This book explores the current challenges faced by those working in the news media, focusing on the responsibilities of journalism in advanced democracies. The contributors investigate key issues facing twenty-first century journalism and offer in-depth studies of the UK news media. These detailed analyses provide the basis for comparison with media in the US, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. The book's provocative conclusions will provide the groundwork for continuing debate about the place of journalism in invigorating political processes and democratic functions.
What are the current problems, pressures and opportunities facing journalists in advanced democratic societies? Has there been a 'dumbing down' of the news agenda? How can serious political, economic and social news be made interesting to young people? This book explores the current challenges faced by those working in the news media, focusing especially on the responsibilities of journalism in the advanced democracies. The authors comprise experienced journalists and academics from the UK and the other countries investigated. In the opening section they investigate the key issues facing twenty-first century journalism; while in section two they offer in-depth studies of the UK news media, discussing national newspapers; regional and local newspapers, both paid for and free; terrestrial, satellite and cable television news; radio news and online journalism. These detailed analyses provide the basis for a comparison with the media of a variety of other key advanced democracies: namely the USA, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. Drawing on this evidence, the authors map out possible future developments, paying attention to their likely global impact. The book's provocative conclusions will provide the groundwork for continuing debate amongst journalists, scholars and policy-makers concerned about the place of journalism in invigorating political processes and democratic functions.
This book is about how journalism can contribute to the recovery of democracy from the crisis exemplified by the Trump presidency, the Brexit referendum and the rise of populism across the Western world. It explores the ethical concepts that provide the foundation for journalism in modern democracies: pluralism, liberalism, tolerance, truth, free speech, and impartiality. History has shown that crisis brings opportunity for change on a scale that is unachievable under ordinary political conditions, and this book proposes fundamental ways in which journalism can help democratic societies seize the moment. It traces the development of traditional mass media and social media and explores how the two might work better together to benefit democratic life. The development of press theory is described, and enhanced by a proposed new theory, Democratic Revival.
In the face of the continuously changing challenges of the digital age, it is difficult for quality news journalism to survive on any significant scale if a means for adequately funding it is not available. This new study, a follow-up to 2007’s The Future of Journalism in the Advanced Democracies, includes a comparative analysis of possible alternative business models that may save the future of the quality news business across the developed, intermediate, and developing worlds. Its detailed evaluation encompasses also the different ways in which wider key issues are affecting the prospects for quality news as a core ingredient of effectively working democracies. It focuses on the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa, India, Kenya, and selected parts of the Arab World, providing a comprehensive cross-cultural survey of different approaches to addressing these various issues. To keep the study firmly rooted in the "real world" the contributors include distinguished practitioners as well as experienced academics.
This volume draws together research originally presented at the 2015 Future of Journalism conference at Cardiff University, UK. The conference theme, ‘Risks, Threats and Opportunities,’ highlighted five areas of particular concern for discussion and debate. The first of these areas, ‘Journalism and Social Media’, explores how journalism and the role of the journalist are being redefined in the digital age of social networking, crowd-sourcing and ‘big data’, and how the influence of media like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Reddit affects the gathering, reporting or consumption of news? ‘Journalists at Risk’ assesses the key issues surrounding journalists’ safety and their right to report, as news organizations and their sources are increasingly targeted in war, conflict or crisis situations. The third area, ‘Journalism Under Surveillance’, asks what freedom of the press means in a post-Snowden climate. What are the new forms of censorship confronting journalism today, and what emergent tactics will help it to speak truth to power? ‘Journalism and the Fifth Estate’ examines the traditional ideals of the fourth estate, which risk looking outdated, if not obsolete, in the modern world. How much can we rely on citizen media to produce alternative forms of news reporting, and how can we reform mainstream media institutions to make them more open, transparent and accountable to the public? The final area, ‘Journalism’s Values’, asks how journalism’s ethical principles and moral standards are evolving in relation to the democratic cultures of communities locally, regionally, nationally or internationally. What are the implications of changing priorities for the education, training and employment of tomorrow’s journalists? Every chapter in this volume engages with a pressing issue for the future of journalism, offering an original, thought-provoking perspective intended to help facilitate further dialogue and debate. The chapters in this book were originally published in special issues of Digital Journalism, Journalism Practice, and Journalism Studies.
This edited volume offers a state-of-the-art synthesis of the historical role of radical journalism, its present iterations, and plans for the future of a journalism that is committed to liberatory movements and politics. At a time of profound crisis and stagnation for mainstream journalism, radical journalism seems to be riding a wave. New outlets, including those – like Jacobin – with a global reach, have sprung up, presenting a new generation of unapologetically progressive publications with an emancipatory agenda. Understanding the role and place of radical journalism becomes even more urgent given the current political climate in a (post) pandemic world with heightened inequalities and intensified pauperisation. Drawing on contributions from leading academics, this collection considers: • How new outlets fit in the genealogy of (radical) journalism and what their flourishing can tell us about the present and future of emancipatory politics and the role of the radical journalist; • What these new forms and publications mean for mainstream journalism and its persisting problems of financial sustainability and professional journalistic labour; • Important challenges presented by, for example, the resurgence of fascism, authoritarianism and the mainstreaming of the far right; • Essential questions of what radical journalism looks like today, what forms it takes or should take, and what its future might be. Radical Journalism is recommended reading for advanced students and journalists working at the intersection of journalism, politics, and sociology.
The Future of Journalism: Developments and Debates analyses the radical shifts in journalism which are changing every aspect of the gathering, reporting and reception of news. The drivers of these changes include the rapid innovations in communication technologies, the competitive and fragmenting markets for audiences and advertising revenues, and the collapse of traditional business models for financing media organisations, as well as changing audience requirements for news, the ways in which it is presented and the expansive number of (increasingly mobile) devices on which it is produced and consumed. Each of these trends has significant implications for journalists - for their jobs, workplaces, products and perceptions of their professional roles, ethical judgements and day-to-day practice. They also pose significant challenges for the future funding of a sustainable, critical and high ‘quality’ democratic journalism. The Future of Journalism: Developments and Debates comprises the research-based responses of distinguished academic specialists and professional journalists to the challenging issues involved in assessing the future of journalism. It is essential reading for everyone interested in the changing role of journalism in the economic, democratic and cultural life of communities locally, nationally and globally. This book was originally published as two special issues of Journalism Studies and Journalism Practice.
In Losing the News, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Alex S. Jones offers a probing look at the epochal changes sweeping the media, changes which are eroding the core news that has been the essential food supply of our democracy. At a time of dazzling technological innovation, Jones says that what stands to be lost is the fact-based reporting that serves as a watchdog over government, holds the powerful accountable, and gives citizens what they need. In a tumultuous new media era, with cutthroat competition and panic over profits, the commitment of the traditional news media to serious news is fading. Indeed, as digital technology shatters the old economic model, the news media is making a painful passage that is taking a toll on journalistic values and standards. Journalistic objectivity and ethics are under assault, as is the bastion of the First Amendment. Jones characterizes himself not as a pessimist about news, but a realist. The breathtaking possibilities that the web offers are undeniable, but at what cost? Pundits and talk show hosts have persuaded Americans that the crisis in news is bias and partisanship. Not so, says Jones. The real crisis is the erosion of the iron core of news, something that hurts Republicans and Democrats alike. Losing the News depicts an unsettling situation in which the American birthright of fact-based, reported news is in danger. But it is also a call to arms to fight to keep the core of news intact. Praise for the hardcover: "Thoughtful." --New York Times Book Review "An impassioned call to action to preserve the best of traditional newspaper journalism." --The San Francisco Chronicle "Must reading for all Americans who care about our country's present and future. Analysis, commentary, scholarship and excellent writing, with a strong, easy-to-follow narrative about why you should care, makes this a candidate for one of the best books of the year." --Dan Rather
As Democracy Goes, So Does Journalism: Evolution of Journalism in Liberal, Deliberative, and Participatory Democracy explores the symbiotic relationship between democracy and journalism in an engaging historical narrative. From a liberal to a deliberative and to a participatory model, theories and practices of democracy are constantly looking for better governance. How is journalism evolving to match the vibrant changes in its democratic counterpart? This book suggests that the dominant trustee model of journalism that flourished in liberal democracy has waned; the civic-minded public journalism in deliberative democracy has had ups and downs; and the free-wheeling citizen journalism in participatory democracy is now under the spotlight, whether for its brilliance or ill repute. This book attempts to answer the vital questions facing journalism today, namely its identities, functions, and relationship to democracy and the good life. Scholars and students of journalism as well as the public interested in the past, present, and future of journalism will find this book valuable.
