Discussing the News: The Uneasy Alliance of Participatory Journalists and the Critical Public PDF
Preview Discussing the News: The Uneasy Alliance of Participatory Journalists and the Critical Public
Palgrave Studies in Science, Knowledge and Policy Series Editors Katherine Smith School of Social and Political Science University of Edinburgh Edinburgh UK Richard Freeman School of Social and Political Science University of Edinburgh Edinburgh UK Many of the questions which concern us in our social, political and economic lives are questions of knowledge, whether they concern the extent and consequences of climate change, the efficacy of new drugs, the scope of surveillance technologies or the accreditation and perfor- mance of individuals and organizations. This is because what we know - howweacquireandapplyknowledgeofvariouskinds-shapesthewaysin whichproblemsareidentifiedandunderstood;howlaws,rulesandnorms are constructed and maintained, and which goods and services offered to whom. ‘Who gets what, when, how’, in Lasswell’s phrase, depends very muchon whoknowswhat, when, how. In our personal, professional and public lives, knowledge is a key resource. It matters in policy not only as a guide to decision making but because, in many circumstances, to be knowledgeable is to be powerful. Some kinds of knowledge are created and held by small numbers of specialists, while others are widely distributed and quickly shared. The credibility and authority of different kinds of knowledge varies over time andourmeansofdevelopingandsharingknowledgearecurrentlyunder- goingrapidchangesasnewdigitaltechnologiesandsocialmediaplatforms emerge. Thisbookseriesisaninterdisciplinaryforumtoexploretheseissuesand more. In short, we are interested in the politics of knowledge. The series encompassesdiversetopics,methodsanddisciplinesandwewelcomepro- posalsforsolo-authored,co-authoredandeditedbooks.Pleasecontactthe series editors, Kat Smith ([email protected]) and Sotiria Grek ([email protected])todiscussyourinitialideasandoutlineproposals. KatSmithandSortiriaGrekaretheCo-DirectorsofSKAPE(theCentrefor Science, Knowledge and Policy) at the University of Edinburgh, UK. http://www.skape.ed.ac.uk More information aboutthisseries at http://www.springer.com/series/14592 SimonSmith Discussing the News The Uneasy Alliance of Participatory Journalists and the Critical Public SimonSmith InstituteofSociologicalStudies CharlesUniversity Prague,CzechRepublic PalgraveStudiesinScience,KnowledgeandPolicy ISBN978-3-319-52964-6 ISBN978-3-319-52965-3(eBook) DOI10.1007/978-3-319-52965-3 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2017934435 ©TheEditor(s)(ifapplicable)andTheAuthor(s)2017 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher,whetherthewholeorpartofthematerialisconcerned,specificallytherightsof translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilarmethodology nowknownorhereafterdeveloped. Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,servicemarks,etc.inthis publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesare exemptfromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. Thepublisher,theauthorsandtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinformation in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publishernortheauthorsortheeditorsgiveawarranty,expressorimplied,withrespectto thematerialcontainedhereinorforanyerrorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade.The publisherremainsneutralwithregardtojurisdictionalclaimsinpublishedmapsandinstitu- tionalaffiliations. Coverillustration:DétaildelaTourEiffel©nemesis2207/Fotolia.co.uk Printedonacid-freepaper ThisPalgraveMacmillanimprintispublishedbySpringerNature TheregisteredcompanyisSpringerInternationalPublishingAG Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS The research for this book was supported by the European Commission through a Marie-Curie Intra-European Fellowship based at the Institute forSociology,SlovakAcademyofSciences(grantno.GA-2011-301060). Iwouldalsoliketotakethisopportunitytothankallmyrespondentsatthe newspapersSMEandDenníkNfortheirtime,patienceandenthusiasm. Figures 4.3 and4.4are reproducedwithpermission fromSME. v C ONTENTS 1 Introduction 1 Notes 6 References 6 2 ParticipatoryJournalism asaWay of Knowing 9 A PragmaticApproach to theStudyof ParticipatoryJournalism 9 Routinesand Artefacts 14 Argumentation 16 Competences 19 Notes 22 References 23 3 Contextualisingthe Research Setting 27 The Profession ofJournalism inSlovakia 32 Participation and CommentingatCase Study1–SME 33 Participation and CommentingatCase Study2–Denník N 36 A Journalism ofOpinionorCommunication? 39 Notes 41 References 43 4 Judgingthe Quality ofOnline Discussion:The Invisible Work of‘Admins’ 45 The Constrainingand Enabling Effects ofRoutines 46 Who Doesthe Job?Definingthe RightBundle ofTasks 47 vii viii CONTENTS ThePioneers 49 TheBlogger Admins 50 TheWeb-editor Admins 51 What Tools areUsed? Designingthe RightInterface 53 TheSystem ofAlerts 55 ReputationControl 56 PartialAutomationof theAdmin Routine 57 What Rolesare Performed? Admins’JustificatoryVocabulary 59 Six Registersof Justification 62 Classification (andthe Productionof Decisions) 62 ClassificatoryContextualisation(and the Production ofRules) 63 Qualification (andthe Productionof Evidence) 64 Metaclassification (and theProduction ofOrder) 65 Organisational Representation(and theReproduction ofValues) 65 InferentialContextualisation(and the Production ofRoom forManoeuvre) 66 Coping with ProfessionalStatus Strain onthe Front-Line 69 Notes 72 References 74 5 TheConversations BetweenParticipatoryJournalists andCriticalPublics 77 The RoutinesforOrganising and Engagingin Discussion 79 The DiscursiveIdentity of theJournalist asDiscussant 84 Examples ofCommonAccusation-ResponseSequences 90 Setting Off Metajournalistic Tongues 100 Notes 101 References 104 6 Defendingthe Authenticityof OnlinePublic Spheres 105 Naming andAccusing FalseDiscussants 106 UserIntuition as aReputationManagement Routine 113 Adminingas aQualityControl Routine 114 Verification as aCredential-Checking Routine 117 CONTENTS ix A NewCalculation Space 120 Protecting OnlinePublicSpheres:Zonal Monitoring and Mobile Vigilance 122 Notes 126 References 126 7 Conclusion 129 The Essential‘Liveness’ ofRoutines 130 Venue-Sensitive Argumentative Registers 132 An OrchestratedDistribution ofCompetences 134 Notes 141 References 141 Index 143 L F IST OF IGURES Fig.3.1 Accessingnewsonlinevianewswebsites 29 Fig.3.2 Participatinginnews.SourcesasforFig.3.1 29 Fig.3.3 CommentingonnewsSourcesasforFig.3.1 30 Fig.4.1 Compositionoftheadminworkforce 48 Fig.4.2 Timelineofpersonnel,organisationalandinterfacedesign changes 54 Fig.4.3 Adminnoticelist,2009–2015.Reproducedwithpermission fromSME 54 Fig.4.4 Adminnoticelist,2015–2016.Reproducedwithpermission fromSME 55 Fig.4.5 Justificationregistersusedbyadminsin2013–2014and2016 62 Fig.5.1 Commentorientationinthreadswherejournalistsparticipated inabsolutenumbers 85 Fig.5.2 Commentorientationinthreadswherejournalistsparticipated inpercentages 86 Fig.5.3 Commentorientationshowingcommentstowhichjournalists replied 86 Fig.5.4 Howdojournalistsrespondtometajournalisticaccusations? 87 Fig.5.5 Journalistresponsestometajournalisticaccusationsbyrubric 88 Fig.6.1 Occurrenceofthephrase‘brigádnikzoSúmračnej’on www.sme.skbyquarter 109 Fig.6.2 Timelineofaccusatoryregisters 110 Fig.6.3 Timelineofalertsusingthetermbrigádnik 115 xi
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