Susan Keith

Visual Framing of the Early Weeks of the U.S.-Led Invasion of Iraq: Applying the Master War Narrative to Electronic and Print Images

A content analysis of 1,822 images from U.S. mainstream media—network and cable television news outlets, news Web sites, newspapers, and news magazines—revealed that the visual framing of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 shifted from conflict to human interest. During the campaigns first 5 weeks, 5 distinct scenarios—shock and awe, conquering troops, hero, victory, and control—often coalesced around iconic images and supported a “master war narrative” identified by other scholars. These visual frames reflected a government-promoted patriotic perspective seen in media content at the outset of previous U.S. wars, from the Civil War through the Gulf War.

Translating the tower of babel?: Issues of definition, Language, and culture in converged newsrooms

This study sought to determine how convergence is defined by the journalists involved and to identify areas where news operations that adopt convergence encounter language- and culture-based challenges. It draws on the developing literature of convergence and interviews with journalists and managers working at two convergence partnerships: the Tampa Tribune and WFLA-TV in Tampa, Florida, and the Arizona Republic and KPNX-TV in Phoenix, Arizona. The research, based in the Shoemaker and Reese theory of a hierarchy of influences on media content, showed that convergence was redefined in Phoenix, creating a less-integrated “co-(re)-recreating” model not previously described in the literature. In addition, it demonstrated that though language differences do not hamper convergence cooperation, different broadcast and print newsroom cultures can prove detrimental.

“Secret” Casualties: Images of Injury and Death in the Iraq War Across Media Platforms

This study examined more than 2,500 war images from U.S. television news, newspapers, news magazines, and online news sites during the first five weeks of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and found that only 10% showed injury or death. The paper analyzes which media platforms were most willing to show casualties and offers insights on when journalists should use gruesome war images or keep them secret.

Accountability in the Professions: Accountability in Journalism

Accountability is viewed as a civilizing element in society, with professional accountability formalized in most cases as duties dating to the Greeks and Socrates; journalists must find their own way, without formal professional or government regulation or licensing. Three scholars look at the process in a line from the formal professional discipline to suggesting problems the journalism fraternity faces without regulation to suggesting serious internal ethics conferences as 1 solution to the problem.

From Convergence to Webvergence: Tracking the Evolution of Broadcast-Print Partnerships through the Lens of Change Theory

This study, based on a 2008 survey of news directors in the top 100 U.S. markets and editors at U.S. newspapers with circulations greater than 25, 000, found evidence of a decline in the print-broadcast convergence model. Only about half the responding newsrooms had convergence partners, and notable percentages had ended collaborations. Among the remaining partners, convergence was often practiced at a low level of integration that did not include online collaboration. Instead, most TV stations and newspapers were following what the authors call a “Webvergence” model, producing multimedia independently for their own Web sites.

Images in Ethics Codes in an Era of Violence and Tragedy

In an analysis of 47 U.S. journalism ethics codes, we found that although most consider images, only 9 address a gripping issue: how to treat images of tragedy and violence, such as those produced on the battlefields of Iraq, during the 2005 London bombings, and after Hurricane Katrina. Among codes that consider violent and tragic images, there is agreement on what images are problematic and a move toward green-light considerations of ethical responsibilities. However, the special problems of violence and truth telling in wartime and issues of how to handle graphic images across media platforms receive virtually no attention.

Comparing war images across media platforms: Methodological challenges for content analysis

Although many news consumers see war images on multiple media platforms, scholars generally have studied those visuals a single medium at a time. This article discusses the challenges of conducting a quantitative content analysis of war images across print, broadcast and online media in a single research project. It details some of the obstacles the authors faced in their examination of visuals of the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq and offers suggestions for researchers studying images across multiple platforms.

Visualizing Cross-Media Coverage: Picturing War Across Platforms During the U.S.-Led Invasion of Iraq

The journalistic practice of convergence—media outlets sharing similar content across platforms—has sometimes been criticized as leading to homogenization of the news. Yet few studies have attempted to determine how much content is duplicated among convergence partners or, more generally, among print, broadcast, and online outlets. This study adds to our understanding of content differences among media platforms by comparing visual coverage of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in print, on television, and on the Internet. The data from 1,822 war-related images show that these media platforms generally differed significantly in their visual coverage of the 2003 invasion. This study, grounded in Shoemaker and Reeses hierarchy of influences on media content, suggests that differences were largely driven by separate platform routines and norms. In the few cases where content converged in a visual monologue, extramedia influences, such as government action, seem likely to have influenced image selection.

Copy Editor Job Satisfaction Lowest at Small Newspapers

A national study of copy editors at 100 U.S. dailies with circulation above 25,000 found that 70 percent were at least somewhat satisfied with their jobs. Only 23 percent, however, strongly agreed.

Horseshoes, stylebooks, wheels, poles, and dummies: Objects of editing power in 20th-century newsrooms

This essay examines five largely unsung artifacts of 20th-century newspaper journalism – the U-shaped copy desk, stylebooks, pica sticks, proportion wheels, and paper dummies – to tell a story about power shifts in US newsrooms. The essay also offers a new model of 20th-century newsroom eras, arguing that these objects of journalism mark what might be called the age of the copy desk, a time between the 1920s and 1970s when copy-desk editors exercised a quiet control over content. That power faded over the decades, symbolized by the disappearance of the distinctively shaped copy desk and the loss of relevance of most of the other tools. It was replaced, this essay argues, by eras of the writer from the 1970s into the 1980s and the designer from the late 1980s into the 21st century.