Journalism Media Research Articles

The Tortured Journalists Department? Challenges and Characteristics of Quality Journalism on TikTok in Germany

Our study investigates how German journalists produce quality journalism on TikTok based on 22 semistructured interviews. Specifically, we explore whether German journalists adhere to established journalistic norms and values, using Lacy & Rosenstiel's quality journalism framework as a theoretical foundation. Given the prominent role of public service media and their legal mandate to contribute to public opinion formation, Germany constitutes an interesting case. Findings suggest that German journalists rely on a mixture of traditional journalistic standards and audience-related news values on TikTok. Moreover, they tailor content to the unique platform environment. This entails the adoption of TikTok-specific storytelling with crisp openers, simplified narrating styles, and appealing audiovisuals. Editorial quality management remains crucial, with public service journalists exhibiting more sophisticated content approval and production processes than private media journalists. Overall, German journalists strike a balance between upholding journalistic integrity and adapting to TikTok's distinctive dynamics.

Collaboration of Artificial Intelligence and Journalists in Online Media from the Perspective of Human-Machine Communication

This study aims to analyze the collaboration between Artificial Intelligence (AI) and journalists in online media using the Human-Machine Communication (HMC) approach. The research method used is a literature study. Data is processed using Miles and Huberman data analysis techniques. The results of this study indicate that AI is used in three primary stages of journalism: news gathering, news production, and news distribution. At the news gathering stage, AI assists journalists in collecting news materials from various sources and analyzing audience interest in specific topics. AI is used in news script creation, editing, and proofreading at the news production stage. AI chatbots and NLP programs help with automatic news writing and factual verification. Meanwhile, at the news distribution stage, AI is used for content personalization, news recommendations, and SEO optimization in online media. From the HMC perspective, collaboration between AI and journalists can be conceptualized as a unidirectional and two-way process. Collaboration between AI and journalists in a social context also occurs at the micro, meso, and macro levels, where interactions between humans and machines affect the social situation, the immediate reality of individuals, and the structure of society as a whole.

Media construction of pseudo-events: Lula da Silva at the Portugal’s parliament during a historic annual celebration

The Carnation Revolution (25th April 1974) has changed the course of Portugal, leading it to transition from an autocratic to a democratic Government. Every year, celebrations are conducted at the national Parliament. In 2023, it counted with another guest: Lula da Silva, Brazil’s ongoing president. Considering the notion of cultural memory and media construction of social reality through media events, this article notes Lula da Silva’s presence and exceptional address was portrayed on newspaper front pages of several journalistic media outlets. Therefore, it aims at understanding meaning and discourse production with Lula da Silva’s visit to Portugal on the 25th April 2023 through media coverage and first page highlight. Lula da Silva is noticed by the front pages under analysis as a controversial, entertaining, and eventful celebrity linked to specific positioned actors that is invited to the Parliament and prompts indirectly and directly discontentment and, at the same time, support. Also, it discusses how such spotlight over Lula da Silva turned that visit and Parliament’s address it into a pseudo-event. Adopting a Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis approach, this research work intends to offer a multimodal eye upon those front pages and critically reflect on populism, coloniality, cultural memory, and journalism.

En busca de la audiencia: materialización del rol cívico, de infoentretenimiento y de servicio en las noticias

Basado en un análisis de contenido de noticias de 12 medios de comunicación en España (n = 6 088), el trabajo analiza la presencia de los roles periodísticos que abordan las audiencias: de servicio, infoentretenimiento y cívico. Los resultados han puesto de manifiesto que el rol de infoentretenimiento es el más presente, y que es muy similar la presencia de los roles de servicio y cívico. Se ha concluido que los medios periodísticos conceptualizan a sus audiencias como espectadores. Respecto a los factores que explican la mayor presencia de cada rol, la temática noticiosa es el más relevante.

The Future in Journalism and Mass Communication India

Journalism is assembling, handling and spread of news and data identified with the news to a group of people. The word applies to both the technique for inquisitive for news and the abstract style which is utilized to spread it. Mass communication is the investigation of how people and elements transfer data through broad communications to vast fragments of the populace in the meantime. International Journal of Media Journalism and Mass Communications (IJMJMC) is an internationally peer reviewed academic journal that publishes recent advancements in the field of Media Journalism and Mass Communications. We publish articles on topics like Media studies, Media influence, Communication studies, Social science, Citizen Journalism, Creative nonfiction, Journalism ethics and standards, Journalism genres, Non-profit journalism, Corporate media, Journalistic professionalism, Media balance, Media bias Peace Journalism, Social dynamics, Political commentary etc.

Women's Alternative Media: Agents of Change on the Issue of Women's Roles in Indonesia

ABSTRACTProgress in achieving gender equality and empowering women in Indonesia has been too slow and fragmented. The media can provide a voice and a platform for placing women's role issues on the development agenda. As in the education, health, economic, labor, and political sectors. However, in reality, there is a significant gender gap in mainstream media companies so that women are not represented optimally and steps to improve gender equality are limited. Alternative media is very possible to take a role in explaining issues of gender equality and women's empowerment. Because this type of media can connect various sectors, including trade unions, social movements, organizations and various elements of society. Researchers use the concept of gender and communication development, Standpoint theory, and alternative media. The approach used in this study is literature review research methodology. The results of this study explain that journalists in alternative media consider gender awareness and sensitivity important in themselves to be able to protect and defend women's interests. In fact, alternative media provide wide opportunities for journalists to raise strategic issues of equality and women's empowerment. Keywords: Alternative, Empowerment, Journalists, Media, Women Election

Journalist competence vs. fishing company intervention on IUU fishing reporting in Riau, Indonesia: Questioning the media leader policy

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU fishing) crimes by rogue fisheries companies are rife in the sea waters of Riau Province. However, this issue is rarely reported by those provincial journalists in the online media where they work. In fact, in Riau, there are 163 online media companies and 600 competent journalists; 200 of them live in capture fisheries center areas. Apart from the journalist competency factor, the decision to make IUU fishing news can also be influenced by the fisheries company intervention that committed the crime. Besides, the policy role of media leaders—editors, editors-in-chief, and media owners—also determines journalists’ decisions to make those news stories. This research aims to analyze the influence of journalist competence and fishing company intervention on the decision to make IUU fishing news, as well as the role of media leader policy as mediators in these influences. This survey involved 100 competent journalists as respondents. Data collection was carried out through a questionnaire containing a number of closed statements measured on a 5-point Likert scale, which was distributed to respondents. The data were analyzed using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) method. The research results show that the fishing company intervention has a negative and significant influence on the decision to make IUU fishing news in Riau, while journalist competence does not. Additionally, media leader policy was found to play a significant role in mediating the influence of fisheries company intervention and journalist competence on the decision to make IUU fishing news. The leader policy could prevent journalists from making IUU fishing news if fisheries companies, who are responsible for those crimes, intervene and request it. Those actions of media leaders need to be questioned because they can hamper the media’s function as a means of disseminating information, educating the public, and implementing social control, especially those related to combating IUU fishing crimes.

A cog in a wheel? Journalism under pressure during coups d’état in Burkina Faso

This article explores how the (attempted) coups and popular uprising that occurred in Burkina Faso between October 2014 and January 2022 have impacted the professional boundaries of journalism. These events are considered crucial in understanding the complex and ongoing interactions between political actors and the media, and contribute to a better understanding of the broader reality of journalism’s boundary-making process across Africa. Drawing on semi-structured interviews conducted with journalists, editors and journalism teachers in Ouagadougou in 2022, this article investigates the roles that private and public media journalists aimed to play in these extreme conditions and how their reactions reflect the constantly evolving nature of the journalistic profession.

Using Artificial Intelligence Systems in News Verification: An Application on X

The aim of this study is to analyse the relationship between the interaction rates and the number of followers of independent news accounts broadcasting on social network platforms and the types of fake news they publish and the frequency of publishing fake news. In the study, fake news was categorised using qualitative content analysis method. In addition to this, artificial intelligence was used to check the accuracy of news content shared on social networks and to distinguish misleading information. To obtain the data, Chat GPT was utilised and an AI-powered chatbot was developed with the help of algorithms prepared by the researchers to determine the accuracy of the news. The population of the study consists of the accounts practicing social media journalism on the social networking platform X in Türkiye. The sample of the study consists of 6 accounts with the highest interaction selected by purposive sampling method among the accounts that engage in social media journalism on this platform and have the highest interaction. According to the results obtained from the research, a large proportion of the news content shared by accounts practicing social media journalism on the X platform in Türkiye consists of unverifiable news content. In the category of unverifiable news, news is mostly created in the category of “Fabricated” content.

Perceived professional autonomy among Ethiopian regional state media journalists: A post‐reform account of Amhara Media Corporation

Perceived professional autonomy among Ethiopian regional state media journalists: A post‐reform account of Amhara Media Corporation

Digital Literacy to Improve The Professionalism of Online Media Journalists in Bengkulu, Indonesia

This study aims to know the competence of digital literacy Online media journalists in Bengkulu City in complying with cyber media guidelines to support professionalism ranging from verification activities to writing news or delivering coverage to editors. Also to identify efforts made by online media journalists in Bengkulu City using tools for fact checking to verify news materials. This research uses a qualitative descriptive approach. The data collection method uses interviews, observation and focus group discussion. This study's Informants are journalists registered as members of the Indonesian Cyber Media Network (JMSI) and the Indonesian Cyber Media Union (SMSI) in Bengkulu. The results of the study concluded that the literacy of journalists in using digital media is quite good. However, it cannot be included in the excellent category because journalists lack knowledge and skills in digital literacy competencies. Moreover, journalists knowledge and skills upgrades such as fact-checking or digital literacy training is minimal, eventhough journalists understand the challenges in publishing journalistic works today. Generally, journalists use tools for checking facts or verifying sources of information either conventionally or manually. However, the strength in publishing journalistic works is the collaboration of cyber media within press companies to produce quality work. The FGD found that only Bengkulu Eskpress conducts fact checks in its journalistic work, because its journalists have received fact-check training conducted by the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI). The study results also show that online media utilize digital-based tools because they have received fact checking training, namely Bengkulu Ekspress. Keywords: Digital literacy, professionalism, online media, journalists, fact checking.

Millions of climate refugees are coming!’ A critical media discourse analysis on climate change-induced migrants in Flemish press

ABSTRACT The rise in research, policy and news on climate change-induced migration has grown exponentially over the last two decades. Migration related to global warming is increasingly portrayed as inevitable and used to mobilise people to act immediately against climate change. By analysing the discourse of two Flemish news media journals (De Standaard and Het Laatste Nieuws) and the Belgian national news agency (Belga), indexed by the GoPress database (1985–2022), this paper aims to present how migration and climate change are linked to each other in the media, how this differs across media outlets, and reflects on potential outcomes of this framing. Results indicate that climate-induced migration is often portrayed in an apocalyptic way and seen as an inevitable threat that needs to be avoided. The used terminology and the portrayals of climate change-induced migration are not in line with the scientific evidence on this topic.

The anatomy of internal interference in public service media: How do journalists interpret whether editorial interference constitutes unacceptable encroachment on their autonomy?

This study examines the suspected transmission of political pressure through management to journalists in public service media, where independence is crucial for fulfilling its democratic mission. Such interference is often covert and performed without hard evidence, making it difficult to prove. To provide insight into these practices, this study explores the case of RTVS, the public service broadcaster in Slovakia, during a conflict that arose after the appointment of a new director general in 2017. Using semi-structured interviews with journalists and managers ( N = 16), it introduces an inductively developed classification scheme for internal interference and examines the context and conditions under which the journalists considered it to be politically motivated and as an illegitimate encroachment on their autonomy. The study shows that perceived internal interference by management takes two forms: interference in editorial content at various levels (and through multiple tools and means) and the use of disciplinary mechanisms. When journalists experience internal interference with a possible political background, trust in their superiors and the perception of their motives are crucial factors influencing their reactions and interpretation of the situation. However, for a variety of reasons that the study analyzes in detail, the RTVS journalists distrusted their superiors' moral integrity, professional skills, and political independence, which resulted in the departure of a large part of the TV newsroom. The article concludes with suggestions for methodological implications for further research on perceived interference.

“It’s a Balancing Act”: Contradictory Ambitions of Journalistic Media in Addressing Harassment in Sport

Over the last five years, the Finnish sports media has played a key role in disseminating information and stimulating debate on gender equity, sexual harassment, and the structures and culture that perpetuate the latter in sport. Triggered by the Me Too movement, the handling of harassment cases has shifted from the private domain to the public debate in the media, making it political. In this article, I study the perception of the politicisation of harassment within sports media. The article utilises interviews with 16 Finnish sports journalists who have been reporting on harassment cases in national and regional media houses. In the thematic analysis, the facilitators and constraints of harassment reporting are examined in relation to the prevailing power structures, culture, and attitudes in the professional sports environment. While the interviews highlight the changing face of sports journalism and, within it, an ambition to move from entertainment and performance reporting to socio-politically critical journalism, the article also highlights the problematic contradictions embedded in the ambition within sports media to address harassment in sport. The findings of this research suggest that when studying the outcomes of news reporting, it is important to pay attention to news production processes and the gendered aspects that influence them.

Why We Must Stop Saying “Climate Apocalypse”: Symbols, Religious Social Memory, and Effective Climate Action

The apocalyptic framework has become a handy metaphor for climate change because this story, better than most others, is able to express the scope and severity of the transformation most scientists believe is coming to humanity’s planetary and social systems. Since the first Earth Day in 1970 (Bailey 2000) and increasingly in journalistic media, nongovernmental organization circles, scientific literature, academia, eco-activism, and youth culture, climate change is referred to in world-ending terms that are explicitly apocalyptic. Those who use the phrase “climate apocalypse” mean to spur serious confrontation with the facts of climate change, resulting in climate activism, whether in the form of climate change mitigation or shoring up societal resiliency. However, stories not only describe reality, they help shape reality, and “climate apocalypse” has the unintended effect of creating passivity, fear, paralysis, and naïve hope in its audience.

Attitudes of U.S. Public Broadcasters: A Liberal Helping of Interpretive Journalism

Even though U.S. public broadcasting has existed for more than 50 years, little research has been done on the attitudes of its journalists. This study, based on a sample of 394 U.S. public media journalists, represents the largest-scale effort to date to catalog the professional values and beliefs of these professionals. Our findings suggest these journalists are more liberal than both the U.S. population and commercial journalists, though they find it important not to be seen as partisan in their work. And while more people of color work in public broadcasting than in commercial media, public media journalists are unsatisfied with the diversity in their newsrooms and how it represents the communities they serve. When asked about their preferred professional roles, U.S. public media journalists tend to identify more with the interpretive and populist-mobilizer functions of journalism than the adversarial and disseminator functions.

Publishing strategies and professional demarcations: Enacting media logic(s) in European academic climate communication through open letters

Abstract The mediatization concept rests on the increasing centrality of media in everyday spheres. Within academia, mediatization is explored in various ways, such as through the use of social media, news media, and researchers’ adoption of certain media logic(s). While many studies focus on media logic(s) as an explanatory device, it can also be seen as a contextual relationship between actors enacted for various purposes. This paper explores how academics enact media logic(s) in climate communication and for what purpose. By drawing on interviews with initiators of open letters on climate change, this paper illustrates that media logic(s) is evoked as a publishing strategy and a way to demarcate academics from news media journalists. The study thus suggests a conceptual shift from debates about what media logic(s) is to what it does in specific communication contexts.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Citizen and Mainstream Journalism on Social Media Journalism via ‘Instagram’

Teknolojik anlamda yaşanan değişimler ve beraberinde gelen dönüşümler, birçok alanda olduğu gibi gazetecilik alanında da farklı uygulamaların kapısını aralamıştır. Bu noktadan hareketle söz konusu çalışma, teknolojinin hem haber türleri hem de haberlerin kitlelerle buluştuğu mecralar üzerinde yaratmış olduğu farklılığın gösterilmesi amacıyla hazırlanmıştır. Çalışmanın amacına uygun olarak teknoloji ekseninde değişen haber türlerini temsil etmesi için hem yurttaş hem de ana akım gazetecilik örnekleri içerisinden bir seçim gerçekleştirilmiştir. Instagram platformu ise, teknolojinin haberlerin yayımlandığı mecra üzerinde ne şekilde bir değişiklik yarattığının saptanmasını belirlemek için kullanılmıştır. Instagram üzerinde canlı yayın yapma olanağının bulunması, fotoğraf, video ve reels olmak üzere farklı içeriklerin oluşumuna imkân tanınması ve anlık olarak hikaye paylaşımının bulunması kriterleri platform seçiminde önemli rol oynamıştır. İlgili platformda incelenecek olan örneklem ise “Boomsocial” sitesi üzerinden 13.09.2023 tarihi itibariyle en çok takipçiye sahip olan ana akım ve yurttaş gazete profillerinin belirlenmesi ile seçilmiştir. Buna göre @istanbulduysun ve @foxhaber örneklemlerinin 1-31 Ağustos 2023 tarihi aralığında paylaşmış oldukları toplamda 944 haber içerik analizi yöntemi kullanılarak çözümlenmiştir. Elde edilen sonuçlar incelendiğinde; ana akım gazetecilik içerisinde sadece tek bir hesap üzerinden paylaşım yapılırken yurttaş gazetecilikte farklı sosyal medya hesaplarından da haber alınıp paylaşıldığı, sosyal medya paylaşımlarında ana akım gazeteciliğin daha kurumsal bir dile sahip olduğu, kullanıcıların ana akım gazetecilik örnekleminde ele alınan hesap içerisinde daha fazla etkileşim oluşturduğu ve her iki gazetecilik türünde de ağırlıklı olarak ciddi haberler kategorisinde haber paylaşımının gerçekleştiği saptanmıştır.

Editors of Regional Newspapers on the Prospects of Local Media: Research Results

In the article, the authors continue to present the results of a study of the current state and possibilities for improving the editorial strategies of municipal newspapers. The crisis of (self) identification of local media is observed in many countries, but in Russia there is a possibility of closing a large number of local media, which, in fact, are not needed by the government and business, and citizens are not ready to participate in financing their activities. However, there is also a positive experience of some successful regional newspapers, which is possible for dissemination. The article presents the results of the analysis of interviews with the leaders of such media. Emphasis is placed on the role of local media in public processes in which other actors also participate. The authors draw attention to the uniqueness of the work of local editorial offices, which is associated with a long-term focus on solving the problems of citizens and communities and the desire to work together with readers, government officials and business to solve urgent problems. The authors of the article propose to open a discussion about the criteria for the effectiveness of local media and offer their own version of kpi: not newspaper circulation and social media coverage, but real changes that have occurred on the initiative and (or) with the participation of local media journalists.

Обвинение как стратегия дискредитации администрации Дж. Байдена в американcкой медиакоммуникации

The phenomenon of verbal aggression in political media journalism attracts the attention of researchers studying various confrontational speech strategies and tactics, including the strategy of discrediting, implemented primarily by the tactics of accusation. The article presents the results of a comprehensive analysis of accusation tactics implementing the speech and behavioral strategy of discrediting the Biden administration on the Tucker Carlson Tonight talk show. Speech strategies, techniques and linguistic means of implementing accusation tactics are revealed. The purpose of the article is to analyze the tactics of accusation that implement the speech and behavioral strategy of discrediting the Biden administration in the Tucker Carlson Tonight show. The source of the research material was the scripts of 31 Tucker Carlson Tonight shows. The empirical basis of the study was 205 contexts discrediting the Biden administration through accusation tactics. The methods of logic and statistics, the system and functional method, description and interpretation were used to analyze the material. The tactics of accusation are more often implemented through a group of explicit speech acts than implicit ones, while each group includes reasoned and undocumented accusations. Common and distinctive speech techniques, morphological, syntactic, lexical and expressive language tools were identified for these groups of speech acts. Statistical data on the analysis of accusation tactics implemented by groups of implicit and explicit speech acts can be presented in the form of a ratio of 1:1.5. Typical means of expression for explicit speech acts are phraseological units and slogans (reasoned and undocumented accusation), for implicit speech acts: hyperbole (reasoned accusation) and the technique of “inappropriate direct speech” (undocumented accusation). The means of expressive syntax are a distinctive feature of implicit and explicit undocumented accusation.