Tool sharpness: Reading the culture of journalism through the practice of theory

Abstract

Abstract It is not rare to come across journalists-turned-academics in the corridors of university departments of journalism or mass communication. However, it might be rather unusual for academics turning into journalists. Today, some media and scholarly journals accept submissions by practitioners, among them journalists who have turned into academics. This is the only chapter in this volume written by an academic currently working as a journalist in a global broadcaster. Dr Marcela Pizarro, the producer of Al Jazeera English’s weekly programme, The Listening Post, shows how her readings of seminal works by influential cultural critics have helped her delve into issues of power and politics embedded in language and representation. She provides a ‘tool box of political and cultural theories’ and shows how to apply them through accessible language to bring about dialogue and change in a world ridden with conflicts.