Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies 7.2 is now available

Intellect is pleased to announce that the *Journal of Applied Journalism &
Media Studies
<https://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=220/view,page=0/>*
 7.2 is now available! For more information about this issue including how
to purchase and subscribe, click here >> https://bit.ly/2vH0j8Z
<https://bit.ly/2vH0j8Z>

*Press councils as a traditional instrument of media self-regulation: The
perceptions of European journalists*

Authors: Marcel Mauri i de los Ríos, Ruth Rodríguez-Martínez and Mònica
Figueras Maz And Maddalena Fedele
Page Start: 221

Press councils are among the traditional self-regulatory instruments
present in most European countries and, as a part of a wider network of
accountability systems, need to be analysed and evaluated. This article
presents part of the results of a cross-national European project studying
journalism, ethics and regulating systems, and focuses on the opinion of
journalists from twelve European and two Arab Mediterranean countries
regarding the perceived impact of press councils as instruments of
self-regulation, compared with other traditional mechanisms. The study was
conducted with a quantitative approach: an online questionnaire was
administered to 1762 journalists, and data were analysed by using the SPSS
software (significance set at <0.05). The sample was selected based on
several criteria to achieve representative national sub-samples. The
journalists’ answers about the perceived impact of different regulatory and
self-regulatory instruments are analysed. Press councils are seen as having
a mid-range perceived impact when compared with the other instruments.
Journalists from the countries where press councils have been in place for
a long time perceive the impact of these instruments to be higher, with the
exception of the United Kingdom, a country that was a pioneer in the
consolidation of press councils. Middle-aged, male and lower-income
journalists attribute the lowest impact to press councils.

*Intermedia agenda-setting effect in corporate news: Examining the
influence of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal on local
newspapers*

Authors: Xiaoqun Zhang
Page Start: 245

This study tested the first-level and second-level intermedia
agenda-setting effect in corporate news. Significant correlations were
found between the numbers of articles of nine food companies in the two US
elite newspapers and many local newspapers. Significant correlations were
also found between the number of articles containing seven attributes of a
focal company, between the number of articles with four tonalities about
it, and between the number of articles with four tonalities about its
attributes. No strong evidence for the causal relationships was found. The
significant correlations suggested that elite newspapers can be used as a
proxy of local newspapers to explore the relationship between media
coverage and corporate reputation. The test was based on a content analysis
of 2817 news articles from The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and many
US local newspapers.

*Results of framing in music journalism: Benefits and burdens of being
designated heir to a cultural icon*

Authors: Jordan M. McClain
Page Start: 265

This article aims to expand media framing research beyond traditional
content analyses of political coverage and examines the consequences of
framing found in music journalism, since entertainment coverage receives a
significant share of media and audience attention. To understand the
results of such framing, nineteen interviews were conducted with content
producers – a specific group of expert writers, editors and publishers who
offered essential perspectives about the consequences of a particular case
– focusing on the example of coverage frequently characterizing the band
Phish (1983–present) vis-à-vis the Grateful Dead (1965–1995). Findings
indicate that framing can be a problem for the framed subject, but can also
lead to certain benefits.

*They never made it to the end: Reader uses of a multimedia narrative*

Authors: Kate Kartveit
Page Start: 289

How does an audience respond to the structure, visual design and narrative
flow of a multimedia narrative? Are readers following the course that an
author-driven linear reading path suggests? This study investigates these
questions through an eye-tracking experiment. In research within news
websites that employ eye-tracking experiments the case in this study
represents a new phenomenon for investigation, the longform multimedia
feature. It is also especially interesting to explore how the readers
interact with this type of narrative because the narrative is constructed
as an author-driven embedded multimedia story and thus resemble what
Dowling and Vogan describe as the ‘urtext’ of the multimedia longform
genre. The findings of this study indicate that readers navigate according
to the authordriven narrative flow within a chapter/part. But the readers
in this study missed or misunderstood the navigational options between
story parts. The ongoing digitalization in media outlets and the
experimentation and developing of journalistic products might benefit from
research addressing multi-methodological approaches.

*When societies crash: A critical analysis of news media’s social role in
the aftermath of national disasters*

Authors: Stijn Joye
Page Start: 311

Apart from their primary role as news providers in disaster situations,
news media can also assume a broader social role. Drawing on a critically
informed qualitative content analysis of the Belgian news reporting on a
national disaster, the article reveals a twofold articulation of this
social role. The first consisted in newspapers highlighting the emotional
dimension with potential societal implications of raising compassion and
identification. Second, we found a strong articulation of a discourse of
(national) unity and community, aimed at restoring the disrupted social
order in the disaster’s aftermath. Both aspects were discursively
established by a dominant presence of emotional testimonies, strategies of
personalization and by the use of inclusive language permeated with
references to nation or community. The study highlights the important
social role of journalism in disaster situations and events involving human
suffering.

*The Moroccan digital media’s representation of the Moroccan woman: A
multimodal analysis to Hespress discourse*

Authors: Rachid Acim
Page Start: 329

Of the many influences on how Moroccan people perceive the Moroccan woman,
Moroccan digital media is presumably the most powerful tool used
throughout; in fact, Moroccan digital media direct the public opinion,
frame specific images, and perpetuate both realistic and unrealistic
speculations about the Moroccan woman, whose voice is carefully selected
and whose presence goes sometimes reported and at other times unreported.
This article is a deep reflection of the overall images chosen to
manufacture consensus about the Moroccan woman in the Moroccan digital
media; more specifically, emphasis is going to be laid on how Hespress, as
an emerging Moroccan news outlet, advertises different conceptions and
representations about the Moroccan woman at home and overseas. The article
is predicated on the notion of framing news stories, which propel
journalists to decide on what is newsworthy and what is not. The
researcher’s pivotal argument is that a process of selection is obviously
developed by Hespress in its dealing with and detailing on the question of
the Moroccan woman. Put otherwise, a large space is arguably accorded to
certain women who have outperformed their peers in many vital sectors of
life and led successful stories nationwide. As for those women, whose
stories do not correlate with the policy and the editorial line of
Hespress, they are devoiced and still marginalized. To address this topic
more effectively, the researcher suggests utilizing a multimodal analysis
to the discourse of Hespress about the Moroccan woman. A preliminary
examination of the literature documenting the media’s discourse about her
will be considered. Then, an elaboration of the methodology adopted will be
explored. Finally, some pedagogical recommendations will be advanced in
this article to enable students promote critical reading and hone not only
their analytical but also their interpretative skills as concerns Hespress
discourse on the Moroccan woman.


*Journalists’ and news editors’ views on children as news subjects in
Albanian media: Exploring issues of newsworthiness and self-censorship*
Authors: Emiljano Kaziaj
Page Start: 351

This article explores the views of journalists and news editors on children
in Albania, through a series of interviews with noted media professionals.
This study finds that stories about children are not considered as
newsworthy and children are mostly seen as unreliable stand-alone sources
by journalists and news editors. As a mechanism to mitigate the risks of
being refused by their editors, journalists increase the newsworthiness of
children-focused news items by directing the story towards adults (mostly
politicians) and by quoting them. Considering children’s perspectives in
news coverage is essential, as it contributes to a social order that
acknowledges children’s agency.

*God and sport: Orientalism in Sports Illustrated coverage of religion*
Authors: Patrick Ferrucci And Gregory P. Perreault
Page Start: 371

This study utilizes textual analysis to analyse how the popular and
influential sports magazine Sports Illustrated covered religion over the
period from 1 January 1994, to 1 September 2014. The data showed that the
magazine wrote about religion in three primary ways: as an exotic
characteristic that makes an athlete somehow odd, as incongruous since
sports themselves display similar characteristics to religion, and as a
front to hide some insidious real motive. These results are analysed
through the lens of Edward Said’s theory of orientalism, which argues that
the press tends to cover dominant groups as ‘normal’ and ‘others’ the
remaining groups, which has been shown, historically, to have damaging
impact. This study concludes with a discussion concerning how SI’s coverage
of religion could impact society.

*Cracking the coding ceiling: Looking at gender construction in data
journalism from a field theory perspective*

Authors:  Sara de Vuyst
Page Start: 387

This article examines the construction of gender in data journalism from a
field theory perspective. It focuses on the internal logic of data
journalism as well as on its relationship with the computer field. Our
research question explores how male and female data journalists accumulate
capital and build careers in data journalism. We conducted 26 qualitative
interviews with a cross-national sample of journalists who had varying
levels of interest and experience in data journalism. The findings indicate
that female journalists see both opportunities and challenges in data
journalism. On the one hand, women entered the field of data journalism in
an attempt to avoid male-dominated networks, harassment and gender
segregation, which limits their opportunities for recruitment and career
advancement in traditional journalism. On the other hand, data journalistic
skills were discursively gendered. Digital capital, which could be
exchanged for greater amounts of symbolic capital, was typically associated
with masculinity.

*Teaching vicarious trauma in the journalism classroom: An examination of
educational provision in UK universities*

Authors: Doug Specht And Julia Tsilman
Page Start: 407

The connections between vicarious trauma and the viewing of violent
User-Generated Content (UGC) are becoming an increasingly important topic
in journalism. As more journalist work begins to rely, or at least
incorporate UGC, the risks to journalists have been shown to increase. This
can lead to short, unpleasant careers, and in some cases, serious,
long-lasting mental health risks. Yet while this discussion is beginning to
unfold in the newsroom, universities are lagging behind in their
understanding of the topic. This article, through content analysis of
undergraduate course materials, and through interviews with lecturers and
journalists, found that almost no course in the United Kingdom is teaching
the risks of vicarious trauma or UGC. It was found that while some
educators wish to make more of the topic, a number of institutional
factors, such as lack of training and time, worries over duty of care, and
available resources make this a difficult, if not impossible task. The
article recommends a new emphasis is placed on vicarious trauma, coupled
with training and interdepartmental support.

*Journalism meets games: Newsgames as a new digital genre. Theory,
boundaries, utilization*

Authors: Klaus Meier
Page Start: 429

Newsgames are a young genre of digital journalism. This article analyses
the genre on the basis of cases from various countries, puts it into
context, critically examines the theoretical foundation and presents a
study of utilization. A scientific definition takes the perspective of
‘boundary work’: It distinguishes Newsgames from other digital games (such
as interestdriven, entertaining or educating games) and draws a boundary
between Newsgames and other digital journalistic genres (such as multimedia
reports, web documentaries or types of data journalism). The drawing of
Newsgames boundaries highlights the general problems of drawing boundaries
of journalism in digital media. To date, no study on the utilization of
Newsgames exists. Our explorative and qualitative interviews and
observations are situated within the framework of uses and gratifications
research. Main categories are the level of awareness, information
performance and success factors of Newsgames. The results show that the new
genre possesses a wide range of possibilities that cannot be uniformly
assessed. Ethical doubts as to whether serious topics should be played in
games are offset against the benefit of creating interest and empathy.
Users want to experience success when playing – an aspect that emphasizes
the competitive character and distinguishes Newsgames from other genres.

*The journalism of Gannett Blog: Revealing communities of practice and
social construction through collective dynamics*

Authors: William Schulte
Page Start: 445

Gannett Company was one of the largest media operations in the United
States but struggled in recent years with loss of revenue and circulation.
Gannett Blog reported news related to the company from 2007 to 2014. The
blog was independent and covered corporate news, job loss and issues of
ethics. This used Gannett Blog to study how individuals reacted to their
changing workplace. As information was gathered and presented from multiple
users, a crowdsourcing dynamic gave context to Gannett’s landscape.
Theories of communities of practice and social construction underpin this
study. This study suggests that the rhetoric on Gannett Blog evolved into
more than a distribution channel for information. It became a social space
where original information evolved and helped negotiate social meaning for
the users. Overall, this study found that communities of professionals
could be influential in growing a journalistic product as per the tenets of
the communities of influence model. This study also identified themes
consistent with news workers using Gannett Blog for community building,
expanding knowledge and maintaining professionalism during industry change.

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