What is Fox News? Partisan Journalism, Misinformation, and the Problem of Classification

Fox News is one of the most popular news sources in the United States. Yet, there are those who reject the idea that Fox should be considered a news source in the first place, claiming it should be considered something more akin to propaganda. This article uses the ambiguity surrounding Fox News’ classification as an opportunity to explore how news sources get defined and categorized within journalism research and practice. It discusses three approaches that can be utilized to understand and categorize partisan media—producer-focused, audience-focused, and critical/normative. It explores the benefits and limitations of these perspectives and the need for scholarly inquiry that transverses and synthesizes them. We argue that an increasingly variegated news landscape calls for scholars to develop a richer vocabulary for distinguishing key features of partisan news outlets and greater reflexivity in research design that acknowledges the challenges inherent in translating meaning and values between producers, audiences, and scholars.

Whose Pictures, Whose Reality? Lines of Tradition in the Development of Topics, Negativity, and Power in the Photojournalistic Competition World Press Photo

Initially founded in 1955 as a platform for Dutch photojournalists to increase international exposure, the World Press Photo competition has grown into the most prestigious contest of photojournalism worldwide, making it an important arena for journalism research. Using qualitative and quantitative content analyses, this study examines all photos shown in the competitions from 1960 to 2020 (N = 11,789) considering the origin of jury members (N = 686), participants (N = 132,800), placements (N = 2347) and the Human Development Index (HDI) of the countries. The topics displayed on the photos, their degree of negativity, and potential power structures in the photos are analysed over time both in terms of continental and HDI-related differences. Significant results show that Africa, Asia, and South America are more frequently depicted by the topic conflict and characterised by negative images than continents with industrialised nations (Australia/Oceania, Europe, North America). Participating European countries have a significantly higher average number of jury members, participants, and placements than participating countries from Africa, Asia, and South America, which seems to account for a dominant Eurocentric view. Implications and critical discussions are summarized in three interim conclusions at the end of this extended paper.

STORY CREATION AND THE IMPACT OF TRAVEL JOURNALISTS ON DESTINATION BRANDS

The main objective of this article is to present an insight into the process of story creation in the travel section of British newspapers. The research presented focuses on this specific area of written press in order to understand how stories are created and how destination brand managers can use and control this source of information to build brand image. In order to understand how journalists create their stories the authors conducted a qualitative research with six travel journalists. Because of the exploratory nature of this research, it was decided that the best method of data collection was in-depth interviews. Although the aim of the travel section is to inform readers, the nature of its written stories differs from the newspaper’s other articles. In fact, reports published in the travel section tend to be positive and boast an optimistic outlook about places and leisure activities. Two main reasons may explain why this happens: first, the reason why a person reads the travel section; second, the symbiotic relationship between the press and travel or leisure organisations. These aspects influence the nature of the published stories and impact on how journalists write their articles. Despite the relevance of travel journalism, research on the topic is scant. The process of creating a story is poorly understood and therefore difficult for DMOs to manage this source of image creation

A systematic review of constructive and solutions journalism research

Academic activity surrounding constructive and solutions journalism has surged in recent years; thus, it is important to pause and reflect on this growing body of work in order to understand where the field can and should go in the future. We conducted a systematic review of existing literature on solutions and constructive journalism ( N = 94), in an effort to (1) describe the state of this field by identifying the patterns and trends in the methodological and conceptual approaches, topics, institutions, countries and practices involved in this research, and (2) illuminate potentially important gaps in the field and suggest recommendations for future research.

TRIPLE IDENTITY IN CONFLICT: ethnography in legislative media and its possibilities

ABSTRACT – This article analyzes the challenges, obstacles, and theoretical and methodological advances that the ethnography of organizations can bring to journalism research based on two studies on legislative media in the Brazilian National Congress. It discusses how the triple identity of ethnographer-journalist-public servant complicates the analysis of these media outlets, creating an environment favorable to reflexivity. Based on the assumption that such media are a privileged space to observe the relationship between the political and journalistic fields, this study concludes that the ethnography advantages are related to the possibility of perceiving and understanding the hybrid identity of the observed subjects, and the researchers themselves. The political role of actors in this context is complex and emphasized in order to further the understanding of the social role of journalism.RESUMO – Este estudo analisa desafios, obstáculos e avanços teóricos e metodológicos que a perspectiva da etnografia das organizações pode trazer à pesquisa em jornalismo, com base em duas análises das mídias legislativas do Congresso Nacional. Discute-se como a tripla identidade de etnógrafa-jornalistaservidora pública complexifica as análises sobre esses veículos, criando um ambiente favorável à reflexividade. Partindo do pressuposto de que tais mídias são um espaço privilegiado para observar a relação entre os campos político e jornalístico, o estudo conclui que os ganhos da etnografia estão relacionados à possibilidade de perceber e compreender a identidade híbrida dos sujeitos observados, e do próprio pesquisador. No contexto estudado, o papel político dos atores é complexificado e colocado em evidência, o que amplia a compreensão do papel social do jornalismo.RESUMEN – Este estudio aborda desafíos, obstáculos y avances teóricos y metodológicos que la perspectiva de la etnografía de las organizaciones puede aportar a la investigación en periodismo, a partir de dos análisis de los medios legislativos del Congreso Nacional brasileño. Se discute cómo la triple identidad de etnógrafo-periodista-servidor público compleja el análisis de estos vehículos, creando un ambiente favorable a la reflexividad. Partiendo del supuesto de que dichos medios son un espacio privilegiado para observar la relación entre los campos político y periodístico, el estudio concluye que las ganancias de la etnografía están relacionadas con la posibilidad de percibir y comprender la identidad híbrida de los sujetos observados y del propio investigador. En el contexto estudiado, se compleja y resalta el rol político de los actores, lo que amplía la comprensión de la función social del periodismo.

Critiquing Ethnocentrism and Hierarchy in International Journalism

This chapter focuses on international journalism research, offering the following suggestions: First, scholarship on international journalism should be prepared to more directly and publicly critique the ethnocentrism that has long plagued international correspondence based in the English-speaking West, and that continues to be a problem in the digital age. Second, scholars of international news work need to be prepared to interrogate the structural inequalities that inform journalistic labor on an international scale, inequalities that have not disappeared with the rise of digital technologies. Third, scholars of international journalism need to more directly engage not only with big-brand correspondents, editors, and news executives, but also with the freelancers, stringers, and local fixers who hold these international news professions on their backs. The chapter ultimately argues that journalism scholars should be building more bridges between journalism research and journalism practice.