The New Advertisers: How Foundation Funding Impacts Journalism

Many journalism stakeholders have begun looking to philanthropic foundations to help newsrooms find economic sustainability. The rapidly expanding role of foundations as a revenue source for news publishers raises an important question: How do foundations exercise their influence over the newsrooms they fund? Using the hierarchy of influence model, this study utilizes more than 40 interviews with journalists at digitally native nonprofit news organizations and employees from foundations that fund nonprofit journalism to better understand the impact of foundation funding on journalistic practice. Drawing on previous scholarship exploring extra-media influence on the news industry, we argue that the impact of foundations on journalism parallels that of advertisers throughout the 20th century—with one important distinction: Journalism practitioners and researchers have long forbidden the influence from advertisers on editorial decisions, seeing the blurring of the two as inherently unethical. Outside funding from foundations, on the other hand, is often premised on editorial influence, complicating efforts by journalists to maintain the firewall between news revenue and production.

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Mastering Metrics: The Impact of Social Media on the Routines and Values of Broadcast Journalists

Electronic News ◽

10.1177/19312431211050050 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 193124312110500

Author(s):

Stefanie Davis Kempton ◽

Colleen Connolly Ahern

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Television News ◽

Social Media Platforms ◽

News Industry ◽

Media Discourse Analysis ◽

The Impact ◽

Media Practices ◽

Depth Interviews ◽

Method Approach

Social media use is essential for success in today's television news industry. Broadcast journalists use social media platforms to gather and disseminate news in more efficient ways. Broadcasters are also using social media to engage with news consumers in innovative ways. This study employs a mixed-method approach to better understand how social media impacts broadcast journalists’ routines and values and explores the role of gender in broadcasters’ social media strategies. Qualitative in-depth interviews with top broadcast journalists and a social media discourse analysis of their Twitter pages produces this study's findings. Findings suggest that in many television newsrooms social media have become more important than traditional platforms like evening newscasts, and social media metrics are being used to gauge journalists’ success. Additionally, women broadcasters are disadvantaged by the current social media practices in many newsrooms. Implications are discussed.

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What Picture Would They Use?

10.1093/oso/9780190926977.003.0005 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 99-123

Author(s):

Mary Angela Bock

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Criminal Justice ◽

Criminal Justice System ◽

Digital Culture ◽

Stanford University ◽

News Organizations ◽

Crime News ◽

Twitter Users ◽

The Impact

This chapter studies the impact of digital culture on a long-standing crime news staple, the mug shot. First, it historicizes the way mug shots have traditionally served the interests of news organizations and the criminal justice system. Then, based on two highly publicized cases, the chapter situates mug shots in a model of decontextualization and recontextualization that accounts for traditional and social media. Former Texas governor Rick Perry’s mug shot was recontextualized by traditional journalists and social media users, and grounded research suggests that he was able to exert embodied gatekeeping to control the narrative about his case. Former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner was subjected to the anger of many Twitter users, who used his digital mug shot to create counternarratives to criminalize him visually. The two cases illustrate the affordance of images to narrative, the role of power in message construction, and the impact of digitization on a model for recontextualization.

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Understanding online consumption of public affairs news in Malaysia

Journal of Asian Pacific Communication ◽

10.1075/japc.00009.oma ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 28 (1) ◽

pp. 172-194 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Bahiyah Omar ◽

Nurzali Ismail ◽

Ng See Kee

Keyword(s):

Online Survey ◽

Public Affairs ◽

Social Needs ◽

Online Data ◽

Internet Users ◽

Strategic Approach ◽

News Organizations ◽

News Credibility ◽

News Industry

Abstract Evidence from past news research suggested that people are less interested to read hard news including public affairs news. Focusing on Malaysia, this study examines the role of demographic variables, mobile and social media use for news, perceived news credibility and users’ motivations for news in explaining online consumption of public affairs news in the setting which is known for its tight media control. An online survey was employed to collect data from Malaysian Internet users, aged between 18 and 64, who regularly read news online. Data were analyzed using multiple regression. The findings of the study suggest that digital immigrants, or older news users, are more likely to consume public affairs news than young ones. Malaysians read public affairs news which they perceive to be highly credible to fulfill their information and social needs. News organizations in Malaysia can use these findings to design a strategic approach for a more competitive news industry.

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Intergroup Threat and Outgroup Attitudes

Social Psychology ◽

10.1027/1864-9335/a000127 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 44 (5) ◽

pp. 311-319 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Marco Brambilla ◽

David A. Butz

Keyword(s):

Gay Men ◽

Social Group ◽

Welfare Recipients ◽

Intergroup Attitudes ◽

Social Policies ◽

Intergroup Threat ◽

Economic Threat ◽

The Impact ◽

General Climate

Two studies examined the impact of macrolevel symbolic threat on intergroup attitudes. In Study 1 (N = 71), participants exposed to a macrosymbolic threat (vs. nonsymbolic threat and neutral topic) reported less support toward social policies concerning gay men, an outgroup whose stereotypes implies a threat to values, but not toward welfare recipients, a social group whose stereotypes do not imply a threat to values. Study 2 (N = 78) showed that, whereas macrolevel symbolic threat led to less favorable attitudes toward gay men, macroeconomic threat led to less favorable attitudes toward Asians, an outgroup whose stereotypes imply an economic threat. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding the role of a general climate of threat in shaping intergroup attitudes.

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