Making “Un-news”: News aggregation in Chinese press

“Un-news” is a Chinese newsroom jargon that refers to the process as well as the product of aggregation. It encapsulates clashes between digital and legacy journalism, challenges posed by and responses to technologies in the media industry. It differs from aggregation news elsewhere because of dynamic media environment in China. This ethnographic study closely analyzes manifestations of “un-news” churned out by digital aggregators who have to work under management of legacy print journalists and editors in a local Chinese press. The hierarchy of influences model is used to decompose the meanings and complexities of “un-news.” Fieldwork observations have confirmed our expectations that the hierarchy model remains structurally valid, although the content and meaning of influence have changed drastically within each level.

Writing for the audience or for public relations? How lifestyle editors perceive expectations about their professional role and manage potential for conflict

Lifestyle journalists work in a boundary area between journalistic and commercial interests. They report journalistically on lifestyle topics such as travel, food, or fashion, while also incorporating promotional content and public relations concerns, either because reporting on lifestyle topics would otherwise not be possible or because their publications depend economically on commercial partners. These differing demands could lead to role conflicts for the editors of lifestyle magazines. This study investigates how lifestyle editors perceive expectations regarding their professional role and whether diverging expectations lead to role conflicts. To answer these questions, qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with lifestyle editors from Germany. The results show that lifestyle editors aim primarily to entertain, spread positivity, and inspire their readers, while attempting to report independently and objectively. However, commercial expectations compromise these norms, leading to perceptions of role conflict.

Open-source investigation as a genre of conflict reporting

This paper examines the role and scope of eyewitness images in open-source investigation, which is becoming a prominent genre of conflict reporting in its own right. Based on interviews with journalists at the Visual Investigations Unit at The New York Times and a textual analysis of their video reports, the paper sheds light on the paradoxical working of the genre, which simultaneously opens up and limits opportunities for eyewitness images as a platform for voice. The paper thus argues that despite the journalists’ commitment to innovation, the logics of institutions, the corporate ethos of social media platforms, and the pervasive power of geopolitics continue to shape the articulation, recognition, and agency of voice.

Black maternal mortality in the media: How journalists cover a deadly racial disparity

Through semi-structured interviews with four women news journalists, this study explores how journalists who specialize in women’s issues and health cover Black maternal mortality. Discussions include the role of advocacy in journalism and the struggle of covering the complex, long-standing systemic issue of maternal mortality associated with race in American society. Six themes consider the inclusion of race in healthcare coverage, a need for in-depth, nuanced coverage, the role of advocacy in journalism, complications of reporting on race, the importance of citing sources of color, and celebrity influence. Findings show the need for media advocacy in public health crises, and how journalistic norms can pressure journalists into citing inappropriate sources or diluting the story.

Social campaigns to social change? Sexual violence framing in U.S. news before and after #metoo

The discussion on sexual violence gained momentum in October 2017 after the Twitter hashtag (#metoo) spread globally highlighting the widespread reality of this problem. While this resulted in extensive media coverage, and naturally informed audiences about societal issues, it can also be problematic regarding the media’s power to reflect and construct reality. Therefore, it is important to research how societal issues like sexual violence are discussed in media settings. The study aimed to investigate how journalists frame sexual violence in the news (RQ1) and whether such practices have changed in the wake of the MeToo movement (RQ2). A quantitative content analysis was conducted for news articles published in four US newspapers, spanning a period of 2 years – from 1 year before to 1 year after the #metoo tweet ( N = 612; Oct. 2016 – Oct. 2018). Results indicate that news coverage on sexual violence shifted from straightforward, single-incident reports to broader discussions. This study contributes to scientific research and journalism practices by providing an overarching view of how sexual violence is framed in the news and the potential impact of social movements on reportage.

Stereotypes and sexism? Effects of gender, topic, and user comments on journalists’ credibility

Gendered social roles raise assumptions about what female and male journalists ought to do. Prior studies have suggested that covering counter-stereotypical topics may decrease journalists’ source and their work’s message credibility. Pertaining also to prior studies on heuristic cues for credibility evaluation, user comments have been shown to serve as corrective, both positively and negatively affecting the perception of accompanying content. In an online survey with 417 German participants, we employed a 3 (author: female, male, and computer) × 2 (topic: stereotypically masculine and feminine) × 2 (comments: sexist and non-sexist) experimental design to investigate source and message credibility. Findings do not show differences in gender perception but between human authors (either female or male) and a computer (the control group). Covering counter-stereotypical topics indicates slightly less credibility for men and women if presented with non-sexist comments. In turn, sexist comments lead to slightly higher credibility, suggesting more elaborate engagement with sexism-affected content.

Mitigating the consequences of negative news: How constructive journalism enhances self-efficacy and news credibility

An informed electorate is vital for a well-functioning democracy. Yet many citizens intentionally avoid the news because it evokes negative feelings of disempowerment and distrust. This study ( n = 270) investigated how social media exposure to a new journalistic approach, constructive journalism, influences news consumers. The results showed that constructive social media posts, as compared to negative posts, led to higher levels of positive affect, self-efficacy, and perceived news credibility. In line with the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, the effects on self-efficacy and news credibility were mediated by positive affect. A similar mediating role was found for negative affect, counter to the theoretical expectations. These findings shed new light on the broaden-and-build theory, suggesting parts of it generalize to the context of news exposure on social media. The findings also suggest that constructive journalism may be an effective way to mitigate some of the main drivers of news avoidance in the 21st century.

Discursive representation of the Article 370 abrogation: A comparative CDA of the headlines of two major Indian online news publications

The Indian government on 5 August, 2019, unilaterally removed Article 370 of its constitution that provided autonomous status to the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir. In order to pre-empt any backlash, the authorities put the entire region under strict lockdown and imposed a complete communication blackout including suspension of internet, mobile, and landline phone services. The Indian media vociferously covered the issue of higher “national interest” with no counter-narrative from local news media in the region. Using Van Djik’s socio-cognitive model, the study conducted comparative critical discourse analysis of the headlines from two major Indian online news publications; the English daily The Times of India and the Hindi daily Dainik Jagran to identify the discursive strategies adopted by these newspapers after the revocation of the Article 370. The study aimed to understand how Indian newspapers were shaping the discourse when the Indian government imposed communication restrictions and lockdown in the region. Through CDA, the study located the discursive strategies in the headlines and the ideological standpoints they reflected while covering the Article 370 controversy. The CDA found that the headline discourse in both the news publications was characterized by aggressive nationalistic assertion reinforcing domestic legitimacy for the government’s decision. The analysis further showed substantial evidence for the cultural distances between the English and Hindi language news discourse. Unlike English headlines, the Hindi headlines contained explicit linguistic subjectivities and were overtly hyperbolic in recognizing and blending itself with the nationalist assertion and socio-political expression around the abrogation of Article 370.

Black bodies at risk: Exploring the corporeal iconography of the anti-police brutality movement

Black bodies at risk are in constant conversation with each other. The Black witness who films a fatal police encounter on her phone is talking to the Black victim, promising not to leave him in his final moments. The distant Black witness who sees that video then talks back to the witness and the victim, creating powerful imagery that amplifies the tragic footage. In this manner, those working under the broad banner of the Black Lives Matter movement have reimagined a dynamic Black visual public sphere, where moral arguments about police brutality are sustained through an assemblage of strategic visual appeals. In this essay, I argue that this call-and-response of Black corporeal iconography forms the vanguard of embodied protest journalism in the 21st century. I explain how the concepts of “strong objectivity,” which is rooted in feminist standpoint theory, help validate and liberate the flesh witnessing of the marginalized. Moreover, I offer two broad categories of imagery that Black activists create most often in response to fatal police shootings: historic juxtapositions and symbolic deaths.