Defining a ���democratic elite��� : key media in the battle for social responsibility

This paper offers a definition of elite media arguing their content focus will sufficiently meet social responsibility needs of democracy. Its assumptions come from the Finkelstein and Leveson Inquiries and regulatory British Royal Charter (2013). These provide guidelines on how media outlets meet ���social responsibility��� standards, e.g. press has a ���responsibility to be fair and accurate��� (Finkelstein); ethical press will feel a responsibility to ���hold power to account��� (Leveson); news media ���will be held strictly accountable��� (RC). The paper invokes the British principle of media opting-in to observe standards, and so serve the democracy. It will give examples from existing media, and consider social responsibility of media more generally. Obvious cases of ���quality��� media: public broadcasters, e.g. BBC, Al-Jazeera, and ���quality��� press, e.g. NYT, S��ddeutscher Zeitung, but also community broadcasters, specialised magazines, news agencies, distinctive web logs, and others. Where providing commentary, these abjure gratuitous opinion -- meeting a standard of reasoned, informational and fair. Funding is almost a definer, many such services supported by the state, private trusts, public institutions or volunteering by staff. Literature supporting discussion on elite media will include their identity as primarily committed to a public good, e.g. the ���Public Value Test���, Moe and Donders (2011); with reference also to recent literature on developing public service media. Within its limits the paper will treat social media as participants among all media, including elite, and as a parallel dimension of mass communication founded on inter-activity. Elite media will fulfil the need for social responsibility, firstly by providing one space, a ���plenary��� for debate. Second is the notion of building public recognition of elite media as trustworthy. Third is the fact that elite media together are a large sector with resources to sustain social cohesion and debate; notwithstanding pressure on funds, and impacts of digital transformation undermining employment in media more than in most industries.

Mapping futures for news: Trends, opportunities and challenges for Scotland

The Mapping Futures of News research and seminar programme, sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Studies in 2009-10, addressed those questions, as well as the many more immediate issues facing the Scottish news industry, such as how to survive the current period of often traumatic transition. This document summarises that work, and identifies: Mapping Futures for News: Programme Report iii ��� Where the main Scottish print and broadcast news media are in 2010, in terms of circulation and ratings figures; ��� the key trends currently impacting on Scottish news media; ��� the responses up to now of government and regulators to assist the Scottish media through the present problems; ��� the responses of the news media themselves.

Foreign news coverage in five African newspapers

One of the principal arguments that dominated intellectual debate in the 19805 concerned the imbalance in the quantity and quality of world news, in particular news from developing countries. African delegates at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), supported by other developing countries, argued that most of the news disseminated by the major Western news agencies was unfavourable to developing countries in qualitative and quantitative terms. Not only did Western news media pay little attention to news of developing countries, it was also argued that the few items that made the news tended to focus on negative events such as crises, wars, coups, riots, street demonstrations, diseases, poverty, pestilence, etc. More than 20 years after the intellectual debate received attention in academic journals, this study set out to examine systematically how African newspapers report the world. The researchers investigate the relative degree of balance and imbalance in the coverage of world news by Nigerian and Ghanaian newspapers. The study also examines Nigerian and Ghanaian journalists��� perceptions of world news coverage by local and foreign newspapers.

The Media as Political Actors

This chapter provides a history of the media as political actors and identifies key principles that have shaped their role in both democratic and authoritarian polities (i.e., information, interpretation, participation, critical scrutiny). In addition, the chapter explores recent trends impacting on the performance of that role, such as the emergence of the Internet and, as a consequence of that process, a globalized public sphere of transnational news media outlets. It is argued that to make the Internet truly valuable as a political resource, democratic societies continue to require the work of skilled, professional journalists and their sense making, interpretative functions. Because of that journalists and their organizations remain crucial to the translation of content into meaningful messages.

Tweeted joke lifespans and appropriated punch lines: Practices around topical humor on social media

During the coverage of breaking news and broadcasts on social media, journalists and audiences alike share links, comments, and opinions in response to new developments. On Twitter, such content can gain increased visibility by receiving retweets from other users, through automated functions, or by manually republishing and modifying comments. This article studies tweeted coverage of the doping scandal involving Lance Armstrong in 2012 and 2013. Humorous framing is found to be popular in this discussion, and such comments experience different longevity to breaking news tweets. With these patterns come new opportunities for users to modify and appropriate punch lines in attempts to receive increased attention���and for the serendipitous creation of similar jokes���which raise questions of authorship and attribution.

Voice, deliberation, resistance and persuasion through networked journalism

The pervasive use of the World Wide Web by the general population has created a cultural shift in ���our living world���. It has enabled more people to share more information about more events and issues in the world than was possible before its general use. As a consequence, it has transformed traditional news media���s approach to almost every aspect of journalism, with many organisations restructuring their philosophy and practice to include a variety of participatory spaces/forums where people are free to engage in deliberative dialogue about matters of public importance. Moreover, while news media were the traditional gatekeepers of information, today many organisations allow, to different degrees, the general public and other independent journalism entities to participate in the news production process, which may include agenda setting and content production. This paper draws from an international collective case study that showcases various approaches to networked online news journalism. It examines the ways in which different traditional news media models use digital tools and technologies for participatory communication of information about matters of public interest. The research finds differences between the ways in which public service, commercial and independent news media give voice to the public and ultimately their approach to journalism���s role as the Fourth Estate������one of the key institutions of democracy. The work is framed by the notion that journalism in democratic societies has a key role in ensuring citizens are informed and engaged with public affairs. An examination of four media models, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the Guardian, News Limited and OhmyNews, showcases the various approaches to networked online news journalism and how each provides different avenues for citizen empowerment. The cases are described and analysed in the context of their own social, political and economic setting. Semi-structured in-depth interviews with key senior journalists and editors provide specific information on comparisons between the distinctive practices of their own organisation. In particular these show how the ideal of democracy can be used as a tool of persuasion as much as a method of deliberation.

Voice, deliberation, resistance and persuasion through participatory journalism business models

The pervasive use of the World Wide Web by the general population has created a cultural shift throughout the world. It has enabled more people to share more information about more events and issues than was possible before its general use. As a consequence, it has transformed traditional news media���s approach to almost every aspect of journalism, with many organisations restructuring their philosophy and practice to include a variety of participatory spaces/forums where people are free to engage in deliberative dialogue about matters of public importance. This paper draws from an international collective case study that showcases various approaches to participatory online news journalism during the period 1997���2011 (Adams, 2013). The research finds differences in the ways in which public service, commercial, and independent news media give voice to the public, and ultimately in their approach to journalism���s role as the Fourth Estate������one of the key institutions of democracy. The work is framed by the notion that journalism in democratic societies has a crucial role in ensuring citizens are informed and engaged with public affairs. An examination of four media models, OhmyNews International, News Corp Australia (formerly News Limited), the Guardian and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), showcases the various approaches to participatory online news journalism and how each provides different avenues for citizen engagement. Semistructured in-depth interviews with some of the key senior journalists and editors provide specific information on comparisons between the distinctive practices in each of their employer organisations.

Understanding the civic impact of journalism

The importance of journalism to civil society is constantly proclaimed, but empirical evidence on journalism's impact, and how this operates, is surprisingly thin. Indeed, there is confusion even about what is meant by the term ���impact���. Meanwhile, the issue of the role of journalism is becoming increasingly urgent as a consequence of the rapid changes engulfing the news media, brought about by technological change and the flow-on effect to the traditional advertising-supported business model. Assessing the impact of journalism has recently been the topic of debate among practitioners and scholars particularly in the United States, where philanthropists have responded to the perceived crisis in investigative journalism by funding not-for-profit newsrooms, with resulting new pressures being placed on journalists and editors to quantify their impact on society. These recent attempts have so far failed to achieve clarity or a satisfactory conclusion, which is not surprising given the complex web of causation within which journalism operates. In this paper, the authors propose a stratified definition of journalistic impact and function. They propose a methodology for studying impact drawing on realistic evaluation���a theory-based approach developed primarily to assess large social programmes occurring in open systems. The authors argue this could allow a conceptual and methodological advance on the question of media impacts, leading to research capable of usefully informing responses at a time of worrying change.

Data Journalism, Millennials & Social Networks

Disserta����o apresentada �� Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para a obten����o do grau de Mestre em Ci��ncias da Comunica����o, ramo de Jornalismo

Promoting science literacy via science journalism: Issues and challenges

Science journalism is the source of much of the science an individual will encounter beyond formal education. Science-based media reports, which might have been associated with informal education, are increasingly becoming incorporated into formal school contexts. Unlike science textbooks, the science reported in the news is often tentative and sometimes contested. It can involve difficult socio-scientific issues. Descriptors of ���science literacy��� generally include reading and responding critically to media reports of science. The challenge of using science-based news effectively encourages teachers to reassess their knowledge and pedagogical practices.<br/>In addition to creating interest in science and making links beyond the classroom, news media can be used to introduce pupils to elements of science enquiry and teachers can promote basic literacy and critical reading skills through systematic and imaginative use of media reports with a science component.<br/>This chapter explores the knowledge, skills and attitudes that underpin the use of science journalism in the classroom. The unique characteristics and constraints of science journalism that influence the way science is presented and perceived are considered, and the importance of media awareness as a foundation for critical reading of science news is argued. Finally the characteristics of teaching programmes to support critical engagement with science-based media reports are outlined and the opportunities for cross-curricular initiatives highlighted.

The direction of media influence: Real-estate news and the stock market

This paper uses a novel identification strategy to test the influence of news media on the stock market. Because the stock market does not impact the media coverage of the housing market, a relationship between real-estate news and shares of companies engaged in the housing market is attributable media influence. I find that the content of reporting exhibits a significant relationship with stock returns, and the amount of news with the number of trades. These relationships exist even after controlling for known risk factors, housing market performance and intra-week correlation. This finding is consistent with the function of the media as a source of information and sentiment in financial markets.

The Agendas of The Stream

The new tech has introduced the traits of the hypermedia, interactivity and convergence in the journalism field. Moreover, it has involved the emergence of new media and changes in the informative contents. In 2006 Al Jazeera in English was created for covering the underreported regions, inasmuch as new media arise, new contents do so, thus, the research examines the agendas of The Stream, the TV show from Al Jazeera that relies heavily on social networks.

Redciencia: una propuesta para el nuevo periodismo cient��fico en Colombia

Redciencia es una propuesta de un nuevo medio de comunicaci��n period��stico que busca difundir los avances cient��ficos colombianos a trav��s de un lenguaje multimedia e interactivo con miras a convertirse en un ejemplo de periodismo transmedia dentro de la web 2.0

Agenda setting en el proceso de paz de Juan Manuel Santos (octubre de 2012 ��� mayo de 2014) en eltiempo.com

Una vez iniciado el actual proceso de paz en Colombia, en octubre 18 de 2012, los medios de comunicaci��n desplegaron todo su equipo tecnol��gico y humano para el cubrimiento del mismo. A trav��s de los diferentes canales de informaci��n la audiencia accede a las noticias publicadas y establecidas por los medios, de tal forma que s��lo est��n al tanto de los temas dados a conocer por los ��ltimos, especialmente de las publicaciones que se encuentran en el mundo virtual donde hay un flujo constante de contenidos. Este trabajo est�� enfocado a analizar el tratamiento que eltiempo.com le ha dado a los diferentes acontecimientos y, por tanto, a las diferentes publicaciones que se han realizado sobre las negociaciones en La Habana, Cuba. Al revisar las publicaciones entre octubre de 2012 y mayo de 2014, se encontr�� que la mayor��a de informaci��n sobre el proceso de paz se encuentra en la secci��n pol��tica, con un total de 80 textos publicados durante este periodo; esta cifra permiti�� realizar estad��sticas de los g��neros period��sticos encontrados, la cantidad de informaci��n publicada por mes y de los autores, entre otros. Igualmente, se sacaron las tem��ticas de cada texto, encontrando que el proceso de paz ha sido presentado al p��blico como una agenda establecida por los medios (agenda setting), dando a conocer diferentes formas de ver la realidad por medio de marcos establecidos por los mismos medios (framing), evidenciados desde la ubicaci��n de las publicaciones en la secci��n pol��tica del medio, haciendo que los lectores categoricen el tema como algo netamente pol��tico.