Coverage Competence via Collaboration: Overcoming Political Journalism Challenges in Local Television

Recent national media surveys point to relatively high levels of public trust in local political reporting. The problem, however, is that challenges with reporter training and experience mean that local television is not as equipped as it might be to provide quality political coverage. We assess how professional journalists and college students majoring in political science or journalism view their reporting competences. We find mixed results, including lower confidence across all groups in performing data and statistical analysis. These results drive our recommended collaboration strategies for local television newsrooms and university departments to improve training and experiential opportunities.

MEDIA DAN POLITIK: STUDI KASUS KONSTRUKSI CITRA POLITIK JOKOWI-MA’RUF DAN PRABOWO-SANDIAGA DI KORAN JAWA POS DALAM PEMILU 2019

This study examines the correlation between reporting by the mass media and the marketing strategies desired by each success team in the 2019 Presidential Election. To find this out, the author uses discourse analysis from Fairclough, because this method is able to show the integration between a) text analysis, b) analysis of the production process, consumption and distribution of texts, and c) sociocultural analysis. There is no significant difference related to the reporting of Jokowi-Ma’ruf and Prabowo-Sandiaga in the Jawa Pos newspaper, both in qualitative and quantitative terms. Although there are similarities between the political image built by actors and the image constructed by the media, it does not mean that it is based on political cooperation. The selected setting and framing agenda is based on consideration of the selling value of information for the reader. This shows that the mass media as well as the opinion of Croteau and Hoynes (2001) in Stromback (2011) are considered to be oriented towards commercial businesses on how to serve the wants and needs of the audience and advertisers. However, the media and actors are mutually beneficial in this regard, because political reporting is a commodity sought by readers, while political actors need the media to deliver their political products to the public.

Training political reporters during a federal election: The UniPollWatch student journalism project

UniPollWatch was the largest student journalism project ever undertaken in Australia. Approximately 1000 students from 28 universities worked to cover the 2016 federal election. The project aimed to provide effective training on political reporting in a work-integrated learning environment. Utilising a combination of analysis and descriptions of the project and a survey research methodology, the results of this project suggest that by placing student reporters in the midst of a fluid and highly contested election environment they learn by observing and doing. The project demonstrated that students’ attitudes to, and aptitude for, covering politics varied greatly, but that the skills needed for political reporting can be improved through projects such as UniPollWatch.

Disappointment in the “Russian American”: the US press of 1917–1918 on political activities of P.N. Milukoff

Статья содержит анализ представлений американской прессы 1917–1918 гг. о политической деятельности известного российского либерального политика П.Н. Милюкова, который после Февральской революции получил почетное прозвище «русского американца». В ходе исследования выясняется, каким образом из любимого персонажа политических репортажей лидер кадетов превращается в персону нон-грата. The article contains an analysis of the views of the US press in 1917–1918 on the political activities of the famous Russian liberal politician P.N. Milukoff, who after the February Revolution got the honorary nickname of “Russian American”. The research reveals in what way the Cadet leader turned from a favorite character of political reporting into a persona non-grata.

The democratic quality of political depictions in fictional TV entertainment. A comparative content analysis of the political drama Borgen and the journalistic magazine Berlin direkt

The quality of political reporting in the news media is a focal point of communication research. Politics, however, is not only conveyed via traditional sources of information, but via fictional sources. In particular, political dramas (e. g., The West Wing, Borgen) enjoy great popularity and are often acknowledged for their realistic depiction of politics. Still, little is known about the democratic quality of such fictional depictions. This paper aims to fill the gap by contrasting the depiction of politics in the fictional TV series Borgen with political reporting in a traditional TV magazine (Berlin direkt). The comparative content analysis is based on ten issues that are covered in both formats and focuses on the quality criteria of relevance, pluralism, and democratic discourse norms. Findings show no significant differences between Borgen and Berlin direkt for any of the three criteria, clearly indicating that fictional TV series can offer the same content quality as political reporting.

The British Right-Wing Mainstream and the European Referendum

This chapter examines the 2016 Brexit campaign as a window into how the right-wing establishment press in the United Kingdom influences the country’s broad political agenda. The chapter demonstrates how right-wing news cultures of the tabloid press played a crucial agenda-setting role in the European referendum debate. The right-wing press exploited the Remain/Leave dichotomy and the BBC’s notion of “strategic balance” to frame the debate within discursive limits set by the conservative elite. The result further undermined trust in British broadcasting, while largely excluding organized labor from the referendum debate. This chapter also provides comparative fodder for scholars of right-wing news in the US context, as the EU referendum in many ways replicated the structural conditions that underpin the two-party horse race coverage common in US mainstream political reporting.