Lea Hellmueller

SHIFTING JOURNALISTIC CAPITAL

This study examines a normative shift from objectivity toward a transparency-oriented journalistic field. US newspaper journalists (N = 228) whose work is published online were surveyed to ascertain their adherence to truth-telling strategies of objectivity and transparency. The results suggest that forces unleashed by the online network might be creating pre-paradigmatic conflicts. Moreover, secondary principles divisions (e.g., gender and years of professional experience) indicate potential lines of division in how journalists embrace truth-telling strategies.

Professional roles and news construction: a media sociology conceptualization of journalists' role conception and performance

Journalists’ professional roles entail an important research area, which enhances knowledge on journalism’s attempted impact on political and democratic life. Journalism scholars, however, tend not to study journalistic professional roles from its impact on news content but focus on journalists’ conception of their role concluding that the way journalists conceive of their role will eventually shape the stories they produce. Hence, the link between role conception and role performance (i.e., its impact on news) has caught more attention as a justification of research interest than as loci of empirical examination. This conceptual paper revisits this assumption, arguing for an indepth discussion of what the concept of professional role entails to understand its manifestation in news. As journalistic performance must be considered a collective outcome, this article addresses the concept of professional role from its relationship to structural characteristics of media work. Our approach suggests a media sociology conceptualization of professional roles that takes into consideration the gatekeeping context, and most importantly the organizational and societal levels, when analyzing professional roles of journalists.

Gatekeeping beyond geographical borders: Developing an analytical model of transnational journalism cultures

This study takes a theoretical approach of gatekeeping by assessing how transnational networks of news gathering indicate a shift in the conceptualization of journalism culture. Research on journalism culture, which has traditionally been conceptualized within a national system, is linked with the historical development of globalization to propose an analytical conceptualization of journalism culture in a transnational news-gathering environment. Based on empirical studies from the past six decades, the study presents three analytical levels of transnational journalism culture—evaluative, cognitive, and performative—that might provide a conceptual framework for empirical studies interested in news construction in a transnational space.

Visual framing of the European refugee crisis in Der Spiegel and CNN International: Global journalism in news photographs:

Building on previous research that has theorized and operationalized the concept of global journalism, this study analyzed 287 photographs published on CNN International and Der Spiegel online news sites to examine the evidence of global journalism practices in visual news content. The results of the quantitative content analysis revealed that the transnational news outlet CNN International more frequently used close-ups and tracking shots to feature refugees in its visual reportage than the German news magazine Der Spiegel. The large presence of the ‘human interest’ and the ‘lose/gain’ frames in CNN International’s visual coverage emphasized the humanitarian aspect of global suffering. In contrast, apart from the ‘human interest’ frame, the ‘law and control’ and ‘xenophobia’ frames were adopted in Der Spiegel’s visual coverage. Using such a comparison, this study discussed if news sources’ capacity of managing the visibility of suffering could reflect a cosmopolitan viewpoint on a global issue.

The Networks of Global Journalism

This study explores how recent global news startups have connected freelancers with traditional news organizations. Through 10 interviews with founders and editors, the results reveal a networked marketplace of global journalism: the startups build on new technologies as well as on-the-ground evidence as their business model and de-localize the distribution of news within a digital marketplace. Supplemented by a content analysis of their edited stories (N = 226), global journalism as an outcome of this marketplace is discussed.

Journalists’ contributions to political life in Switzerland: Professional role conceptions and perceptions of role enactment

Despite shifts in the news ecology, many journalists in Western democracies still aspire to function as contributors and informants of political life. This study investigates how these journalistic...

The Effects of Twitter Users’ Gender and Weight on Viral Behavioral Intentions Toward Obesity-Related News

In this study, male and female participants were exposed to identical news stories covering obesity topics paired with tweets from Twitter users. Our study aimed at understanding how obesity-related news combined with user-generated social media posts (i.e., tweets) affect consumers’ evaluations of online content and viral behavioral intentions (the intentions to like, share, and comment). An experiment (N = 316) explored how gender and weight of a Twitter user (tweeter) affect participants’ evaluations and viral behavioral intentions toward news stories. Participants differed in their evaluations of and viral behavioral intentions for news stories as a function of Twitter users’ gender and weight, as well as participants’ gender. While participants expressed more favorable attitudes toward news stories paired with tweets by overweight than healthy females (with the opposite true for tweets by male users), participants expressed greater viral behavioral intentions for news stories paired with tweets by healthy weight than overweight user. These effects were more pronounced among male than female participants. Findings are discussed within the context of social media posts and their persuasive effects in relation to attitude and behavior changes.

To republish or not to republish: The “Je Suis Charlie” Mohammed cartoon and journalistic paradigms in a global context:

This article dealt with how media outlets in a selected number of countries handled the problem of the republication of Charlie Hebdos controversial “Je Suis Charlie” Mohammed cartoon cover after the terrorist attack of 7 January 2015 against the newspaper. A textual analysis of editorials and policy statements found that editorial decisions to republish or not to republish the Mohammed cartoon in different countries constituted journalistic paradigm work that reflected specific journalistic cultures. The dominant themes that emerged were (1) transnational journalistic solidarity as a form of paradigm work and (2) the use of editorial independence as a paradigm defense and repair mechanism. Furthermore, we found that the American media, which practice the journalistic craft under the First Amendment, were not as unanimous as the Continental European media in considering republication of the Je Suis Charlie Mohammed cartoon as a barometer of transnational journalistic solidarity and support for freedom of expression.

Innovators in Digital News

Constant growth in digital markets has triggered a changing landscape for media organizations, with an increasing number of digital media products, new media consumption devises, and shifting media consumption patterns. Innovators in Digital News takes an opportunistic look at the common patterns underneath successful digital innovation in media organizations. The book is a departure from a rather depressing outlook on the US news industry, such as Will the Last Reporter Please Turn Out the Lights (McChesney and Pickard 2011). The case studies presented in Lucy Küng’s book highlight digital adaption as a transformation strategy for pioneering in the news business. There is no doubt that journalism is facing new challenges. However, Küng’s case studies reveal how such challenges were transformed into opportunities for those organizations seen as Innovators in Digital News. The main goal of the book then is to describe the process of that transformation and to pinpoint common elements underlying organizations’ success with digital news, while outlining the constituents of a pro-digital culture. Lucy Küng sheds light on why it is that Vice and BuzzFeed, for example, invest in journalism, while established organizations are letting experienced journalists go to recruit technologists. She analyzes five key players in the field who have been recognized at different times as leaders, successes, and, perhaps, role models when it comes to digital news production: The Guardian, The New York Times, Quartz, BuzzFeed, and Vice. The success of these organizations marks the only binding element between the otherwise heterogeneous structures of these news organizations. The Guardian and The New York Times, for instance, are legacy newspaper organizations that are far along the process of transforming themselves into digital news organizations. Küng describes how The Guardian, a UK newspaper, became a pioneer of legacy media reinvention and delineates the role of the Scott Trust in defining its innovative path. In addition, she details The New York Times’ early adaption to digital innovation. The book highlights the ongoing tensions experienced in newsroom cultures of adaptors: the deep commitment to the highest journalistic standards and the deeper relationship with users and commercial activities necessary in the digital news markets. As such adaptors to the digital market, The New York Times and The Guardian stand in stark contrast to “clean sheet” digital news organizations, such as Quartz or BuzzFeed, that are defined by technological innovation coupled with news content. The book describes how BuzzFeed founder Jonah Peretti started the organization in 2006 as a viral content lab and side project to his main role as co-founder of the Huffington Post. Increasingly, BuzzFeed is investing in journalism and a number of classic news journalists with reputation have joined the organization. Finally, Vice is described as another case altogether. Starting off as an alternative street magazine in Montreal, Vice transformed itself into a leading international