journals dedicated to journalism studies: Journalism—Theory, Practice and Criticism and Journalism Studies. The findings indicate that there has been a move towards greater theoretical awareness in journalism studies since 2000 and that the variety of theoretical approaches has increased.

Proximity As A Journalistic Keyword In The Digital Era

Proximity is an ambiguous journalistic notion for which there is no single definition. In this article, we re-evaluate the relevance and use of the concept in the digital news environment. Based on interviews with journalists in Finland and audience focus groups in Finland and the United Kingdom, we ask how new forms of visual amateur production incorporated into professional news journalism have transformed the concept. The concept of proximity has evolved from being a criterion of news selection into a central imperative of news production aiming to engage audiences. Through the prism of amateur news imagery, proximity appears as a spatio-temporal, emotional and strategic keyword.

Practice Theory for Journalism Studies

This article offers a theoretical-methodological contribution to the discussion on the relationship between practice theory and journalism. The article argues that the domain of practice theory—combining elements from cultural and social theories—offers the opportunity to both move away from industrial or professional frameworks of studying journalism and to examine how journalism is reproduced in practices of various agents involved in its enactment. Firstly, the article presents a model in which the concept of practice is deconstructed into three elements (activity, materiality and reflexivity), which can be used as the basis for empirical analysis. Secondly, it provides methodological insight and proposes a way in which citizen participation, as an emerging practice of journalism, can be scrutinized by operationalizing practice theory. This theoretical-methodological avenue enables us to see the multiple orientations and meanings that participation has in journalism. Moreover, studying journalism through the concepts provided by practice theory can eventually help us understand how journalism maintains itself and is capable of renewal through (and despite) increasing participation.

How Is Participation Practiced by “In-Betweeners” of Journalism?

This article suggests viewing journalism as a structure of public communication that is enacted through the practices of various actors at sites that go beyond the newsroom. In this practice-oriented understanding, journalists, audiences and all citizen actors in-between these traditional positions take part in the enactment of journalism. This article focuses on the “in-betweeners” of journalism: citizens who are not employed as full-time journalists yet are also not part of what is considered to be the typical audience. It explores the participatory practices of activists, freelancers, academics, local residents, artists and students who are participating in the journalistic process at three different European journalism outlets: Voima, an alternative monthly magazine (Finland); Cafébabel, a participatory online magazine (France and other European countries); and Södra Sidan, a public journalism-style local newspaper (Sweden). The article draws on interviews with 69 actors as well as observations regarding communication between citizens and journalists. It discusses and further develops the concept of participation as introduced by Nico Carpentier in 2011 in Media and Participation: A Site of Ideological-democratic Struggle by separating participation in journalism from participation through journalism. It concludes that there are additional orientations of participation when looked at from the perspective of citizens, namely those of participation with, participation around and participation for journalism.

Citizen eyewitness images and audience engagement in crisis coverage

Amateur imagery has become an important component of news coverage of distant crisis events, and it plays a decisive role in shaping how audiences respond to crises. In this article, we discuss how the factors of authenticity, affectivity, and ethics play a role in the ways in which citizen images engage or disengage the distant audience. The article is based on 17 focus group interviews in Sweden and Finland that centred on a selection of visual news coverage of the Arab Spring in Syria and Libya – landmark news events in the use of citizen eyewitness images in the Nordic countries. The results indicate that citizen imagery is indeed a potential tool with strongly engaging characteristics, especially in terms of its authenticity and to some degree also its affectivity. However, disengagement may also result, especially due to the interpreted deficiencies in terms of ethics.

FROM CREDIBILITY TO RELEVANCE

Uncertainty about the future of journalism and what may be expected from the news media have generated special interest in how news organisations connect with the audience. In this paper three analytical approaches are described: institutional connection, market connection and public connection. While the two former approaches are more familiar to the media industry, it is argued that the latter seems theoretically and empirically more useful. Future studies on journalisms public connection should consider the fact that the relevance of journalism for its readers is embedded in the social fabric of their everyday lives. This approach needs to be informed by the key sociological concepts of networks, habits and interests. At the end of the paper a short outline of an audience research project recently launched in Finland is introduced.

A welfare state of mind?: nordic journalists’ conception of their role and autonomy in international context

The development of journalism in the Nordic countries has been shaped by two interconnected ideologies: the welfare state and democratic corporatism. International reviews have repeatedly emphasized the similarities of the media systems in these countries. However, less work has been done on the professional identity of individual journalists working within these systems. In this article, the similarities and differences between journalists’ professional values and perceptions in the Nordic countries are explored based on survey data from the Worlds of Journalism Study. The results indicate that despite country-specific variance, Nordic journalists share a vision of their professional identity especially in terms of seeing themselves as detached watchdogs and renouncing the role of opportunist facilitator. Another Nordic characteristic is the low level of experienced economic influence on journalistic work. In important ways, thus, Nordic journalists’ professional views appear to reflect central characteristics of the political culture and media systems in which they work.

A Welfare State of Mind

The development of journalism in the Nordic countries has been shaped by two interconnected ideologies: the welfare state and democratic corporatism. International reviews have repeatedly emphasized the similarities of the media systems in these countries. However, less work has been done on the professional identity of individual journalists working within these systems. In this article, the similarities and differences between journalists’ professional values and perceptions in the Nordic countries are explored based on survey data from the Worlds of Journalism Study. The results indicate that despite country-specific variance, Nordic journalists share a vision of their professional identity especially in terms of seeing themselves as detached watchdogs and renouncing the role of opportunist facilitator. Another Nordic characteristic is the low level of experienced economic influence on journalistic work. In important ways, thus, Nordic journalists’ professional views appear to reflect central characteristics of the political culture and media systems in which they work.