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- Volume 42, Issue 1, 2020
Australian Journalism Review - Volume 42, Issue 1, 2020
Volume 42, Issue 1, 2020
- Editorial
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- In Memoriam
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- Commentaries
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- Articles
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A new ERA? The changing face of journalism research in Australia
Authors: Alexandra Wake, Fiona R. Martin and Bridget BackhausIn 2011, Michael Bromley and Regan Neal’s survey of Australian journalism academics revealed low levels of critical research participation and productivity, and the under-realized potential of younger, female journalism academics. Nearly a decade on, our 2019 snapshot study, inspired by Bromley and Neal, explores the current state of journalism research and education in Australian universities. It examines the changing profile of journalism staff, their publishing productivity and the evaluation and funding of their research, as well as attitudes towards non-traditional research outputs (NTROs) and engagement and impact assessment. Our study indicates that early- and mid-career journalism researchers in Australia, particularly women, continue to need research training, mentoring and support in securing competitive external grants, as well as encouragement to collaborate and benchmark their research internationally. There is also a new imperative to help researchers and their institutions recognize excellence and diversity in journalism NTROs and to understand measures of engagement and impact. Finally, we flag the importance of monitoring changes to the classification of journalism research following the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification review of field of research codes.
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Charting the media innovations landscape for regional and rural newspapers
Authors: Kristy Hess and Lisa WallerThis article charts a scholarly framework for understanding media innovation in Australia’s non-metropolitan news environments. We adopt a geo-social methodology to explore strategies for the betterment of small country newspapers and the societies they serve in the digital era. In doing so, we do not discount the importance of digitization, but contend that a narrow ‘digital first’ focus is eclipsing other important aspects of local news and generating blind spots around existing and evolving power relationships that might impede or foster innovation. We advocate for a six-dimensional approach to shaping innovation for rural news organizations – one that is relational because it foregrounds the connections between digital, social, cultural, political, economic and environmental concerns. Here, the central question is not how country newsrooms can innovate in the interests of their own viability but rather how they can build resilience and relevance in the interests of the populations and environments that sustain them.
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A push from the bush: An introduction to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Remote Communities Project
Authors: Janet Fulton, Paul Scott and Christina KoutsoukosIn early 2018, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) launched a ‘slow journalism’ initiative, funded by the ABC’s Remote Communities Project (RCP). Reporters and producers from regional and local ABC radio stations were invited to pitch for funding that would facilitate up to two weeks in remote, rural and regional communities to create stories that would provide audiences with insight into life outside of metropolitan cities. The ABC labelled this project ‘slow journalism’ because the reporters were working without the time constraints highly influential in contemporary work practices associated with delivering bulletins, online updates and fast turnarounds of workflows. Through interviews undertaken with personnel involved in the initiative, including reporters, producers and ABC management, this article analyses the pilot project carried out in December 2017. The article also examines the pilot project’s influence in shaping project implementation as well as its relationship to ‘slow journalism’, as defined in previous academic studies. We contend that while the RCP contains elements commonly associated with slow journalism, it also adds to the understanding of slow journalism as both a practice and a concept by discovering characteristics specific to public broadcasting models such as that reflected by the ABC.
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You need a thick skin in this game: Journalists’ attitudes to resilience training as a strategy for combatting online violence
Authors: Fiona R. Martin and Colleen MurrellIn recent years, resilience training has been recommended as a way to protect news workers from the impact of reporting on traumatic events. However, do journalists see it as a useful tool in dealing with online abuse and harassment? This article explores Australian journalists’ conceptions of resilience training, via a thematic analysis of interviews, and their concerns about its effectiveness in addressing digital violence. The study adopts an ethics of care framework for understanding the uses of resilience training in journalism education for increasing dialogic interaction with audiences. It finds that while some journalists understand resilience training’s relationship to positive mental health, the majority are not clear about its potential and how it might be taught. Our analysis also reveals normative beliefs about journalists’ need to develop ‘a thick skin’ against interpersonal and coordinated violence online. Overall, the article raises questions about how journalists might be better oriented to not only self-care but also collective care.
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- Emerging Scholars
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How Australian online news frames domestic violence homicides
By Katri UibuThis article investigates how Australian online news covers domestic violence and its homicides by examining the content of 2324 domestic violence articles published online between 2014 and 2016 by ABC News Digital, The Sydney Morning Herald and news.com.au. While content analysis is used to examine the messages in the articles, twelve interviews with reporters and editors were conducted to investigate decision-making behind the coverage. Results show Australian online news coverage is murder-oriented, with reporters and editors regarding such reporting as most effective in growing readership and influencing audiences, therefore deliberately producing coverage that risks being sensational. The article investigates how these media navigate the speed and accuracy balance when covering domestic violence that, as studies indicate, emerges as homicides and breaking news.
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- Book Reviews
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Does the Media Fail Aboriginal Political Aspirations? 45 Years of News Media Reporting, Amy Thomas, Andrew Jakubowicz and Heidi Norman (2020)
By Lisa WallerReview of: Does the Media Fail Aboriginal Political Aspirations? 45 Years of News Media Reporting, Amy Thomas, Andrew Jakubowicz and Heidi Norman (2020)
Canberra, ACT: Aboriginal Studies Press, 267 pp.,
ISBN 978-0-85575-084-8, p/bk, $39.95
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Worlds of Journalism: Journalistic Cultures Around the Globe, Thomas Hanitzsch, Folker Hanusch, Jyotika Ramaprasad and Arnold S. de Beer (eds) (2019)
By Saba BebawiReview of: Worlds of Journalism: Journalistic Cultures Around the Globe, Thomas Hanitzsch, Folker Hanusch, Jyotika Ramaprasad and Arnold S. de Beer (eds) (2019)
New York: Columbia University Press, 448 pp.,
ISBN 978-0-23118-643-8, p/bk, $35.00,
ISBN 978-0-23118-642-1, h/bk, $105.00,
ISBN 978-0-23154-663-8, e/bk, $34.99
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Becoming the News: How Ordinary People Respond to the Media Spotlight, Ruth Palmer (2018)
More LessReview of: Becoming the News: How Ordinary People Respond to the Media Spotlight, Ruth Palmer (2018)
New York: Columbia University Press, 280 pp.,
ISBN 978-0-23118-315-4, p/bk, USD 35.00,
ISBN 978-0-23118-314-7, h/bk, USD 105.00,
ISBN 978-0-23154-476-4, ebk, USD 34.99
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Trauma Reporting: A Journalist’s Guide to Covering Sensitive Stories, Jo Healey (2019)
More LessReview of: Trauma Reporting: A Journalist’s Guide to Covering Sensitive Stories, Jo Healey (2019)
London: Routledge, 206 pp.,
ISBN 978-1-13848-210-4, p/bk, $52.99,
ISBN 978-1-13848-209-8, h/bk, $231.00,
ISBN 978-1-35105-911-4, ebk, $43.16
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Investigative Journalism, Democracy and the Digital Age, Andrea Carson (2020)
By Gabi MocattaReview of: Investigative Journalism, Democracy and the Digital Age, Andrea Carson (2020)
New York and London: Routledge, 252 pp.,
ISBN 978-1-13820-052-4, h/bk, $252.00,
ISBN 978-1-31551-429-1, ebk, $204.30
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The Future Foreign Correspondent, Saba Bebawi and Mark Evans (2019)
By Peter GresteReview of: The Future Foreign Correspondent, Saba Bebawi and Mark Evans (2019)
Sydney: Palgrave Macmillan, 120 pp.,
ISBN 978-3-03001-667-8, h/bk, €49.99,
ISBN 978-3-03001-668-5, e/bk, €42.79
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Automating the News: How Algorithms Are Rewriting the Media, Nicholas Diakopoulos (2019)
More LessReview of: Automating the News: How Algorithms Are Rewriting the Media, Nicholas Diakopoulos (2019)
Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press, 336 pp.,
ISBN 978-0-67497-698-6, h/bk, $29.95
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