scholarly journals Eclipse of Reflexivity in the Rise of Trump

2020 ◽  
pp. 39-52
Author(s):  
Michael McDevitt
Keyword(s):  
Election Campaigns ◽  
Digital Era ◽  
The Press ◽  
2016 Election

A climate of punitive populism during election campaigns constitutes both a threat to journalism’s authority and an opportunity to command attention in ways reminiscent of the pre-digital era. Chapter 3 considers whether the press has internalized a proto-democratic duty to represent public mood by redeeming the same irrationalism that it helps to mobilize. Affirmation of anger in conjunction with downplaying of policy expertise is antithetical to journalism’s understanding of its contribution to an informed electorate. This contradiction leads to an appraisal of how journalists critique their work. The chapter compares commentaries of media scholars to interpretations of reporters and columnists following the startling 2016 election. While journalists recognized audiences as intolerant of quality news, they appeared unable to contemplate how this critique shaped their reporting. Disproportionate attention to candidate Trump was not so much justified as large sectors of the electorate were imagined as intolerant of reason-based reporting.

Bypassing the press gallery: from Howard to Hanson

2018 ◽  
Vol 167 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Fisher ◽  
David Marshall ◽  
Kerry McCallum
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Political News ◽  
The Public ◽  
Theoretical Position ◽  
Digital Era ◽  
The Press ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Media Logic

Traditionally politicians have been dependent on political news media to get their message across to the public. The rise of social media means that politicians can bypass the Press Gallery and publish directly to their target audiences via Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms. This article argues that Prime Minister John Howard’s (1996–2007) use of talk back radio and early forays on YouTube were pivotal in the trend towards ‘disintermediation’ in Australian politics. It draws on two studies. One involving interviews with 87 key media actors from the Howard era including journalists, broadcasters, politicians and media advisers; and a second, which includes fresh interviews with contemporary press secretaries. This article examines the shift from a ‘mass media logic’ to a ‘hybrid logic’, considered from a mediatization theoretical position. We also ask important questions about the press gallery’s ongoing relevance in the digital era, when politicians preside over their own social media empires.

The Watchdog Still Barks

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth Knobel
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Newspaper Industry ◽  
Investigative Reporting ◽  
Ownership Structures ◽  
Digital Era ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Media ◽  
The One ◽  
Important Form ◽  
Better Than

Perhaps no other function of a free press is as important as the watchdog role. It is easier for politicians to get away with abusing power, wasting public funds, and making poor decisions if the press is not shining its light with what is termed “accountability reporting.” This need has become especially clear as the American press has come under direct attack for carrying out its watchdog duties. This book presents a study of how this most important form of journalism came of age in the digital era at American newspapers. The book examines the front pages of nine newspapers, located across the United States, for clues on how papers addressed the watchdog role as the advent of the Internet transformed journalism. It shows how papers of varying sizes and ownership structures around the country marshaled resources for accountability reporting despite significant financial and technological challenges. Although the American newspaper industry contracted significantly during the 1990s and 2000s due to the digital transformation, the data collected in this book shows that the papers held fast to the watchdog role. The newspapers all endured budget and staff cuts during the 20 years studied as paid circulation and advertising dropped, but the amount of deep watchdog reporting on their front pages generally increased over this time. The book contains interviews with editors of the newspapers studied, who explain why they are staking their papers' futures on the one thing that American newspapers still do better than any other segment of the media—watchdog and investigative reporting.

Press and Referenda: The Case of the British Referendum of 1975

1978 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 601-616
Author(s):  
Colin Seymour-Ure
Keyword(s):  
European Economic Community ◽  
Election Campaigns ◽  
Economic Community ◽  
European Economic ◽  
The Press ◽  
British Press

What might be expected of the Canadian press, and of comment about the Canadian press, in a referendum on Quebec independence? This article does not seek directly to confront that question: it is exclusively about the contribution of the British press to Britain's referendum in June 1975 on her membership in the European Economic Community. Obviously the circumstances of that referendum were quite different from one about Quebec: unlike Premier Lévesque's proposal, for example, it was held across the whole nation, and opinions differed as widely within the parties and their leaderships as between them. But the article's contention—that referenda tend to put in doubt the legitimacy of the press at the same time as giving them an even more central role than in election campaigns—seems applicable to the Canadian situation and perhaps to referenda in general. To draw out the comparison fully, however, would require a familiarity with Quebec politics (and with the precedent of the 1942 conscription plebiscite) that is far beyond this author's competence. This note attempts simply to argue the case by illustration from the isolated British example.

Evaluating newspaper performance in the public sphere: Press accounts of Westminster elections in Scotland and in England in the early post-devolution period

Journalism ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 320-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Dekavalla
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Critical Discussion ◽  
General Election ◽  
Election Campaigns ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Public Sphere

This article explores ways of evaluating the performance of the press in an electoral public sphere and compares the output of newspapers in England and in Scotland during the 2001 and 2005 general election campaigns. It combines content analysis with critical discussion of examples of coverage and complements these with evidence from interviews with Scottish political editors. It argues that, even though Scottish newspapers gave less coverage to the two elections than titles sold in England, both sets of newspapers performed better in their role as providers of information and opinion to inform the electorate, than in that of presenting an inclusive, discursive and diverse electoral debate or encouraging forms of active citizenry.

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