Journalism in Context: Practice and Theory for the Digital Age

183 Pages·2014·0.889 MB·English

by  Angela Phillips

Journalism in Context
Journalism in Context is an accessible introduction to the theory and practice of
journalisminachangingworld.Thebooklooksatthewayinwhichpowerflows
through media organizations influencing not only what journalists choose to
present to their audiences but how they present it and then in turn what their
audiences do with it.
Using examples from across the world, as well as from her own research,
Angela Phillips explains complex theoretical concepts. She invites readers to
consider how news is influenced by the culture from which it emerges, as well
as the way it is paid for and how different countries have approached the
problem of ensuring that democracy is served by its media, rather than being
undermined by it.
Journalism has always been an early adopter of new technologies and the
most recent changes are examined in the light of a history in which, although
platforms keep on changing, journalism always survives. The questions raised
here are important for all students of journalism and all those who believe that
journalism matters.
Angela Phillips is a Professor in Journalism in the Department of Media and
Communications, Goldsmiths, University of London. She spent the majority of
her career as a journalist working for national newspapers, magazines, TV and
radio. She is the author of Good Writing for Journalists (2006) and co-author of
Changing Journalism (2011).
Communication and Society
Series Editor: James Curran
This series encompasses the broad field of media and cultural studies. Its main
concerns are the media and the public sphere: on whether the media empower
or fail to empower popular forces in society; media organisations and public
policy; the political and social consequences ofmedia campaigns; and the role of
media entertainment, ranging from potboilers and the human-interest story to
rock music and TV sport.
Glasnost, Perestroika and the Critical Communication
Soviet Media Studies
Brian McNair Communication, History and
Theory in America
Pluralism, Politics and the Hanno Hardt
Marketplace
The Regulation of German Media Moguls
Broadcasting Jeremy Tunstall and Michael Palmer
Vincent Porter and Suzanne Hasselbach
Fields in Vision
Potboilers Television Sport and Cultural
Methods, Concepts and Case Studies Transformation
in Popular Fiction Garry Whannel
Jerry Palmer
Getting the Message
Communication and Citizenship News, Truth and Power
Journalism and the Public Sphere The Glasgow Media Group
Edited by Peter Dahlgren and
Colin Sparks
Advertising, the Uneasy
Persuasion
Seeing and Believing Its Dubious Impact on American
The Influence of Television Society
Greg Philo Michael Schudson
Nation, Culture, Text Media Effects and Beyond
Australian Cultural and Media Culture, Socialization and
Studies Lifestyles
Edited by Graeme Turner Edited by Karl Erik Rosengren
Television Producers We Keep America on Top
Jeremy Tunstall of the World
Television Journalism and the
What News? Public Sphere
The Market, Politics and the Daniel C. Hallin
Local Press
Bob Franklin and David Murphy A Journalism Reader
Edited by Michael Bromley and
In Garageland Tom O’Malley
Rock, Youth and Modernity
Johan Fornäs, Ulf Lindberg and Tabloid Television
Ove Sernhede Popular Journalism and the
‘Other News’
The Crisis of Public John Langer
Communication
Jay G. Blumler and Michael Gurevitch International Radio Journalism
History, Theory and Practice
Glasgow Media Group Reader, Tim Crook
Volume 1
News Content, Language and Media, Ritual and Identity
Visuals Edited by Tamar Liebes and
Edited by John Eldridge James Curran
Glasgow Media Group Reader, De-Westernizing Media
Volume 2 Studies
Industry, Economy, War and Politics Edited by James Curran and
Edited by Greg Philo Myung-Jin Park
The Global Jukebox British Cinema in the Fifties
The International Music Industry Christine Geraghty
Robert Burnett
Ill Effects
Inside Prime Time The Media Violence Debate,
Todd Gitlin Second Edition
Edited by Martin Barker and
Talk on Television Julian Petley
Audience Participation and Public
Debate Media and Power
Sonia Livingstone and Peter Lunt James Curran
Remaking Media Political Communication and
The Struggle to Democratize Public Social Theory
Communication Aeron Davis
Robert A. Hackett and
William K. Carroll Media Perspectives for the 21st
Century
Media on the Move Edited by Stylianos Papathanassopoulos
Global Flow and Contra-Flow
Daya Kishan Thussu Journalism After September 11
Second Edition
An Introduction to Political EditedbyBarbieZelizerandStuartAllan
Communication
Fourth Edition Media and Democracy
Brian McNair James Curran
The Mediation of Power Changing Journalism
A Critical Introduction Angela Phillips, Peter Lee-Wright and
Aeron Davis Tamara Witschge
Television Entertainment Misunderstanding the Internet
Jonathan Gray James Curran, Natalie Fenton and
Des Freedman
Western Media Systems
Jonathan Hardy Critical Political Economy of
the Media
Narrating Media History An Introduction
Edited by Michael Bailey Jonathan Hardy
News and Journalism in the UK Journalism in Context
Fifth Edition PracticeandTheoryfortheDigitalAge
Brian McNair Angela Phillips
Journalism in Context
Practice and Theory for the Digital Age
Angela Phillips
R
O
UTLE Routledge
D
G Taylor & Francis Group
E
LONDONA ND NEW YORK
Firstpublished2015
byRoutledge
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RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
©2015AngelaPhillips
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utilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,now
knownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinany
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BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
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LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Phillips,Angela.
Journalismincontext:practiceandtheoryforthedigitalage/AngelaPhillips.
pagescm--(Communicationandsociety)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1.Journalism--History--21stcentury.2.Journalism--Technologicalinnovations.
3.Onlinejournalism.I.Title.
PN4815.2P472014
070.9’051--dc23
2014010179
ISBN:978-0-415-53627-1(hbk)
ISBN:978-0-415-53628-8(pbk)
ISBN:978-0-203-11174-1(ebk)
TypesetinBaskerville
byTaylor&FrancisBooks
Contents
Acknowledgements viii
Introduction 1
1 News defined 5
2 News interrupted: ownership and control 24
3 Journalists and their sources 40
4 The making of journalists 60
5 Audiences, networks, interaction 81
6 The business of journalism in the digital age 101
7 Ethics in practice 124
References 146
Index 166
Acknowledgements
This book is the summation of 20 years of lecturing to students at Goldsmiths,
University of London and reading essays that very often told me things that
I didn’t know or pushed me into considering new directions. I am grateful to all
of them and very conscious of the extraordinary privilege of working with the
young people who will develop the journalism of tomorrow. I salute them for
their intelligence, clear-sighted realization of the momentousness of the changes
underwayanddedication to being the best that they can. Particularthanks goto
Lawrence Dodds who read and commented on early chapters and Chiara
Rimella who checked the bibliography. Also to Nick Couldry, Mirca Madianou,
Sarah Kember, Justin Schlosberg, Omega Douglas, James Curran, Glenda
Cooper, Rachel Sturrock and Rodney Benson who read through drafts and
commented. Your remarks and encouragement were invaluable. And finally
thank you to Mike for debates about structure and agency and for love and
support throughout.
Introduction
This book starts with the assumption that journalism is important, and that it is
worth our while to consider how it could be improved. As a journalist and a
teacher of future journalists, what I write is firmly embedded within the culture
and practice of journalism, but it goes beyond a concern with intros and stand-
firsts to consider what many decades of academic research can teach us about
our profession and to what extent it is relevant to the everyday work that we do.
In writing it I hope to open up the doors between theory and practice, to sift
through the work that academic researchers have done and to consider what is
useful to practitioners.
For too long there has been a stand-off between theory and practice. Practi-
tioners have regarded academic researchers with suspicion as out of touch and
unable to understand the complexities of their world. The study of journalism
has been seen, at best, as a necessary means of imparting craft skills, at worst it
has been completely ignored. This reaction is largely defensive. For too long
critical journalism studieshas felt likean attack rather than adialogue, ora spur
to action. Academic researchers have too often been guilty of approaching
journalism from above and failing to see either its complexities or the pressures
ordinary journalists have to deal with daily. But as more journalists move into
the academy and more students enter the profession with a background in
journalism studies, this defensive barrier is starting to crumble. Indeed, as the
profession continues to be assailed by an almost continuous barrage of technical
and economicshocks,theinsights ofcritical outsidersand more reflexive insiders
will be vital to the way in which it renews and rebuilds itself. Journalism can
no longer ignore its critics. It needs to understand them and indeed learn
from them.
Critiquing the critiques
The study of journalism is a deeply contested field. Indeed the stand-offs
between different theoretical approaches have often seemed as deep and dama-
ging as those between the academy and the profession. During the 1980s and
1990s, political economists and those taking more cultural approaches found it