Category: Paper

by Jonas Schützeneder / Hack or entertainer? Masterly investigation or fearmongering? Tabloid journalism and its actors live by exaggerating content and emotionalizing issues. Although they are regularly criticized for this, their products are consumed by a majority of the population. Much research has been conducted into the balance between information, drama, and entertainment, but the personal perspective of the journalists is frequently neglected. How do the journalists describe their role? A qualitative survey of 14 German journalists shows that tabloid journalism and sensitivity are not mutually exclusive and that digitalization is bringing with it entirely new opportunities and challenges. continue to article

by Swetlana Maschinez/ This study examines the ideological representation of the U.S. Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in the editorial sections of the three English-language online newspapers in Russia: Sputnik International, Russia Beyond the Headlines and The Moscow Times. Through Jäger’s framework, van Leeuwen’s model of the social actors’ representation, and van Dijk’s notion of ideological square as powerful tools of enquiry within Critical Discourse Analysis, several tactics could be identified that were applied to influence public’s opinion about the candidates. The results showed that state-owned Russian media outlets made increasingly favorable comments about Donald Trump while consistently ridiculing and offering negative coverage of Hillary Clinton. continue to article

by Gabriele Hooffacker

Abstract: Which conditions engender the success of participation in local television? What motivates citizen reporters and what do editorial departments expect from them? Which formats are suitable? Various research projects at Leipzig University of Applied Sciences (HTWK) have examined the way citizen reporters contribute to local television. The results can be used to derive factors that influence the success of participative formats in local television. continue to article

By Horst Pöttker / Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) not only wrote the novel Robinson Crusoe, one of the most circulated book in world history, but he also edited and authored England’s first political magazine, The Review, which appeared three times a week from 1704 to 1713. In addition to covering the war in France at that time, Defoe also wrote for The Review what can be called “theoretical articles” that reveal his self-understanding and professional ethos as a journalist. This paper deals with some of these articles as well as with Defoe’s ideas concerning the public, the public sphere, public opinion, public discourse, public life, publicness, publicity (all expressing various aspects of the German word Öffentlichkeit), press freedom and its legitimate limits. continue to article

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…