The Washington, DC Media Corps in the 21st Century: The Source-Correspondent Relationship

198 Pages·2014·2.111 MB·English

by  Lea Hellmueller (auth.)

The Washington, DC Media Corps in

the 21st Century
This page intentionally left blank
The Washington, DC Media Corps in

the 21st Century
The Source-Correspondent Relationship
Lea Hellmueller
the washington, dc media corps in the 21st century
Copyright © Lea Hellmueller, 2014.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-39859-8
All rights reserved.
First published in 2014 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-48548-2 ISBN 978-1-137-38902-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137389022
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
H e ll mueller, Lea.
The Washington, DC media corps in the 21st century : the
s o u r ce-correspondent relationship / by Lea Hellmueller.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Journalism—Political aspects—Washington (DC)—History—
21st century. 2. Journalism—Objectivity—Washington (DC)—History—
21st century. 3. Reporters and reporting—Washington (DC)—History—
21st century. 4. Foreign correspondents—Washington (D.C.)—History—
21st century. 5. Confidential communications—Press—Washington (D.C.)
I. Title.
PN4899.W29H46 2014
071.3—dc23 2014003484
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: July 2014
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents

List of Figures vii
List of Tables ix
Acknowledgments xi
1 Introduction 1
2 Correspondents’ Perceptions and Interactions with DC Sources 17
3 News-Gathering and Sourcing Routines of DC Correspondents 59
4 The Correspondents’ Professional Worldviews of Their
Interactions with Sources 79
5 The DC Transnational Journalism Culture of the 21st Century 117
6 The Analytical Model of Transnational Journalism Culture 135
Appendix A:Web Survey Instrument and IRB Approval 149
Appendix B: Semi-Structured Interview Guide 173
References 179
Index 189
This page intentionally left blank
Figures

1.1 Foreign Correspondents Based in Washington, DC 4
2.1 From “Mr. Gates” to Gatekeeping Theory (N = 362) 45
3.1 Correspondents’ Perception of Goodwill, Based on
Homophily and Quoting of Other Media 62
3.2 Correspondents’ Perception of Trustworthiness, Based on
Homophily and Quoting of Other Media 62
3.3 Correspondents’ Perception of Competence, Based on
Homophily and the Disseminator Role 65
3.4 Correspondents’ Perception of Trustworthiness, Based on
Homophily and the Disseminator Role 66
3.5 Correspondents’ Perception of Goodwill, Based on
Homophily and the Disseminator Role 66
3.6 Correspondents’ Perception of Goodwill, Based on
Social Capital and Homophily 71
6.1 Analytical Model of Transnational Journalism Culture 141
This page intentionally left blank
Tables

1.1 The Three Levels of Transnational Journalism Culture 8
2.1 Coding Sheet for the Stratified Sampling Method 24
2.2 Steps of Implementation 24
2.3 Correspondents’ Years of Professional Experiences in
DC (N = 155) 25
2.4 Media Worked by US and Foreign Correspondents
(N = 214) 26
2.5 US and Foreign Correspondents’ News-Gathering
Methods in DC 27
2.6 Theoretical and Operational Definitions of
Source Credibility 35
2.7 Theoretical and Operational Definition of the
Homophily Construct 37
2.8 Correlations Among Credibility and Homophily Scores 38
2.9 Correlations Among Credibility and Valence of Reporting 38
3.1 News-Gathering Group Differences 60
3.2 Examples of Correspondents’ Most Recent
Source Interaction 68
3.3 Predicting Source Valence in News Stories 69
3.4 Correlation Matrix of Level of Influence
(Normative Factors) 70
3.5 Predicting Source Valence in News Story by
Perceived Homophily, Source Credibility, and
Perceived Autonomy 74
4.1 Participants of the Follow-Up Study 83
4.2 Constant Comparison Method 88
4.3 Four Phases of Grounded Theory Analysis 91
4.4 Rules for Interviewing State Department Officials
(as of May 2012) 97
4.5 High Social Capital: Epistemic and Social Relations 104