A product of their culture : Using a value systems approach to understand the work practices of journalists

Past approaches adopted by scholars in comparing international news have tended to concentrate on political and economic perspectives, while the role that culture plays in determining news has been somewhat neglected until recently. This article examines the role of culture in the development of journalistic practices and how a value systems approach can be applied to understanding journalism practices across cultures. Specifically, the article compares German and Anglo-American journalism practices with a view to locating differences between these traditions. The study demonstrates that using value systems as developed by Dutch anthropologist Geert Hofstede can be immensely useful in comparing the differences between the two traditions, as well as in understanding how journalists in these traditions report about the world.

The geography of travel journalism : mapping the flow of travel stories about foreign countries

While the study of foreign news flows has received considerable attention from communication scholars for quite some time, it has typically focused on political or ‘hard’ news, at the expense of other types of journalistic content. This article argues that, as the foreign news hole is shrinking, travel journalism is becoming an increasingly important source of information about foreign countries in the news media. It reports the results of a comparative study of newspaper travel sections in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the UK, and argues that travel journalism often replicates the imbalances found in foreign news flows. Well-known factors – such as regionalism, powerful nations, cultural proximity, the role played by big neighbours and the diversity of coverage – are also powerful determinants in travel journalism. At the same time, a country’s tourist behaviour also plays a role but is often overshadowed by other factors.