Global news oppositional views Are global news really
Global news – oppositional views
Are global news really global? a. Where are they produced? • Who produces them? • Who sets the agenda?
Anna Roosvall: 2005
Key concepts a. Stringer b. Parachute reporting c. Beat d. Hard news e. Feature Story
Sources a. Diplomats b. ”fixers” c. ”authoritative local commentator” d. UN staff e. NGOs staff
Home audience a. Foreign news need to reflect domestic preconceptions b. Connections between home and abroad
No story lines or more story lines? a. Story lines just to handy for journalists to go away altogether b. More story lines would represent a wider framework. c. Is it possible to have no story lines at all in foreign reporting?
Country story-lines a. Jerusalem – conflict between Israel and Palestine • Japan – society values • South Africa – apartheid, black-whiteafrikaan conflict
Parachute reporting Journalists parachute themselves to different places for short periods of time. What are the effects of this way of doing foreign reporting? - episodical news - lack of context
Ulf Hannerz ”A pessimistic view would be that the chances for more subtle portrayals of ethnicity in news work are not great. If you are a parachutist flying into a new battle zone with limited preparation, the tool kit of primordialist assumptions and clichés is perhaps too conveniently available”
Chaos as a story line ”Chaos itself may become a story line by default, a story line only where there is no story line offering a firmer grasp of events”
Reporting from Africa a. ”How the spatial practices of Africa correspondents may influence our views of the continent? ”(Ulf Hannerz)
Alternative journalism - Atton & Hamilton a. Changing conceptions of mainstream. b. Bourgeoisie journalism started as the alternative c. Dilemma - dumbing down content to maximize readership and be attractive to advertisers.
Models of alternative journalism - Patronage supported - Voice of Women, Appeal to Reason - Personal journalism - Counter. Punch - Collective and movement support Indymedia
Bloggs vs. newspapers ”When people read this story, they should have newsprint on their hands, ” State of Play - 2009 Bloggs are modern, newspapers are old. Who has more credibility?
Critique to commercialization a. Traditions of bourgeois journalism are seen as neutral tolls. b. Imperative of capitalism: sell at a profit and maximize sales - financiers will move investments that do not grow at a desired pace.
Political Economy - the problem of funding a. Advertising b. Independency
Gatekeeping and gatewatching Editors of bloggs and alternative news websites are able to monitor a the output of a great range of news providers and then analyse and comment on it.
Journalistic practices Alt. journalism (Indymedia and assimilates): Traditional journalism: Closed publishing Open publishing Editing Minimal/no edition Multitude of visions and voices, bidirectional flow reader-writer Less visions/voices represented, unidirectional flow writerreader
Alternative journalism ". . . how do the norms of alternative journalism help us to understand, for example, the status of alternative journalism and their place in society, their methods and their approach to content? "
- Slides: 21