Edition 03/2018, Review

Barbara Brandstetter, Steffen Range: Wirtschaft. Basiswissen für die Medienpraxis [Business. Basic knowledge for media practice] reviewed by Ralf Spiller

In their compact book Wirtschaft from the Basiswissen für die Medienpraxis series, Barbara Brandstetter and Steffen Range investigate the question of why business journalism is so unpopular. But the authors do much more than merely answering this question and providing tips for how to improve the situation. Instead, they provide a clear, concise map of business journalism in Germany. continue to article

Edition 03/2018, Review

Jan Fredrik Hovden, Gunnar Nygren, Henrika Zilliacus-Tikkanen: Becoming a Journalist reviewed by Volker Banholzer

The idea of the ‘Nordic model’ has long been popular in debates on political, economic and social issues in continental Europe, and especially in Germany. Clear similarities are also seen in the media systems and the ways journalists are trained in those countries. The edited volume reviewed here also focuses on the education of journalists in line with an identifiable Nordic model. continue to article

Edition 02/2018

Editorial

What do journalists have in common with conspiracy theorists? Journalistik co-publisher Tanjev Schultz has a contentious theory, which he presents in an essay for the second issue of Journalistik. This issue’s extensive empirical paper comes from Leipzig: Cornelia Wolf and Alexander Godulla have conducted an empirical study to investigate the hype (now slowly abating) about newsgames. Spoiler alert: The new format does not live up to expectations. As you can see, Journalistik has chosen some seminal topics for its second issue. But this is just the beginning. continue to article

Edition 02/2018, Paper

Newsgames in journalism Exploitation of potential and assessment by recipients

by Cornelia Wolf & Alexander Godulla / The digital transformation is still presenting established media organizations with huge challenges. Younger generations socialized by multi-optional end devices such as smartphones and tablets have very different expectations of what the content and form of journalistic products should look like. It is therefore no wonder that media organizations are exploring one of the world’s most lucrative markets, with many launching newsgames under their own brand in recent years. This hybrid form between journalism and gaming offers high selectivity and brings current or past events and the processes behind them to life. But journalism research is yet to pay much systematic attention to this new convergence field. continue to article…

Edition 02/2018, Essay

The rumor mill On the relationship between journalism and conspiracy theories

By Tanjev Schultz / The common consensus is that conspiracy theories have nothing in common with reputable media outlets. In an age of rumor, conspiracy theories, and fake news, professional journalists should and want to assume the role of paragons of credibility. Yet doing so also means having to reflect possible points of contact and parallels between journalistic accounts and conspiracy theories in a self-critical way. As this paper argues, journalists are undoubtedly susceptible to the same narrative patterns used by conspiracy theorists, albeit taken to extremes. continue to article

Edition 02/2018, Focus

What do you tell your daughter who wants to be a journalist? On the future of journalism and journalism education in the United States

By Kenneth Starck / While still living at home, your daughter has completed all of her mandated schooling. She is now seriously thinking about life’s next important step. Not surprisingly she decides to extend her learning by attending university. The next question follows: What to study? She reads a lot and writes well. Surprisingly, perhaps, she actually seeks advice from her father—me, a former journalist (newspapers), former journalism professor and, for more than twenty years, a journalism school administrator. Aware of the massive convulsions occurring in the field of mass communication and, most particularly, journalism, I am hard pressed to offer enthusiastic endorsement to enroll in university to study journalism. This essay is an attempt to formulate a thoughtful and realistic answer to your daughters’ question: Should I study journalism? continue to article

Edition 02/2018, Focus

Contribute more, broadcast less On the role of feedback and articulation in a model of “elevated journalism”

By Sebastian Köhler / The paper discusses the extent to which journalism needs to take its function of articulation more seriously and fulfil it more effectively as part of the profession’s public role. To do this, the paper develops aspects of a model of “elevated journalism” – an approach that also includes dialectic criticism of key tendencies in established journalism. Working with feedback from users, be it actual or anticipated, is expected to gain importance in future if journalism is still to maintain a place in societies that are constantly modernizing in so many ways. continue to article

Edition 02/2018, Focus

Quo vadis, Journalism? The Future of an Old Media Profession in the Digital Era

By Horst Pöttker / Rising costs, outsourcing, mass layoffs, diminished circulation, rapidly sinking revenue from advertising: there is a general consensus that the print media are going through a crisis and that the underlying causes for this are to be found in the revolution of digital media. There is also a widespread concern among journalism researchers, and more recently also among democratically oriented politicians, that this crisis could lead to a decline in the journalist profession. continue to article