Academic literature on the topic 'Sociology of journalism'

As part of this special issue on the occupations and the sociology of the professions, this article probes how the complexities of journalism's professional status play out in pedgagically in the classroom. The author argues that the current turmoil in journalism, and in journalism education, cannot be attributed to technology alone or economics alone but are a part of a deeper, older professional uncertainty amongst journalists. The author concludes wth an argument that the liberal arts should play a greater role in the education of 21st century journalists.

This paper shows changes in the normative expectations of journalism through‎ an analysis of articles published in Croatian scientific journals about journalism‎ in three time periods: socialism, the transition period, and the period of‎ democratic consolidation. Using qualitative content analysis we identify a‎ total of fifteen themes related to journalism (journalistic norms, regulation,‎ sensationalism, investigative journalism, journalism and PR, organizational‎ aspects, war reporting, technological aspects, gender and journalism, media‎ freedom, democratic aspects, economic aspects, journalism education, the‎ function of journalism in a political system, and the history of journalism) and‎ nine normative roles for journalists ( gatekeeper, social-political worker, public‎ sphere promoter, watchdog, commercial role, emancipatory role, neutral‎ disseminator, advocacy role, defender of democracy). We used quantitative‎ content analysis to analyze the distribution of themes and roles. The results‎ show no unambiguous perception of journalism in academic papers during the‎ different time periods as is generally assumed in the literature on ‎media democratization and the media in transitional countries in general.

This paper, which examines the work of journalists in one field, argues for the value of including journalists’ own understandings and practices in analyses of the role of the media. Moreover it suggests that, in this field, there may be more commonalities between the practices of journalism and social science than is commonly supposed. The paper is based upon a set of interviews with scientific and financial journalists, covering their interpretations of nanotechnologies and their development. Whereas much of the social scientific work to date in this area has been concerned with the public understanding of science, and the role that journalism plays in relation to this, our study addresses the parallel issue of how, in a field characterised by high levels of commercialisation, potential investors get information and make judgments about particular applications, and the extent to which journalism plays a key role in this process. Here, we focus not primarily on the ways in which the media frame understandings of a complex technology, important though they may be, but on the practical epistemological strategies that journalists employ to make sense of it. We argue that journalists can be seen to be engaged in epistemological strategies that are analogous to those of sociologists, and that this dimension is too easily missed by approaches that, for example, recommend that the correct unit of analysis should always be journalism rather than journalists. We conclude by suggesting that, whilst the general applicability of our argument to other fields of journalism is necessarily an empirical question, our approach may have more general significance for debates about the critical role of social science.

This study examined contemporary daily sports journalism through the lenses of media sociology and new institutional theory. In-depth interviews with 25 sports journalists (reporters and editors) identified the institutionalized norms, values, practices, and routines of American sports journalism; demonstrated how that institutionalization affects story selection; and showed how the profession is changing due to digital and social media. The interviews show that although traditional sports journalism is highly institutionalized, digital sports journalism is far less so. Traditional sports journalism is still centered around a story, and digital sports journalism follows Robinson’s journalism-as-process model. The journalists interviewed are expected to perform acts of both traditional and digital journalism during the same workday, which leads to tension in how they do their jobs.

O ensino de sociologia nos cursos de comunicação e jornalismo tem sido criticado, removido e perde espaço nos espaços formativos. Nesse cenário, a pesquisa qualitativa e documental, base desse artigo, sobre o ensino de sociologia, aconteceu entre 10 docentes, 05 de universidades brasileiras e 05 de universidades portuguesa. Procedeu do exame dos projetos pedagógicos dos cursos de comunicação e jornalismo de 02 universidades brasileiras e 05 universidades portuguesas; da pesquisa dos programas da disciplina sociologia para verificar se o enfoque que é dado nos três campos das ciências sociais se devia a especificidades das próprias universidades e se sofriam interferências internas e externas, e da verificação da metodologia de ensino da sociologia cruzando as bibliografias utilizadas, antes e depois das novas Diretrizes Curriculares de Jornalismo (no Brasil) e do Processo de Bolonha (em Portugal), com o objetivo de entender as escolhas bibliográficas de autores clássicos e contemporâneos.
 
 
 Palavras-chave: Ensino. Sociologia. Comunicação. Jornalismo.
 
 
 ABSTRACT
 
 The teaching of sociology in the courses of communication and journalism has been criticized, removed and loses space in the training spaces. In this scenario, the qualitative and documentary research, the basis of this article, in the teaching of sociology, was carried out among 10 professors, 05 from Brazilian universities and 05 from Portuguese ones. Proceeded to examine the pedagogical projects of communication and journalism courses of 02 Brazilian universities and 05 Portuguese universities; of the research of the programs of the sociology discipline to verify if the approach that takes place in the three fields of the social sciences was due to the specificities of the universities themselves and if they suffered internal and external interferences and the verification of the methodology of teaching of sociology crossing the bibliographies used, before and after the new curriculum Journalism Guidelines (in Brazil) and the Bologna Process (in Portugal), in order to understand the options literature of classical and contemporary authors.
 
 Keywords: Teaching. Sociology. Communication. Journalism.

Interlopers are a class of digital-peripheral journalists and outlets who position their work as journalism, but who have struggled to be recognized as such. While we have long acknowledged journalism’s place online, as digital-peripheral journalists interlopers face challenges when it comes to appreciating their work as news and their contributions as journalism. This article argues their contributions warrant further evaluation as the journalistic field continues to confront change and engage new approaches to journalism, and as interlopers continue to produce news. Using Deadspin’s coverage of the Sinclair Broadcast Group as an exemplar of such contributions, this article details an approach which accounts for interlopers’ unique approaches to news, locating in broader news discourse measures of “journalistic realization” as a legitimating discourse. Its findings tentatively suggest a weakening of historically hardened boundaries between journalism’s core and its periphery, and argue for continued, nuanced exploration of the nature of the journalistic field.

Is journalism studies a sub-domain of communication studies, adistinct discipline, a multidisciplinary merger or a transdisciplinary endeavour? This question is discussed by analyzing the 2008 and2009 volumes of seven academic journals focusing on journalismresearch. The sample includes 349 articles published in BrazilianJournalism Research, Ecquid Novi, Journalism & CommunicationMonographs, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, PacificJournalism Review, Journalism Studies, or Journalism: Theory,Practice and Criticism. Overall, the findings reveal that journalismresearch mainly applies theoretical approaches and empiricalmethods deriving from other disciplines, particularly sociology, psychology or cultural studies. In many countries, however, journalism studies has reached a comparatively high level of institutionalization indicated by the large number of specific schools, professorships, professional associations and respective academic journals. In conclusion, we argue that journalism studies is a sub-domain of communication studies, which integrates andtranscends various disciplines aiming to become one of the axialsubjects of the 21st century.

The paper focuses on the current understanding of institutional nature intrinsic to communicative relations in the mass media. These relations have an asymmetrical status marked by non-antagonistic confrontation with regard to a new status of privacy-agency. The latter is characterised by self-sufficiency and prosperity, which is illustrated by “participatory journalism”. This confrontation takes place in professional journalism as well, whose agents (in particular, members of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine) have their own, sometimes rather divergent views on the understanding of processes occurring now in the media-communicative space. Being blocked by the owners’ instructions, these subordinate media are unable to facilitate the development of democratic levers in society. As for violence against journalists, it has been driven by the opposition of the institutionalised communicator to a new status known as a “personified entity”, which is not subject to any authority. The author researches into the particularities of the journalist community’s perception and awareness of changes occurring in the behaviour of media audiences, position of the media themselves in today’s society and the nature of prospective relationships between the institutionalised communicator and journalists. The former (despite trying to preserve asymmetry in the media-communicative space) is gradually acknowledging the presence of new personified entities and their success in building symmetrical communicative relationships and formulating relevant principles of information exchange in the present-day mass media.