Category: Paper

Edition 3/2021, Paper

Tired of retirement An inventory of pensioners in journalism in an age of precarious employment and the covid-19 pandemic

by Jana Rick / Pensioners working in journalism have so far been the subject of little research. Yet with studies suggesting that this group makes up a large proportion of freelance journalists in Germany, it is worth focusing an investigation on these pensioners. This paper is based on a survey of 102 journalists from all over Germany who draw a pension and are still journalists as their main or side job. For the first time, the data allows us to describe pensioners in journalism and provide information on their socio-demographics, working situation, and working conditions.

Edition 3/2021, Paper

Microphone and quill Starting in the 1960s, New Journalism exponent Norman Mailer used literary techniques to make reportage his own

by Steven Thomsen / The work of Norman Mailer is far less prevalent in the German-speaking world now than it was in the 1960s and 1970s. Few of those who continue to read or discover his novels today know that the American author also worked as a journalist throughout almost his entire career. Loved and hated in equal measure in his home country, the intellectual was a master of using literary techniques to enliven journalistic texts. This paper uses the famous report on the Democratic National Convention, »Superman Comes to the Supermarket,« to illustrate how Mailer redefined and went beyond the boundaries of traditional reportage.

Edition 3/2021, Paper

How deep is the ›misery of the media‹? A report on »alternative« journalism criticism – gleaned from a collection of voices on the propaganda battle waging around Covid-19 coverage (and other things)

by Siegfried Weischenberg / Never has journalism in Germany been attacked more ferociously than in the many publications of »alternative« media criticism, which has gained momentum in recent years. The tone has become even harsher since the »mainstream media« started reporting widely on the management of the pandemic. They are accused of total professional failure, further narrowing the corridor of acceptable opinions, one-sided propaganda in favor of the restrictions in general and the vaccination effort, in particular, as well as a complete lack of balance in their selection of experts who are given a platform. But, for all their radicalism, these »alternative media critics« do not differ that much from the »mainstream« in that they, too, like to self-reference amongst their own pack and are also quite adept at harnessing sensationalism to command attention, even if the facts are rather thin.

Edition 2/2021, Paper

Journalism aggregators: an analysis of Longform.org How journalism aggregators act as site of datafication and curatorial work

3

by Marco Braghieri, Tobias Blanke and Jonathan Gray / What is the role and significance of digital long-form content aggregators in contemporary journalism? This article contends that they are an important, emerging object of study in journalism research and provides a digital methods analysis and theoretical engagement with Longform.org, one of the most prominent long-form content aggregators on the web.

Edition 2/2021, Paper

When Newspeople get Constructive An editorial study on implementing Constructive Reporting at Verlagsgruppe Rhein Main

by Marc-Christian Ollrog, Megan Hanisch and Amelie Rook / Constructive Journalism is in vogue right now. In addition to specially created formats, such as Perspective Daily, more and more traditional media are also adopting this new reporting model. In 2019, the editors-in-chief of the newspapers of the publishing group Rhein Main (VRM) launched the »Project Future«, which was to subscribe to the goals and methods of »Constructive Journalism«.

Edition 1/2021, Paper

Key skill: Reading between the lines On the self-image of Western expats in professional journalist training at universities in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar

by Andreas Sträter / Academics who come from Western countries to teach the next generation of journalists in the United Arab Emirates or Qatar find themselves straddling two worlds. Myriad taboos mean that curricula from the United Kingdom or USA are of limited use, or none at all. The problem is that certain boundaries are not always clearly defined – and infringements can even result in academics being expelled from the country. A qualitative survey of 19 expats on self-image in academic journalist training in the Gulf.

Edition 1/2021, Paper

»A rampage spinning in circles around Capitalism« On the reception of the RAF’s Concept of an Urban Guerrilla in left-wing extremist newspapers in the early 1970s

by Gernot Pürer / In 1972, the »Red Army Faction« (RAF) launched its »May Offensive«, a series of terrorist bombings marking the beginning of a decade of attacks that made the RAF post-war Germany’s most notorious terrorist organization. One year prior, the group published ›The Concept of Urban Guerilla‹, which was both its first and foremost propaganda pamphlet and policy statement and a high-publicity proclamation of its motivations and future plans.

Edition 1/2021, Paper

B(U)ILD-ing an image of Africa A discourse analysis of representations of Africa in the newspaper Bild in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic

by Lukas Franziskus Adolphi / This paper is a discourse-analytical study about the portrayal of Africa in German newspaper BILD in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim will be to uncover underlying racist, colonial, and thus domination-asserting logics inherent in such coverage. In this context, journalism is considered a discursive instrument of power that can either stabilize or challenge existing power structures. My empirical analysis will also show opportunities for subversive effects and the social responsibility of journalism.

Edition 03/2020, Paper

Social media as a source for journalistic work An investigation into the influence of Facebook and Twitter posts by politicians on reporting in daily newspapers

by Anna Spatzenegger / This article analyzes the extent to which journalists use the contributions of politicians in social networks as a source for reporting in their news­papers. Using a content analysis, six daily papers and the Facebook and Twitter accounts of nine politicians from Austria, Germany and Switzerland were examined.

Edition 03/2020, Paper

For historical reasons On the lack of acceptance of journalism studies in Germany

by Horst Pöttker / In Germany, journalism studies as a university subject – whose role is innovation and education/training in relation to journalism as a profession, in a similar way to medicine for the medical profession – receives little acceptance compared to in the USA and even Russia. This is expressed, for example, in the rather hostile attitude of media practitioners to the academic professional training of journalists. This paper outlines a reason for this deficit that goes back to the history of the subject.