[ecrea] Call for papers: Special issue "Constructive Forms in Journalism"

Call for papers: special issue for /Journalism Practice
/Theme: “Constructive Forms in Journalism”

The talk about “constructive journalism” is currently gaining a great 
deal of attention in the newsrooms of newspapers, online news sites and 
broadcasters – and increasingly also in the academic discussions 
concerning the future of journalism and media. Here “constructive” means 
that the newsrooms should develop their coverage to focus not only on 
social problems, but also on the possible solutions and spaces of 
action. This would, it is argued, lead to positive social impact (and to 
committed readership) through better audience engagement (Haagerup 2014, 
Gyldensted 2015).

This discourse seems especially strong in the European context, but 
there are also similar ideas in the U.S., for example under the title of 
“solutions journalism” (Dryer 2015). Furthermore, the term “constructive 
journalism” has acquired various meanings on a global scale: for 
example, it has been used to explain the expansion of Chinese media in 
Africa (Zhang 2014).Moreover, the current discourse around 
“constructivity” resonates with earlier discussions about “public/civic 
journalism” (Rosen 1999) or “peace journalism” (Galtung 2002) from the 
1990s onwards. These approaches also emphasize the role of journalism in 
societal processes and its responsibility in supporting constructive 
social developments. This all points to a need to critically scrutinize 
and contextualize the current discourse of constructive journalism with 
previous movements in order to be able to evaluate its potential for 
journalism practice and theory.

These efforts to reform journalism address broadly similar questions 
regarding the social role and responsiveness of journalism (Romano 2010; 
O’Donnell 2009), but they all stem from slightly different cultural, 
geographical and theoretical backgrounds. Some of these approaches are 
more theoretically oriented, albeit with different research fields in 
the background – e.g. public journalism draws from the public sphere and 
democracy theories (Ahva 2010; Haas 2007) and peace journalism from 
peace and conflict research (Galtung 2002). Respectively and at least so 
far, the call for constructive journalism has been rooted in practice, 
aimed at management and practical newsroom work, as well as journalism 
education (e.g. Windesheim School of Journalism in the Netherlands has 
launched an institute and curriculum for constructive journalism).

Meanwhile, these suggestions that journalism should participate 
constructively in the development of society, and foreground solutions 
and positive developments, have stirred criticism for blunting the 
critical edge that is essential for the “fourth estate” role of the 
press. The key question keeps recurring: how can these mediating and 
facilitating functions of journalism coincide with the task of revealing 
social conflicts and keeping power in check? The response, in turn, has 
been to emphasize that constructive does not mean advocacy, and in fact 
constructive approach can help journalists to do their work better (e.g. 
Kempf 2007). However, this debate has so far not been very thoroughly 
based on theory.

Therefore, there is a need within the field of journalism research to 
better understand, theorize and critically engage with these varied 
forms of journalism and their relations to each other. This discussion 
is needed to address if these or other attempts to “reform” journalism 
(or to redefine its social role and functions) are to be taken seriously 
in the current political and economic context in Europe, the U.S. and 
beyond.

This special issue invites contributions that will address the theory, 
practice or pedagogy of the above mentioned or other relevant approaches 
to journalism. This will provide an opportunity to map the conceptual 
landscape of “constructive forms” in journalism, examine the discourse 
of constructivity in a historical continuum, to reflect actual 
constructive reporting styles and practices against this background, as 
well as address the role of journalism education and research in 
relation to this.

Abstracts responding to the call for papers should contain an outline of 
the main argument: how it relates to constructivity and the theoretical 
or empirical grounds of the main argument. Abstracts that address the 
underlying conceptual and theoretical understanding behind the 
constructive forms of journalism are especially welcome.

**

*Guest editors:*Senior Research Fellow Laura Ahva ((laura.ahva /at/ uta.fi) 
<mailto:(laura.ahva /at/ uta.fi)>) & Researcher Mikko Hautakangas 
((mikko.hautakangas /at/ uta.fi) <mailto:(mikko.hautakangas /at/ uta.fi)>), Tampere 
Research Centre for Journalism, Media and Communication (COMET), Faculty 
of Communication Sciences, University of Tampere, Finland.

*Submission instructions: *

Prospective submissions should consist of no more than a 350-word 
abstract and be emailed no later than 31st May, 2017 to the guest 
editors ((laura.ahva /at/ uta.fi) <mailto:(laura.ahva /at/ uta.fi)> and 
(mikko.hautakangas /at/ uta.fi) <mailto:(mikko.hautakangas /at/ uta.fi)>). Selected 
authors will be invited to contribute by November 2017, a full 8 000 
word paper including references, etc. that will be considered for 
publication subject to double blind peer-review.

*
Timescale: *
Abstracts to guest editors: 31^st May 2017
Full papers for peer review: 30^th November 2017
Reviews to authors: in February
Revised full papers: 31^st March 2018
Publication: August 2018

*References:*

·Ahva, Laura (2010). /Making News with Citizens: Public Journalism and 
Professional Reflexivity in Finnish Newspapers. /Tampere: Tampere 
University Press.

·Dyer, John (2015). /Is Solutions Journalism the Solution? /Nieman 
Reports, Spring 2015.

·Galtung, Johan (2002). Peace journalism: A Challenge. In Wilhelm Kempf 
and Heikki Luostarinen (eds) /Journalism and the New World Order. 
/Götebrog: Nordicom, 259–272.

·Gyldensted, Cathrine (2015). From Mirrors to Movers: Five Elemenst of 
Positive Psychology in Constructive Journalism. GGroup Publisghing.

·Haagerup, Ulrik (2014). /Constructive News. /Hanoi: Innovatio.

·Haas, Tanni (2007). /The Pursuit of Public Journalism: Theory, Practice 
and Criticism./ New York: Routledge.

·Kempf, Wilhelm (2007). “Peace Journalism: a Tightrope Walk Between 
Advocacy Journalism and Constructive Conflict Coverage”. /Conflict & 
Communication Online/, Vol. 6 No. 2 2007.

·O'Donnell, Penny (2009). “Journalism, change and listening practices.” 
/Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies/ 23 (4): 503–517.

·Romano, Angela (2010). American Public Journalism versus Other 
International Media Models. In Angela Romano (ed.) /International 
Journalism and Democracy: Civic Engagement Models from Around the 
World/. New York: Routledge, 16–34.

·Rosen, Jay (1999). The Action of the Idea. Public Journalism in Built 
Form. In Theodore L. Glasser (ed.) /The Idea of Public Journalism./ New 
York: The Guilford Press, 21–48.

·Zhang, Yanqiu (2014). Understand China’s Media in Africa from the 
perspective of Constructive Journalism. Paper presented at the 
international conference China and Africa Media, Communications and 
Public Diplomacy, Beijing, 10–11, September 2014.

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