Journalism
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Journalism

Tim P. Vos, Tim P. Vos

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Journalism

Tim P. Vos, Tim P. Vos

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About This Book

This volume sets out the state-of-the-art in the discipline of journalism at a time in which the practice and profession of journalism is in serious flux.
While journalism is still anchored to its history, change is infecting the field. The profession, and the scholars who study it, are reconceptualizing what journalism is in a time when journalists no longer monopolize the means for spreading the news. Here, journalism is explored as a social practice, as an institution, and as memory. The roles, epistemologies, and ethics of the field are evolving. With this in mind, the volume revisits classic theories of journalism, such as gatekeeping and agenda-setting, but also opens up new avenues of theorizing by broadening the scope of inquiry into an expanded journalism ecology, which now includes citizen journalism, documentaries, and lifestyle journalism, and by tapping the insights of other disciplines, such as geography, economics, and psychology.
The volume is a go-to map of the field for students and scholars—highlighting emerging issues, enduring themes, revitalized theories, and fresh conceptualizations of journalism.

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Year
2018
ISBN
9781501500107
Tim P. Vos

1Journalism

Abstract: This chapter works through a broad and a theoretical definition of journalism. The broad definition centers on journalism as a kind of work. The theoretical definition focuses on the cultural, institutional, and material dimensions of journalism. The exercise highlights the complexities and controversies that accompany efforts to define and delimit the field. These complexities and controversies run through the various chapters of the book, which are contextualized in this introductory chapter.
Keywords: definition of journalism, theoretical definition, conceptualization, journalistic labor
Journalism is an amazingly rich field of study, generating interest from a variety of perspectives and disciplines. Much of this interest is owed to the vital role journalism plays in the life of a society. A variety of social actors – from policymakers to scientists to captains of industry to ordinary citizens – are invested in how journalism is constituted and performed. It has historically held significant consequences for how any collective behavior is negotiated and perceived and hence for the kind of social and physical world individuals inhabit. Journalism is significant simply because, like a mountain to be climbed, it’s there. “Journalism, in all its varieties, is the constant background and accompaniment to everyday life” (McNair 2005: 25).
But, for reasons that have little to do with journalism’s social importance, the field has been facing something of a crisis (Ryfe 2012). Economic and technological changes have been met with changes to how journalism is performed and by whom (Witschge et al. 2016). Newspapers have struggled, losing readers and shedding workers; broadcast news outlets have faced similar, albeit less severe, retrenchment; and online outlets have asserted themselves as new players in the field, shifting some traditional journalistic commitments. However, the work of journalism is no less vital and hence no less a source of constant fascination. Indeed, the seeming upheaval in journalism has made its attention and study even more compelling. We are fascinated with rethinking (Peters & Broersma 2016, 2013), reinventing (Waisbord 2013), reconsidering (Alexander, Breese & Luengo 2016), revisioning (Allan 2013), and reforming (Heinderyckx & Vos 2016) the field.
Some would no doubt quibble with the assertion that journalism is no less vital now than in the past. They can point to “random acts of journalism” (Holt & Karlsson 2014: 1795) that transcend the industrial forms of journalism that are lately in crisis. This is a legitimate point. But it also raises a fundamental question: what is journalism? Journalists and the field of journalism studies have already confronted the question of “who is a journalist?” (Black 2010; Ugland & Henderson 2007; Weaver 2005). It now too is confronting the question of “what is journalism?” (Deuze 2005; McNair 2005).
This chapter sets out to define journalism and, in the process, aims to highlight the various ways in which journalism can be examined and studied. Indeed, this volume is a demonstration of the many ways journalism can be conceptualized and explored. The chapter concludes by laying out the plan of the volume, highlighting the continued vitality of journalism as a field of practice and study.

1Defining journalism

Defining any concept comes with inherent tensions. One tension is between the specific and the general. The more elaborate the definition the more specific it can be. But in defining a concept in terms of the trees, one can lose sight of the forest. The conceptual properties are lost. Closely related to this issue is the tension between the particular and the universal. In defining a concept in particular terms, it can become too situated in the present, foreclosing the possibility of studying a concept over time. Similarly, the definition, when too specific and too particular, can also be too local, preventing us from a global view of the concept. And while definitions generally focus on the empirical manifestations of a concept, there is a tension here with the normative. Value choices are inevitably made when delimiting a concept. The definition of journalism offered in this chapter hopefully negotiates these tensions satisfactorily. However, it will start with a broad definition of journalism as a way of highlighting some of the key debates in the field.
Defining journalism is a daunting task, partly because it is a mega-concept – a conceptual conglomerate “entangled with a number of often unspecified concepts” (McLeod & Pan 2004: 17) – and partly because the empirical referent that journalism signifies keeps shifting (Schudson 2013). This makes definition of journalism something of a fool’s errand. But, the task also seems unavoidable. There are a number of important reasons to define it, ranging from the theoretical to the pedagogical to the legal. I touch on only a few of the reasons here.
First, a reason to define journalism is because concepts are central to theory building and hence central to the theoretical work that is at the heart of the academic enterprise (Shoemaker, Tankard & Lasorsa 2004). In addition to being a mega-concept, journalism also functions as a class concept (McLeod & Pan 2004); that is, we explore a set of messages that we associate with journalism as distinct, for example, from a class of messages that we associate with public relations, which also produces things that appear to be acts of journalism. Research that compared the framing of climate change from journalism and public relations messages would need to begin by making a distinction between what is journalism and what is not. Likewise, if citizens are unable to make the conceptual distinction between these two phenomena, there are consequences for the formation – or malformation – of public opinion (Vaughn 1980).
Second, defining journalism serves a pedagogical purpose, socializing new entrants into the journalistic field. Whether the definition comes from a textbook or from an editor or news director, the effect is much the same. Those new to the endeavor are led to attend to certain features of journalism. Definitions – by definition – are exclusive, limiting what factors are and are not constitutive of a concept (Shapiro 2014). The utility of this exclusion is to focus our attention to a parsimonious set of characteristics that can guide meaningful action and reflection.
Third, there are legal – and subsequent ethical or moral – reasons for defining journalism, and who is a journalist. Who is and who is not afforded legal protections and privileges afforded to journalists is important to those who find themselves on the wrong side of disputes with government and other authorities (Peters & Tandoc Jr 2013). Shield laws, for example, legally define who is a journalist so as to specify who can claim the privilege of not testifying in court about the identity of a source of information. Here, the broader the definition, the greater the number of those protected. The way journalism is defined can be, in certain times and certain places, a matter of freedom and incarceration or even life and death.
So, fool’s errand or not, a definition of journalism cannot really be avoided. The only foolishness is in believing a once-and-for-all definition is possible. The definition offered here is partly theoretical and partly pedagogical. The goal is to flush out the debates about the field that are often implicit – and sometimes explicit – in any definition.

1.1A broad definition

I do not dwell on how others have defined journalism. Each attempt has its merits. For example, Schudson (2012: 3) offers a broad definition that touches on many of the same themes as the definitions put forward in this chapter:
Journalism is the business or practice of regularly producing and disseminating information about contemporary affairs of public interest and importance. It is a set of institutions that publicizes periodically (usually daily but now with online updates continuously) information and commentary on contemporary affairs, normally presented as true and sincere, to a dispersed and usually anonymous audience so as to publicly include that audience in a discourse taken to be publicly important.
Craft and Davis’s (2016: 34) definition is thoughtful and concise: “Journalism is a set of transparent, independent procedures aimed at gathering, verifying and reporting truthful information of consequence to citizens in a democracy.” The chief merits of this pedagogical definition are that it enumerates both the values and practices that constitute journalism. Shapiro (2014: 555) offers a functional definition of journalism, meaning that his definition focuses on practices: “Journalism comprises the activities involved in an independent pursuit of accurate information about current or recent events and its original presentation for public edification.”
Here, I offer an initial broad definition and unpack the issues implicit in the definition, before returning to offer a theoretical definition more suited to guiding empirical inquiry. Journalism is the socially valued and structured work of crafting and distributing socially significant news and discussion.
The first initial component to consider here is defining journalism as work. This underscores that journalism is a kind of labor (Örnebring 2010). By defining it as work, a number of things are excluded from the definition – one exclusion is noted here: Journalism is distinct from the texts (broadly defined; see McKee 2003) that journalism produces. In common expression one might see a compelling news story and say, ‘that’s good journalism’. But, the definition proffered here would interpret such an observation to be about the work that went into creating the text and not the text itself. Even with this exclusion, the focus on ‘work’ leaves for a broad definition.
The broadness of the definition sidesteps a few ongoing debates that would seek to bake in or “smuggle” in (Schudson 2003: 14) particular perspectives to the definition of journalism. For example, Zelizer (2004) has noted that definitions of journalism can be arranged under at least five groupings. One of those groupings – already noted – is conceptualizing journalism as a text. She also points to journalism as a profession, as an institution, as people, and as practices. The broadness of the definition above is meant to avoid picking one of these approaches.
Thus, this focus on “work” avoids the debate about the professional nature of work. Some journalists and journalism studies scholars have embraced the idea of journalism being a profession. It not only ennobles the work, it speaks to its social purpose. A profession’s obligation is to the public, not to the self or to the financial or political ends of publishers (Davis 2010). That obligation is expressed in formal codes of ethics, creating a socially respected identity for the field (Ward 2004). A profession has authority and autonomy in regulating itself, which speaks to a normative desire to define journalism in terms of press freedom and freedom of speech (Craft 2010). Meanwhile, some practitioners and scholars have chafed at the notion of journalism as a profession. They question whether journalism can really be a profession if its membership is not controlled, if it has no monopoly on specialized knowledge, and so forth. Some have even questioned whether professionalism, which involves some level of self-regulation, might be its own form of limiting press freedom (Merrill 1990). However, work is described in this definition as socially valued, which highlights some of the same goods that professionalism promises. Journalistic work is rooted in an informal social contract: providing public service in exchange for some degree of press freedom.
Some who have rejected the idea of journalism being a profession have opted for journalism being understood as a craft (Adam & Clark 2006). This still conveys the occupational nature of the work of journalism. The notion of craft also underscores the artistry involved in crafting compelling narratives, or other forms of presentation (Adam 1993). With this conceptualization, the skillfulness of the work is what separates it from the quasi-journalistic attempts of social media posts or other interlopers. But, “craft” fails to convey the social import, its significance beyond the here and now. Carey (2007: 4) indicates as much in an essay on the craft of journalism: “(J)ournalism is a craft of place; it works by the light of local knowledge. What journalists know and how they know it, what journalists write and how they write it, what stories interest journalists and the form that interest takes, is pretty much governed by the here and now.” The definition offered above does indeed stipulate that journalism is the work of “crafting”. However, while this choice of words communicates something of the skill involved in producing news, it is not posited as the central, defining feature of journalism.
Meanwhile, by noting that the work is “structured” the definition identifies that journalistic work is not simply unorganized labor (see also, Örnebring 2010). It may or may not be a profession or a craft, but the work is guided by principles and routines. This definition does not use the term institution to describe journalism, but it just as well could have. That’s if we define institutions as “social patterns of behavior identifiable across organizations that extend over space and endure over time” (Hanitzsch & Vos 2017: 5) or as “shared norms and informal rules” (Sparrow 2006: 155). The work-based definition is not limited to simple practice, in other words; it is practice shaped by social values. In fact, I do not mean to exclude via this definition the notion that journalism is a set of ideas – an “ism” (Nerone 2013). Indeed, this is central to what journalism is. But, norms and rules only become empirical indicators of journalism when they are expressed – verbally, but also through action; that is, through work.
The work-based definition sidesteps another debate in that it avoids defining the work as explicitly human labor. With the advent of machine-written news, the question arises whether this “work” counts as journalism (van Dalen 2012). Or, put another way, is robot journalism still journalism? This definition leaves open that possibility – since the computation work performed by computers creates (or, in a broad sense, crafts) news. Journalistic labor has almost always meant a combination of machine labor and human labor – a combination that accelerated in the late 20th century as computers became commonplace in newsrooms (Örnebring 2010). Thus, “work” here need not preclude nonhuman forms of labor.
I want to return to the adjectives used to describe journalism as work: socially valued and structured. As already noted, structured work refers to the fact that journalistic work manifests principles and routines. This distinguishes journalism from “random acts of journalism” or one-time occurrences that may look like journalism but are not disciplined by underlying principles and routines. Indeed, the reference to work – which by definition refers to a sustained effort – is meant to suggest that journalism is an ongoing, purpose-driven labor. The reference to socially valued work indicates that the purpose is fundamentally a publi...

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