I've been talking about it since the summer: the dreaded thesis. It seems like it's been looming over me since my freshman year when I decided to join the Honors Program. Why did I do that again? Oh yeah, priority registration.
Until this fall, it never seemed like it would actually happen. Oh yeah, my thesis. I'll get to it eventually.
Right?
Well. Sort of.
Fall quarter I tried to start. And then life (read as: school/work/extracurriculars/Netflix) got in the way. I kept saying, I need to start my thesis. I need to read something. I need to do something.
That thought usually ended in me frantically looking up sources but not actually reading any of them before giving up and going to bed at 10:30 like the college senior (citizen) that I am.
But then, over winter break, I really had no excuse not to do any reading, at the very least. So I did do some reading, and some annotating, and I started to feel like I was making some progress.
When winter quarter started, I was motivated to keep the momentum going and do at least a little bit of work every day. Sadly, that did not last long. This week, I intended to read the remaining sources I've gathered, annotate them, and begin writing the section on objectivity as a professional standard for my literature review. I did get a little writing done, but unfortunately the reading definitely did not happen.
Maybe next week I'll write something that actually pertains to the research, but as of right now I'm just slightly too overwhelmed. And so, since I still haven't quite stopped slacking off, here's the annotated bibliography of the sources I read over break:
Hanitzsch, Thomas, et al. “MAPPING JOURNALISM CULTURES ACROSS NATIONS.” Journalism Studies 12.3 (June 2011): 273–293.
Detachment vs. interventionism—”active support of particular values, positions, groups and social change.” Support for global importance of impartiality and neutrality, factualness and reliability of information. Objectivism as an epistemology. Consensus that personal beliefs and convictions should not be allowed to influence reporting. Lack of active promotion of values and ideas in western journalism in general. “Understanding of the objectivity norm is often idiosyncratic even to journalists working in different western contexts.” US journalists showed tendency to let personal evaluation and interpretation into coverage—growing importance of interpretive elements in American journalism.
Brossard, Dominique, James Shanahan, and Katherine McComas. “Are Issue-Cycles Culturally Constructed? A Comparison of French and American Coverage of Global Climate Change.” Mass Communication and Society 7.3 (July 2004): 359–377.
Is the cyclical nature of American coverage of global climate change inherent to the topic itself, or is it a result of cultural practices in the field of journalism in America? American journalists approach each story with the intent to create an interesting narrative. Different concepts of what is considered “exciting” in each respective country. Could include useful guidelines for methodology of analyzing the articles themselves. Information that was privileged or deemed important was very different for each respective paper—could relate to the idea of framing (indicating to the reader what we should be talking and thinking about).Concludes that journalistic culture can be a major influencer on coverage of international environmental issues.Opinionated writing vs. objective writing is cited as possibly affecting the different themes present in each. Also concludes that the media attention cycle was not present in French coverage and is therefore likely unique to American journalism and culture.
Benson, Rodney. “The Political/literary Model of French Journalism: Change and Continuity in Immigration News Coverage, 1973-1991.”Journal of European Area Studies 10.1 (May 2002): 49–70.
How much has the press truly changed in France? Has the press become more commercialized like television news programs? Some journalists advocating for “Americanization” of news coverage—more objective, detached, facts-based. Shift in immigration news coverage from focus on suffering of immigrants to negative impacts of immigrants on France. Coverage of immigration became more sensationalistic between 1973 and 1991, but this cannot fully be attributed to commercialization of press.
Greenwood, Keith, and Joy Jenkins. “Visual Framing of the Syrian Conflict in News and Public Affairs Magazines.” Journalism Studies16.2 (10 Dec. 2013): 207–227.
Explores how the Syrian conflict has been framed for American audiences and whether the type of magazine influences the visual messages presented.Framing = act of selecting some aspects of an issue or event and emphasizing those while downplaying others, thereby affecting audience perception of the topic. Can also come into play in the original selection of topics. Photos studied overall communicate a frame of violence rather than of peace. Supports idea that selection and presentation of photographs reflects differing editorial perspectives of publications (conservative vs. liberal, general vs. specialized, etc.)
Boudana, S. “A Definition of Journalistic Objectivity as a Performance.” Media, Culture & Society 33.3 (1 Apr. 2011): 385–398.
Argues that criticism of objectivity has not attempted to accurately define the practice of objectivity itself. Over time, objectivity has been conceived as neutrality, empiricism, detachment, presenting multiple discourses, Puts into question the concept of truth—knowledge based on accordance between thought and reality. Obstacles to the realization of objectivity: political bias, organizational and structural restraints, problems posed by social (re)construction of reality, language barrier. Idea of objectivity as a practice suggests that implementation is the problem rather than the concept itself.
Esser, F., and A. Umbricht. “The Evolution of Objective and Interpretative Journalism in the Western Press: Comparing Six News Systems since the 1960s.” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 91.2 (25 Mar. 2014): 229–249.
American journalism is seen as the origin of objective reporting, ‘hard-news paradigm.’ Northern European journalism systems are considered Corporatist, which is most similar to the Anglo-American system, and Southern European systems are considered Polarized Pluralist. In terms of the inclusion of interpretation and opinion, American papers have become more European and European papers have become more American since the 1960s. Evidence that journalistic systems have transnationally converged to become more interpretive over time. Shift towards analysis and contextualization of events. US style of interpretive journalism relies heavily on experts, direct quotations, and considerations of pros and cons. Italian system is furthest removed from principles of facticity and balance.
Boudana, S. ““Le Spectateur Engage”: French War Correspondents’ Conceptions of Detachment and Commitment.” Journal of European Studies 45.2 (23 Dec. 2014): 137–151.
Interviews with French war correspondents to analyze their conception of the role of detachment in reporting. Common themes from the interviews frame journalists as watchdogs/righters of wrongs, storytellers, educators. Emotional involvement in reporting is often considered morally driven. Compromise between involvement which could create ideological bias and detachment that lacks empathy.
Chalaby, J. K. “Journalism as an Anglo-American Invention: A Comparison of the Development of French and Anglo-American Journalism, 1830s-1920s.” European Journal of Communication 11.3 (1 Sept. 1996): 303–326.
Argues that though journals existed in Europe as early as the 16th century, true journalistic practices emerged in the United States and in England during the 19th century. During this time, Anglo-American newspapers included more factual and reliable information because they had better access to information gathering services, more room (more pages), ability to send correspondents abroad. Anglo-American reporters had higher status and better resources than their French counterparts. 1870s, France began to experience an “americanization” of their news culture. Met with resistance by journalists, writers, literary community. Opinions and comments were more prominent than news and information in French journalism until late into the 19th century. Many French novelists and poets were also involved in the French journalism industry. Journalism was not considered its own trade, but was compared with ‘higher’ literary genres. Miserabilism: French journalists were influenced by the works of Hugo and Zola and began to use misery as a topic and an object for indignation. Before 1877, French press was strictly regulated and coerced by the French government. Many French papers had a very specific political leaning and explicitly defended certain political doctrines. Market forces/advertising played a more important role in the development of American/British journalism; helped the press to become more autonomous. First discussions of objectivity coincided with first period of true financial independence for American and British press (no longer a need to take bribes from politicians, gov’t, etc.) Very few French newspapers were financially independent during this time period and took large bribes from French and foreign governments.
Aalberg, T., and A. Beyer. “Human Interest Framing of Irregular Immigration: An Empirical Study of Public Preferences for Personalized News Stories in the United States, France, and Norway.” American Behavioral Scientist 59.7 (26 Feb. 2015): 858–875.
Is human interest coverage of immigration linked to audience preference for this type of content? Issue specific frames vs. generic frames. Human interest frame of immigration focuses on a specific individual’s struggle, emotional aspects of human tragedy, etc. Tendency to frame politics by focusing on individuals occurs in all countries but is most prominent in the United States. Human interest frame has been shown to increase readers’ empathy toward subject/involved parties. Study found that human interest frame was present in almost half of new coverage of irregular immigration in the US, Norway and France, but only 24 percent of those surveyed said they preferred this method of immigration reporting. Those who are ideologically liberal are more likely to favor human-interest framed coverage.
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