ABSTRACT The watchdog role is central to the democratic legitimacy of journalism and is also perceived as an essential part of journalists’ role performance by the public. So far, the expectations on journalists’ watchdog role performance have been studied as a static concept resulting in limited knowledge of the underlying dynamics in audience demand and expectations for this type of journalism. We argue that the demand for watchdog journalism is dynamic and varies according to changes in the broader context and across audience characteristics. We take a multi-method approach to examine the demand for watchdog journalism during the COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark. First, we use data from three representative surveys (n≈1.000 in each), including a panel component (n = 336), to demonstrate that the demand for watchdog journalism increased over time, especially among opposition voters, as the political context offered more political conflict and contested policy solutions. Second, a qualitative analysis of answers to an open-ended question in the surveys examines how the audience believes the watchdog role should be performed. We show that the demand for different functions of journalists’ critical reporting varies over time and that the form used by journalists when conducting critical reporting is extremely important to the audience.

ABSTRACT African journalism practice presents unique opportunities and challenges that require journalists to be equipped with the necessary skills, knowledge, and values to engage in sustainable journalism. Training institutions play a critical role in ensuring that journalists are not only professionally-ready to execute their mandate but also that they can safeguard and promote ethical values in their everyday work. Some of these values include “truth telling, independence, objectivity, fairness, inclusivity and social justice” (Gade, Nduka, and Dastger 2017, 10). Africa, like other regions of the Global South, has several journalism training institutions that provide an opportunity to challenge “hegemonic epistemologies and ontologies of Western-centric journalism studies” (Mutsvairo et al. 2021, 993). In the context of this submission, the present study investigates the current state of sustainable journalism in Africa. We examined data based on a syllabi analysis of journalism programs in Kenya, South Africa and Ghana to appraise what role sustainable journalism education and training could play in Africa. Findings show that efforts are already in place across select learning and training institutions but also point to profound gaps in the curriculum, pedagogy and resources needed to prepare journalists for sustainable journalism.

ABSTRACT Fact-checking initiatives have rapidly expanded worldwide with the overall aim of assessing the veracity of factual claims made in public. In this paper, we critique how the objectivity norm informs the current role perception of fact-checkers and suggest ways to reinterpret this perception through rhetorical argumentation theory. First, we point to research literature on fact-checking as a site in which role perceptions of fact-checkers and epistemological ideals are represented, (re)created and contested, marking out an objectivist role perception. Second, we highlight recent contributions from scholars who, like us, have noticed tensions between the objectivist role perception and role performances of fact-checkers and constructively recommended different ways of working around these tensions. In dialogue with these suggestions, we propose that rhetorical argumentation theory can be considered a supplementary resource to further advance epistemological discussions on the role perception of fact-checkers. In addition, the vocabulary from rhetorical argumentation theory holds potential for methodological operationalisation to guide the future role performances of fact-checkers. Finally, to develop our suggestion further, we propose a new research agenda embracing action-oriented research as an integrated way of developing fact-checkers’ role and practise together with practitioners.

ABSTRACT In response to the COVID-19 crisis, many local television (TV) newsrooms decided to have employees work from home (WFH) or from the field rather than from the newsroom, creating a kind of hybrid work characterized by a mix of work locations. From a review of research on telework and WFH, we identified possible impacts of WFH on work and on workers, with a particular focus on news work and news workers. Data on the impacts of hybrid work are drawn from interviews with local television news directors and journalists in the United States and observations of WFH. We found that through the creative application of technology, WFH news workers could successfully create a newscast, albeit with some concerns about story quality. However, WFH did not seem to satisfy workers’ needs for socialization or learning individually or as a group and created some problems coordinating work. Lifted restrictions on gatherings have mitigated some of the experienced problems, but we expect to see continued challenges to news workers’ informal learning in hybrid work settings.

ABSTRACT This explorative study investigates how a sample of newspaper journalists in Bangladesh experienced burnout symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent impacts on their jobs and newsrooms. Following interviews with eight reporters and four copy editors, this study found that journalists experienced burnout in the face of job cuts, pay cuts, inadequate support from authorities, staff shortages and long working hours. The majority of the journalists interviewed also mentioned the intention to leave journalism.

ABSTRACT This article explores the specific work mechanisms journalists use to promote the ideology of good and independent journalism at the online news services of Ntv station in Bangladesh. Along with the journalistic scholarships on issues of heightened state surveillance on broadcast and online communications by the hybrid regime and its relation to broader questions of how dissidents and alternative voices struggle to gain visibility in the context of media freedom and democracy in Bangladesh, the theoretical framework of the political economy of communication and concepts of alternative voice are employed in this study. It scrutinizes the implications of state control measures upon journalistic praxis and examines how journalists at Ntv Online – a digital section of this television station, perceive the “alternative voice” to become the place for public deliberation. Built on field-based case study research and in-depth interviews with reporters and editors at Ntv Online, this study reveals that Ntv Online is materializing the concept of “alternative voice” by opening up access to media production. This is empowering those who are involved in news-making processes. At a professional level, this study aimed to contribute to the online news-making process while capturing the experiences of conflict and challenges journalists face.

ABSTRACT News photographs of Syrian refugees fleeing conflict have been found to perpetuate stereotypes of dehumanization, victimhood, security threats, non-integrable, and dependency. This content analysis examined pictures from news photo agencies to assess the extent to which images of Syrian refugees living in the United States were laden with these same stereotypes. Results revealed that the majority of images did not visually frame Syrian refugees as dehumanized, victims, and security threats, but many images did reinforce stereotypes about refugees being non-integrable and dependent.

ABSTRACT After winning the US presidency, Joe Biden fulfilled a promise and put forward the name of Ketanji Brown Jackson as a nominee to the highest court in the nation on 25 February 2022. The purpose of this study is to explore media coverage of the historic confirmation process for the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court. In recent years, US politics have expanded to include more Black women, who have been making historic firsts. We argue that media coverage either upholds or rejects this shift of intersectional identities in the political realm due to the prevalence of white, patriarchal ideology within the US context. By conducting a discourse analysis and an experiment, this study centers on how race and gender affect political news coverage and attitudes. Study 1 documents that although new coverage emphasized Jackson’s historic first, and occasionally included voices of other Black women, it greatly emphasized ideological divisions and political strategy over the course of the hearing. Study 2 found that news frames had minimal effects on Americans’ attitudes toward the nomination. The endorsement of a white expert, or the endorsement of a liberal expert when Black empowerment was emphasized, boosted support for confirmation.

ABSTRACT This study investigates the voluntary turnover patterns of English-language journalists in Indonesia. Drawing on the unfolding model of voluntary employee turnover and the theory of job embeddedness, the study presents the findings of interviews with eighteen journalists (ten “leavers” and eight “remainers”). The study identifies seven determinants of job satisfaction (namely, the ability to realize journalistic ideals; professional development opportunities; pay; mentorship; organizational strategy; management attentiveness to recruitment and retention; and work-life balance). The study also highlights the “decision paths” taken by leavers leading up to their separation decisions, examining the “shocks” that prompted such decisions. Finally, the study assesses the job embededness of remainers and the likelihood of them remaining in their positions. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

ABSTRACT This paper comparatively investigates variations in journalistic role performances in politicized media systems. Poland and Hungary are included in the quantitative content analysis as illustrative cases of Central and Eastern European countries featuring democratic erosion, political polarization, and media systems with a high level of political parallelism. Our study identifies whether the fall of liberal and deliberative democracy and increasing political pressure on the media have been accompanied by modifications in the manifestation of journalistic roles and, if so, what those changes have been. We employ Mellado’s (2015) concept of journalistic roles by focusing on democracy-related domains, namely journalistic voice and power relations, and four roles: interventionist, watchdog, loyal facilitator, and civic. We compare data from national newspapers from two periods, namely 2012 and 2020. Despite experiencing similar changes in political context, journalists in Poland and Hungary have differed in their performance of the watchdog and civic roles. However, they have been alike in relation to the steady rise of journalistic interventionism. Surprisingly, we found no evidence of the elevation of the loyal facilitator model in newspapers. This study indicates that systemic politicization and political pressure on the media go alongside with diminishing objectivity and detachment in professional role performance.