[ecrea] Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies 7.3 published

Intellect is delighted to announce that the Journal of Applied 
Journalism & Media Studies 7.3 is now available! For more information 
about the issue, click here >> https://bit.ly/2PUvb1O

Contents

Encountering disruption: Adaptation, resistance and change

Authors:  Scott A. Eldridge II And Marcel Broersma
Page Start: 469

‘Professionally we’re definitely in this together’

Authors: Julian Petley
Page Start: 481

In early April 2016, the websites Byline and openDemocracy published a 
number of articles alleging that the Culture Secretary, John 
Whittingdale, had been involved in a liaison with a prostitute. 
Remarkably, given most British national newspapers’ obsession with sex 
scandals, the national press not only refused to pick up the story but 
also attacked Byline and openDemocracy for running it, arguing that it 
was not in the public interest. Byline and openDemocracy responded that 
the nationals had refused to run the story because they did not want to 
harm Whittingdale, who was known not to be in favour of putting the 
recommendations of the Leveson Inquiry into practice. The nationals hit 
back by accusing Byline and openDemocracy, which supported Leveson, of 
trying to undermine Whittingdale and so improve the chances of the 
Leveson recommendations being adopted. But in the course of this 
extremely bitter battle between different sections of the news media, it 
soon became apparent that the nationals had in fact been sitting on not 
only the prostitute story but a number of other scandals as well 
concerning Whittingdale. This article will utilize the Whittingdale 
controversy to argue that most of the British national press puts 
serving its own interests far above serving the public interest, that it 
will use every means at its disposal to thwart the creation of the kind 
of system of press self-regulation proposed by the Leveson Inquiry and 
that it is far too deeply enmeshed in the political system, and in 
particular, with Conservative interests, to be considered as a Fourth 
Estate of the realm.

‘Disruption’ in UK journalism education? A study of narratives of resilience

Authors: John Steel
Page Start: 501

This article examines the narratives of journalism relevant to 
journalism education from the perspective of those who ‘do’ journalism 
education in the United Kingdom. It draws on interviews with twelve 
individuals between 2006 and 2016 from within two distinct groups, both 
of which share a professional interest in journalism education: 
journalism educators with the UK Higher Education (HE) sector and former 
practicing journalists from within the industry who have a particular 
interest in journalism education, either as employers or as trainers 
within the industry. Drawing on Bourdieu’s field theory and Carlson’s 
theory of metajournalistic discourse the interviews highlight what 
Mensing describes as ‘industry-centred journalism education’ as being 
particularly resilient in the English HE sector. Despite reflexive 
notions of ‘digital disruption’ from within centres of journalism 
education, the practice-driven, industry-orientated approach to 
journalism education remains remarkably resilient over time.

The grey area in the practice of online journalism in China

Authors: Tianbo Xu
Page Start: 521

Considerable scholarly discussion, in broad terms at least, has focused 
on the disruptions that the Internet has delivered to journalistic norms 
and the changes to perceptions that journalists hold of their role. 
However, such discussion tends to emphasize the Internet as a globally 
used form of technology with a singular impact on journalism; it 
mentions only in passing that its understanding of this concept is 
mainly based on an Anglo-American model. This article explores Chinese 
journalists’ ideas about disruption in China. It finds that Chinese 
journalists use of the Internet falls within the margins of the 
censorship system, leading to a grey area surrounding the practice of 
online journalism within which certain specific constraints supposedly 
enforced by administration law and departmental policies can be broken 
without punishment. While working in this grey area signals a disruption 
of journalistic norms in China, the characteristics of this disruption 
differ from those found in western countries.

Repairing a fractured field: Dynamics of collaboration, normalization 
and appropriation at intersections of newswork

Authors: Scott A. Eldridge II
Page Start: 541

New patterns of journalistic endeavour have altered the ways in which 
news and information reach the public, with new technologies enabling 
new types of journalistic actors to produce news both on their own and 
in collaborative arrangements with traditional journalists. From these 
intersections, new questions for understanding journalism amid change 
ask whether we are facing a fractured or more consolidated journalistic 
field. This article explores intersections of traditional and emergent 
news actors as disruptions to the dominant vision of the field. It shows 
the treatment of autonomous work of digital interlopers in news texts as 
reinforcing prevailing views of journalism by invoking traditional 
information authority and paradigmatic news-source relationships. Using 
field theory and analysis of narratives of journalistic roles in news 
texts to support its thesis, this article looks at reactions to the 
emergence of two independent news actors – WikiLeaks and ProPublica – 
representing distinct approaches to newswork born of a digital age. In 
its conclusion, this article outlines the initial framework for an 
‘appropriation thesis’ that extends paradigm repair in instances when 
new journalistic actors’ newswork is subsumed under traditional 
routines, thereby muting narratives of a heterogeneous field that would 
contradict the field’s dominant vision and authority.

Local news in a digital world: Stand up and start up, instead of copy 
and paste

Authors: Bart Brouwers
Page Start: 561

For legacy media companies, the digital world seemed to be the perfect 
place for scalable initiatives in local journalism. But up until now, 
the scalability nut hasn’t been thoroughly cracked. Media companies have 
tried to copy the old habits and paste them into a new digital world, 
without asking themselves what problem – and whose problem – they were 
going to solve. The profession needs to realize that scaling isn’t 
something that comes automatically with the digital world, but has to be 
derived from the value proposition of the news product itself. To really 
internally reinvent the local news in an online world, it has to stand 
up and start up all over again, before it can scale up and – finally – 
stay up again.

Constructive journalism

Authors: Chrysi Dagoula
Page Start: 569

Danielle Batist is a freelance journalist and editor who embraces an 
entrepreneurial and positive approach to journalism. She has lived and 
worked in several countries around the globe. In the fifteen years she 
has been working as a journalist, she has developed an interest in 
social change, which she pursued in her work as the editor of the 
International Network of Street Papers (INSP), reaching six million 
readers in over 40 countries, and which underpins her current focus on 
‘Constructive Journalism’ – a project she co-founded in 2014. Drawing on 
a variety of behavioural and audience studies, constructive journalism 
can be defined as ‘as rigorous, compelling reporting that includes 
positive and solutionfocused elements in order to empower audiences and 
present a fuller picture of truth, while upholding journalism’s core 
functions and ethics’ – in other words, an approach that attempts to 
bring positive elements to conventional reporting. By using a 
‘wellbeing’ model of the world instead of a ‘disease’ model, stories 
about what is working – rather than just what is broken – become part of 
the news eco-system. Last year, Danielle got involved in the re-launch 
of Positive News, founded in 1993 and re-launched in 2016 as a magazine. 
The publication showcases a new model for media ownership, as well as a 
new way to tell news stories. Owned by a community of 1526 journalists, 
readers and supporters from 33 countries, the magazine features 
‘Constructive Conversation’, where thought leaders are challenged to 
find common ground; ‘Solutions Lab’, where forward-thinking responses to 
difficult social issues are unearthed; ‘What Happened Next?’ where 
stories reported upon previously are updated. All these aspects are 
highlighted in a conversation with Danielle Batist, who gives her 
insight on the discussed matters.

Making sense of innovative and disruptive news in the digital age

Authors: Chrysi Dagoula
Page Start: 575

Launched in 2012, Zetland (zetland.dk <http://zetland.dk>) is a Danish 
media company that approaches digital journalism as ‘a force of good’. 
Its mission contains a paradox: it is simple but simultaneously complex 
– not to make news but to make sense of it. Through its diverse 
practices that vary from daily publications in a custom-built platform 
to pioneering shows of ‘performed’ journalism, Zetland’s aim is to tell 
stories worth remembering that integrate audiences – as co-creators in 
all journalistic processes – to be able to distribute knowledge and 
build a well-informed community. Since their founding, a lot has 
changed. Although its core remained the same, Zetland recently expanded, 
raising two million euros, broadening its team with 25 new members and 
adding the publication of a daily in-depth digital newspaper, all the 
while experimenting with new paradigms of digital journalism.
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