Professional Journals Research Articles

Russian news journalism: neglect of standards and common sense

The rules of news presentation are independent of time and space. It is about using professional news journalism methods in order to reflect reality, despite the shortage of time and finances. Messages are formulated according to professional standards of unbiased event coverage. This means that journalists must present the events as impartially as possible. Own assessments are inadmissible; the presentation must be based on facts.
 The Russian Information Agency (RIA Novosti), which is part of the International Information Agency (MIA Rossiya Segodnya) violates news standards as well as principles of news agencies and cannot be a true and reliable information source.

Information war and mission in profession of a journalist: the evolution of the world view of media students

The article presents the changes taking place in journalism education in Ukraine. The article aims to establish the relevance of the content and evaluation of professional cores of journalism education by participants in the educational process, as well as to rank the students’ interest in educational topics and media areas, explore students’ understanding of the profession of journalism, and necessary changes dictated by time and world order. The method of a pedagogical experiment was used to diagnose the priorities of journalism education in the conditions of intensifying information wars in the media direction, with the help of questionnaires, observations, and a descriptive method. The result of the research is the establishment of journalism education priorities, declared by future specialists in the field of media. Next is a discussion on the study the evolution of journalism education in the context of intensifying information wars and hostilities in Ukraine is in sight.

The state of human-centered NLP technology for fact-checking

Misinformation threatens modern society by promoting distrust in science, changing narratives in public health, heightening social polarization, and disrupting democratic elections and financial markets, among a myriad of other societal harms. To address this, a growing cadre of professional fact-checkers and journalists provide high-quality investigations into purported facts. However, these largely manual efforts have struggled to match the enormous scale of the problem. In response, a growing body of Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies have been proposed for more scalable fact-checking. Despite tremendous growth in such research, however, practical adoption of NLP technologies for fact-checking still remains in its infancy today.In this work, we review the capabilities and limitations of the current NLP technologies for fact-checking. Our particular focus is to further chart the design space for how these technologies can be harnessed and refined in order to better meet the needs of human fact-checkers. To do so, we review key aspects of NLP-based fact-checking: task formulation, dataset construction, modeling, and human-centered strategies, such as explainable models and human-in-the-loop approaches. Next, we review the efficacy of applying NLP-based fact-checking tools to assist human fact-checkers. We recommend that future research include collaboration with fact-checker stakeholders early on in NLP research, as well as incorporation of human-centered design practices in model development, in order to further guide technology development for human use and practical adoption. Finally, we advocate for more research on benchmark development supporting extrinsic evaluation of human-centered fact-checking technologies.

Ideologized Identities in the Romanian e-News. A Cultural Sociolinguistic Query of Converged Media Texts on the 2022 Russia-Ukraine Conflict

"Ideologized Identities in the Romanian e-News. A Cultural Sociolinguistic Query of Converged Media Texts on the 2022 Russia-Ukraine Conflict. The design for this paper is to provide a qualitative analysis of how positioning towards the two parties directly involved in the 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict has been the catalyst of the textual morphing of two ideologized identities in some of the Romanian e-Press. The focus was on the locus of convergence of two types of mediated texts: the production of professional press editors and journalists, and of Social Networked Sites users and prosumers. With this intent, the Romanian HotNews.ro website was scrutinized, and a number of e-news items were singled out thematically and structurally. The presumption is that the mediation process has been conducive to foregrounding two ballpark antithetic identities as underpinned by correspondent ideologies. An interdisciplinary perspective was opted for, one that joins Cultural Sociolinguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis (Agha 2007; Androutsopoulous 2006; Blommaert 2017; Herring 2013; Silverstein 2004; Thurlow 2017; Wodak 2022) with the Ethnography of Netspeak (Kozinets 2010; Markham 2016, 2020; Zappavigna 2011) and focuses on collective identities in order to diagnose how the mediated text, as part of the semiotic architecture of the said e-Press inputs, pairs up antithetic ideology-determined identities in times of crisis. Keywords: Cultural Sociolinguistics, Ethnography of Netspeak, ideologized identity, digital cultural practices, textual interpretation, e-Press, Social Networked Sites "

Approaching Transcultural Communication and the Global South: A Conversation With Prof. Herman Wasserman

Abstract Herman Wasserman is a Professor of Journalism at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. He has published widely on media, ethics and democracy in Africa and has consulted for organizations such as the United Nations, the World Health Organization and the Centre for International Media Assistance and given keynote addresses and invited lectures at universities worldwide. He has been a visiting scholar at Indiana University, Tsinghua University, the University of Houston and the Ludwig–Maximilian University. His awards include the Georg Foster Prize from the German Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, a Fulbright Fellowship, amongst others. He is often quoted in international media and serves on the editorial boards of more than fifteen international scholarly journals. He is Editor-in-Chief of the African Journalism Studies and the Annals of the International Communication Association. He is a Fellow of the International Communication Association and an elected member of the Academy of Science of South Africa. In this interview, Wasserman talks about international inequality in communication and media studies, the importance of decolonizing communication studies, and the need to include more vantage points from the Global South in communication scholarship and knowledge production in general. Wasserman also discusses about the importance of revisiting indigenous philosophy while alerting us against romanticizing or essentializing these philosophies. He further talks about his recent works on media ethics, disinformation, and how they connect to the wider debate on topics such as information disorder in the Global South.

Problems of Creative Self-Realization of Freelance Journalists of the Digital Age

Ubiquitous digitalization and the coronavirus pandemic have made freelancing a familiar part of our lives. Journalists are no exception. Moreover, the media sphere is one of the most popular for freelancing and remote work. However, freelancing is not only about changing the location of an employee. This is a completely different format of relations: from an economic, legal, psychological, creative, and other points of view. For many freelancers, this is a way of life and a different type of thinking. Taking into account the process of media convergence and the popularization of new media, the boundaries of the journalistic profession are blurring and include specialists who are far from traditional journalism. There is also a question of freedom of journalistic creativity: many freelance journalists choose this path for the sake of autonomy, although entrepreneurial risks and economic challenges often undermine the independence they have gained. We analyzed 200 texts from open sources on the topic of the start and development of professional activity of freelance journalists, adding the results of personally conducted surveys. As our research has shown, despite the economic instability that often forces freelance journalists to immerse themselves in related activities, the requirements of digital algorithms that set strict limits for authors, and other problems, the issue of creative self-realization still occupies an important place in the work of freelance journalists, and many of them are not ready to put up with uninteresting and meaningless tasks. Although some freelance journalists agree to write on any proposed topic for the sake of a fee, most consider it necessary to have a specialization in order to deeply understand the chosen field.

Finland: Prepared for Challenges Ahead

Historically, journalistic self-regulation in Finland has evolved in three phases that are closely connected with developments in journalistic professionalism: early attempts until the late 1960s, institutionalization and solidification from the late 1960s to the mid-2000s, and the current phase of constant change. In the current phase, the self-regulatory institution – the Council for Mass Media (CMM) – was initially struggling to find its place in the changing mediascape. However, in the last ten years, it has been able to re-adjust itself and gain a relatively secure position in society. This position is likely to be increasingly challenged in the coming years by the many ongoing transformations of communications and journalism, but the CMM appears rather well placed to meet the future challenges.

Open Science – A Croatian Perspective

Jadranka Stojanovski discusses the evolution of library support for open science from a Croatian perspective. From her vantage point as (former) library director of the Ruđer Bošković Institute and associate professor at the department of information science of the University of Zadar, Stojanovski has been a pioneer in establishing services exploiting the possibilities offered by new information technologies since the 1990s. Many of her activities have been connected to broad European collaborative projects such as OpenAIRE, OASPA, and EOSC.
 The Croatian approach has been a very proactive one. Already in 1997, the CROSBI was launched, a combined national scientific bibliography and repository for Green Open Access documents. Although deposition of articles and other research documents is entirely voluntary, CROSBI now carries metadata on more than 725,000 documents, a large proportion of which are available in fulltext. Alongisde CROSBI, there are also several institutions running their own institutional repositories. There is now extensive collaboration between these services in the form of DABAR (‘beaver’ in English), aiming to enhance the interoperability and findability of documents stored in the various repositories. Stojanovski has also been involved in setting up an inventory on Who’s Who in Science in Croatia as well as a database on scientific equipment, Šestar (‘pair of compasses’).
 Set up in 2005, the HRČAK (‘hamster’) platform for Croatian scientific and professional journals has been a massive success. Less than twenty years after its inception, it now carries more than 500 scholarly journals and series of conference proceedings, nearly all of which are Diamond Open Access (i.e., free to the reader and with no author-facing publishing charges). Roughly 150 of these journals receive annual subsidies from the government, the rest are fully based on voluntary work from individual editors and the institutions or learned societies they represent. Only around 25 HRČAK journals charge Article Processing Charges. The Social Sciences and Humanities are particularly well represented on the platform, with many journals publishing in Croatian despite the lack of an official language policy in favor of Croatian as a scholarly language. The University Computing Centre in Zagreb (SRCE, ‘heart’) is responsible for the technical development of HRČAK, which is based on seamless interconnection between in-house developed software and open-source software for editorial processes, primarily Open Journal Systems.
 A national Research Data Policy or, better still, a general Open Science Policy is highly desirable, Stojanovski argues. Infrastructure is in place, but usage will undoubtedly rise significantly as soon as open science practices become mandatory.
 Alongside Dominic Tate (episode 43) and Pierre Mounier (episode 44), Jadranka was a keynote speaker at the 17th Munin Conference on Scholarly Publishing. This interview was first published online on December 13, 2022.

Using Smartphone as a Journalistic Tool: An Examination of Ethical Codes in Mobile Journalism in Saudi Arabia

This study aimed to understand the impact of ethical codes on Saudi journalists’ perceptions toward mobile journalism (MOJO). Three major ethical dimensions were examined, including seeking truth, minimizing harm, and being accountable in news coverage. A survey link created with SurveyMonkey was transmitted via social media avenues, such as Twitter and WhatsApp, where Saudi journalists can complete the questionnaire and then share the link with other Saudi journalists. A total of 124 Saudi journalists were recruited by this snowball sampling approach, while the Codes of Ethics of Society of Professional Journalists was adapted as major measurements for three ethical dimensions, including seeking truth, minimizing harm, and being accountable. Results found that all three ethical dimensions of professional journalists generated significant influences on Saudi journalists’ perceptions toward MOJO. Specifically, minimizing harm was found as the most powerful factor that affected Saudi journalists’ perceptions toward MOJO, followed by being accountable and seeking truth, indicating that Saudi journalists who were more likely to seek truth, minimize harm, and be accountable would exhibit more positive perceptions toward MOJO. Although using smartphone as a journalistic tool was a key factor toward Saudi journalists’ MOJO perceptions, it was not as powerful as three ethical dimensions that affected their MOJO perceptions. Keywords: mobile journalism, codes of ethics, professional journalism, Saudi journalists

Journalistic knowledge production during a social crisis: How journalists claimed professional authority during the Chilean social uprising

In this paper we problematize protest coverage as an epistemological challenge for journalists, based on the case of the 2019 social uprising in Chile, in which the authority of professional journalists as narrators of events was questioned by audiences. The study aims at identifying the main dimensions of news production that become altered in an extended social crisis, as well as the main repertoires of practice and justifications deployed from the journalistic field to face them. The paper is based on the analysis of episodic narrative interviews ( n = 32), with journalists who participated in the coverage of the uprising in different capacities, in TV, radio, print and digital only media outlets. In our findings, we identify disruptions of epistemic consequence for news production during the coverage of the protests and riots, such as safety issues, and the relationship of journalists with space, time and the evidence recognized as appropriate for journalistic content, an issue that became particularly problematic around episodes of violence. We then identify four epistemic modes (approaches to knowledge-production) activated during the protests: detached narrator, conflict deflector, conflict mediator and involved narrator. These modes reveal differentiated responses to protest coverage inside professional journalism, which are in turn based on complementary claims of legitimacy for journalistic practice.

Dewey’s Logic: Reviews and Criticisms

I draw attention to some common misunderstandings among Dewey’s critics, as well as to some significant interpretive clarifications by commentators who viewed his work in a positive light. I have found it instructive to look back at two sources as an aid to understanding what his critics found so puzzling about his work. First, there are the reviews in professional journals that appeared in the wake of the publication of the Logic. Second, there are essays by some of his critics included in the Library of Living Philosophers volume published as a part of the celebration of his 80th birthday in 1939. In addition, I occasionally call on ancillary remarks and interpretations from other sources when I think they will help to clarify a point.

Vidzeme Region Inhabitants’ Media Usage Specifics

Abstract Research purpose. There is a growing trend of society believing more and more in public broadcasting and media because they can objectively explain and reflect on what is happening in the world and Latvia. As the pandemic escalates, people are increasingly listening to what professional journalists and experts are saying. The survey organised by the National Media Council (neplpadome.lv, 2021) also shows that trust in public media in Latvia has been growing. However, one important challenge now is handling misinformation and false news, mostly seen on the Internet and social media. To be able to trace and analyse misinformation and false news that might have a significant impact on the population, first, it is important to identify the traditional and digital media as well as other Internet sources that have been frequently used by the population. The purpose of this study is to identify media platforms, including regional media, that are in daily use by the Vidzeme region’s population. Design / Methodology / Approach. A quantitative research method was used in this study, specifically, a survey, which consisted of a questionnaire comprising 18 questions on media use. Overall, 333 respondents living in the Vidzeme region participated in the survey. The questionnaire was designed in collaboration with Alberta College communication students. It included questions on traditional (TV, radio, magazines, newspaper) and digital media (portals, social media) that the population uses to access daily and weekly news. Findings. 1) The most frequently used media are social media (87.5%), while the Internet (85.5%) is considered the most reliable source of information. 2) Regional media continue to be an essential source of information for local communities. Originality / Value / Practical implications. Communication specialists of regional municipalities can use the results of the study to strengthen communication with the population via municipality websites and newspapers, thus, contributing to regional, local, and fast-growing micro-media ecosystem understanding. One limitation of the study is the limited scope of research, which is why the authors are planning to expand the research into the study of other regions of Latvia.

Omnichannel environment — phenomena, processes and the directions of change

Abstract Omnichannel as a concept was introduced to the business practice due to the development of multichannel actions and their integration. This paper aims to identify processes and phenomena occurring in an omnichannel environment in the past years (2020–2022) and their evaluation based on the literature. We used the literature review method, focusing mainly on two professional journals: Total Retail and Multichannel Merchant. Based on the literature studies, we can say that in the analysed period, the major issues discussed were the extension of customer experience and personalisation of contact, development of offered ways of delivery (including the curbside delivery or ‘dock and load’) and payment methods (including m-payments), the need for more frequent actualisation of POS solutions, changes in the way in which stock and supplier relations are managed, implementation of new technologies (such as headless e-commerce and Progressive Web Application [PWA]), development of contact-less shopping and further development of sustainable commerce.

Feature: The Real World and the Reading Realities of Returning Students

Although a good deal of writing has been done about reading, many articles, both in professional journals and in public media, bemoan a lack of reading skills. There is often a discourse around what students can’t do. In this article, we argue that adapting an assetbased, experiential framework around reading could be one of the most foundational and crucial steps in transforming our structures to respect, and therefore retain and engage, returning students.

“We Write to Dismantle Prejudices, Myths and Lies”: The Role of Journalists in the COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign in Romania

ABSTRACT In Romania, an important role in the dissemination of scientific information, decisive for increasing confidence in the vaccination against COVID-19, was played not only by official communication,, but also by media professionals who covered this subject extensively. The present research analyses the opinions of 33 Romanian journalists, from the national and local press, aiming to find out their professional attitude regarding the vaccination campaign. The opinions were collected through the structured interview, applied through electronic communication channels, between February 20, 2021 and March 1, 2021. Several research questions were the basis of this article: how professional journalists understand the role of the press in a pandemic crisis, in which disinformation, fake news, and deceptive information, decreased trust in vaccination; how journalists relate to the state of balance and what they consider to be the role of the journalistic act, also in relation to the authorities. The most important result of this study is that many of the interviewed journalists believe that, in the context of the national and global health crisis, the correct information is based on scientific evidence and the coverage of official communication, with the role of professional journalism being to combat misinformation, pseudoscience, conspiracies, and fake news.

ВИСВІТЛЕННЯ ПОДІЙ У TELEGRAM: ВЗАЄМОВПЛИВ АМАТОРСЬКИХ І ПРОФЕСІЙНИХ ПІДХОДІВ

<p><strong><em>The purpose</em></strong><em> of the study is to reveal how appropriate it is to expand the toolkit of official meta-media work on the Telegram messenger platform by borrowing certain elements from the work style of bloggers.</em></p><p><strong><em>Research methodology.</em></strong><em> In the process of searching for empirical material and studying the content of Telegram channels, the following methods were used: monitoring and observation; probability sampling method, descriptive method; methods of comparative analysis, synthesis, induction, systematization, generalization.</em></p><p><strong><em>The results.</em></strong><em> It was found that the Telegram channels of bloggers and official mass media occupy different niches and are equally needed by society, and there is an active interaction between them. The founders of news channels rely on the advantages of amateur or professional journalism and at the same time tend to optimize informing, borrowing some work methods – bloggers from professionals and vice versa; in particular, bloggers try to work according to the schedule, to achieve clarity and evidentiality of messages, professional journalists – to strengthen the communication component, to refuse a too dry style. Taking this into account and logically continuing the indicated trend, the article suggests journalistic Telegram channels to publish news reviews more often – informational ones that summarize the news in a thesis for a certain period of time, and excerpts of analytical author reviews with a link to the entire material on the mass media website.</em></p><p><strong><em>Novelty.</em></strong><em> The fact that both amateur and professional meta-media journalism is in demand by the audience has been established; the phenomenon of their mutual influence has been revealed; supplemented by scientific ideas about changes in professional approaches to the production and distribution of news occurring as a result of the use of messenger Telegram.</em></p><p><strong><em>Practical meaning.</em></strong><em> The results of the research will be useful in practical journalistic activities related to providing Telegram channels with news content.</em></p><strong><em>Key words:</em></strong><em> meta-media, messenger, Telegram channel, news production, professional</em> <em>journalism, amateur journalism, bloggers.</em>

Publisher's Comment - JBC Volume 46, Number 2, 2022.

Welcome to the Journal of Biocommunication, the professional journal of the Association of Medical Illustrators and the BioCommunications Association. This JBC, issue 46-2, represents our second issue of the 2022 publishing year. I would like to thank our Management Board, our editors, our advisors, and our authors for their contributions to our success. Our first JBC Showcase features the amazing work of AMI member and UIC faculty member, John Daugherty. John was the recipient of the AMI's Lifetime Achievement Award at AMI's 2022 annual meeting in Des Moines, Iowa. In this Showcase, John shares a number of his award-winning images with us. Our second JBC Showcase features the award-winning natural science photography of Charles "Chip" Hedgcock, a medical/scientific photographer from Arizona. Chip has combined his love of the outdoors with more than 30 years of natural science photography. Chip was honored as the 2016 BioCommunications Association's Louis Schmidt Laureate. Our JBC Gallery features the Professional Category award winners from the Association of Medical Illustrators' 2022 annual meeting Salon. We think that you'll enjoy seeing these award-winning images and media. We appreciate the ongoing support from our JBC community around the world. In particular, we acknowledge the support of the Association of Medical Illustrators and the BioCommunications Association. It's a privilege to be the professional academic journal of these two organizations.

Integrating Chatbot Media Automations in Professional Journalism: An Evaluation Framework

Interactivity has been a very sought-after feature in professional journalism ever since the media industry transitioned from print into the online space. Within this context, chatbots started to infiltrate the media sphere and provide news organizations with new and innovative ways to create and share their content, with an even larger emphasis on back-and-forth communication and news reporting personalization. The present research highlights two important factors that can determine the efficient integration of chatbots in professional journalism: the feasibility of chatbot programming by journalists without a background in computer science using coding-free platforms and the usability of the created chatbot agents for news reporting to the audience. This paper aims to review some of the most popular, coding-free chatbot creation platforms that are available to journalists today. To that end, a three-phase evaluation framework is introduced. First off, the interactivity features that they offer to media industry workers are evaluated using an appropriate metrics framework. Secondly, a two- part workshop is conducted where journalists use the aforementioned platforms to create their own chatbot news reporting agents with minimum training, and lastly, the created chatbots are evaluated by a larger audience concerning the usability and overall user experience.

“It’s Just as Whitewashed as Ever”: Social Media Sourcing as a Diversification Tool for Journalists

ABSTRACT Modern journalism practices rely heavily on the use of sources. Traditionally, white, male officials are journalists’ primary sources. This silences underrepresented voices, leading to symbolic annihilation of minority communities in media coverage. Journalists often cite their inability to reach communities outside of their own perspective as a primary reason for this symbolic annihilation, but what happens when reporters’ networks of power are widened through digital connections? Previous research has explored the role of social media as a tool for newsgathering, and some studies suggest social media can provide the opportunity for journalists to reach previously inaccessible communities. Yet, the network theory of power suggests some nodes of these digital networks can create elite sources like officials or influencers that may uphold traditional sourcing practices and hegemonic power structures. Utilizing qualitative interviews with professional journalists, this study seeks to understand whether tapping into broader networks of power through social media helps journalists combat symbolic annihilation of sources or whether hegemonic structures continue. It also offers insight into influences on journalists’ use of social media for multiperspectival sourcing and suggestions for reliance on certain networks for diversification of sources.

W SPRAWIE TAJEMNICY DZIENNIKARSKIEJ I ZASAD ZWALNIANIA Z TEJ TAJEMNICY. UWAGI POLEMICZNE

Journalistic secrecy is the cornerstone of the journalistic profession and the foundation of media freedom. In the Polish legal system, the source of journalistic secrecy is Art. 15 of the Press Law. However, this right of the journalists – apart from data protecting informants – is not absolute. Exemption is provided for in Art. 180 § 2 of the Criminal Procedure Code, as well as in Art. 261 § 2 of the Civil Procedure Code and Art. 83 § 2 of the Administrative Procedure Code. Exemption from journalistic secrecy in a criminal trial can only be granted by a court, and only if it is necessary in the interests of justice and there is no other evidence that could be used to replace the journalist’s testimony. This text contains polemical comments in relation to Journalistic secrecy and exemption rules published in “Studia Iuridica” 2021, Vol. 7.