Journalism education: bridging media and cultural studies

ABSTRACT

Journalism is more than an ensemble of newsgathering and writing techniques. It is, firstly, a way of viewing and writing about the social world for the public benefit. Similarly, journalism is a means of fomenting conversations in the public domain about events and issues of immediate public interest. While much of journalism training concerns the techniques of text production, too little attention is given to educating students in the ontology or ‘mindset’ within which those techniques and conventions work. Almost no attention is given to the epistemology or ‘research’ approaches by which journalists monitor social phenomena.

Short of calling for a more thorough grounding (as a framework) in critical thinking, we suggest that a more constructivist approach be taken to journalism training. This approach need not be prejudiced towards the more technical and functionalist approaches evident in so many textbooks on the subject. Constructive learning is described by some scholars as ‘active, cumulative, goal-directed, diagnostic and reflective behaviour’ (Breen 1996: 4). All these behaviours are found in journalism practice, and should frame both words in journalism training. This requires a more interpretive approach that teaches the practice of journalism as many of the same processes commonly understood as learning.     

Journalism,publicity and the lost art of argument

“Journalism, publicity and the lost art of argument” by Christopher Lasch. Gannett Center Journal, (Spring 1990) 1–11.     

近代日本报业对中国新闻业的影响

日本的明治维新运动,开辟了一个明治时代(1868—1911年),促成了日本近代报刊的诞生、发展,乃至进入"报纸复兴时代"。中日两国具有地理上的接近性,近代报纸的发展进程大致相近,中日两国文化交融成为近代报刊转型之基础,日本报刊对中国戊戌变法期间新闻业具有启发作用,对辛亥革命时期办报思想的促进作用。     

俄罗斯联邦的新闻出版制度

俄罗斯联邦1及独联体其他国家现行宪法的特点之一,是首次确认了新闻出版制度的基本原则。俄国家立法机关再通过《大众新闻媒体法》,把上述宪法原则加以具体化。本文拟研究三个问题一是俄新闻出版制度的历史发展,二是俄现行新闻出版制度的主要内容,三是俄新闻出版制度的发展趋势。     

Journalism in a new democracy: The ethics of listening

Abstract

This article takes as its point of departure the recent massacre of striking miners at the Lonmin mine at Marikana in North-West Province, South Africa. The shooting, in which 36 mine workers were killed, was an attack on civilians by state forces unprecedented in the democratic era. The incident received wide local and international coverage. In this article the author argues that the reporting of the event demonstrated how the professional routines of journalism and the orientation towards audiences are related to the position of the mainstream news media within social and political discourses in the country. The author goes on to explore the normative questions raised by the reporting of the event, against the background of the role of the news media in a new democracy. The concept of ‘listening’ is proposed as an ethical alternative to the current dominant normative frameworks for journalism in the country.     

国外对公共外交的探索

胡锦涛主席在第十次驻外使节会议上指出, "维护我国发展的重要战略机遇期,争取和平稳定的国际环境、睦邻友好的周边环境、平等互利的合作环境和客观友善的舆论环境,为全面建设小康社会服务,是当前和今后一个时期我国外交工作的根本任务,也是基本目     

Rethinking Ethical Journalism in the Worsening Socio-Economic and Political Crisis in Zimbabwe

Abstract

This article reviews the practice of ethical journalism in Zimbabwe. It reports on a study that engaged with both public and private journalists through in-depth interviews, to rethink ethical journalism in the worsening socio-economic and political situation in Zimbabwe. The study used thematic analysis informed by the communal approach or sociology of journalism ethics to analyse journalists’ perspectives. Several factors were found to be causes for unethical journalism practice, namely, political interference; poor economy; corruption; biased editorial policies; political activism; and interests of media owners or funders. The findings of the study reflect parallelism or antagonism between the public and private media in Zimbabwe. Therefore, the article calls for a common view based on the communal approach. It argues that social responsibility must be the norm in the face of corruption and economic challenges. An independent media body should be appointed by the Zimbabwean government to preside over the public media as the first step towards ethical journalism.     

The Daily Show: Discursive Integration and the Reinvention of Political Journalism

The boundaries between news and entertainment, and between public affairs and pop culture, have become difficult if not impossible to discern. At the intersection of those borders sits The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, a hybrid blend of comedy, news, and political conversation that is difficult to pigeon hole. Although the program often is dismissed as being “fake” news, its significance for political communication may run much deeper. This study first locates The Daily Show within an emerging media environment defined by the forces of technological multiplication, economic consolidation, and discursive integration, a landscape in which “real” news is becoming increasingly harder to identify or define. It then offers an interpretive reading of the program that understands the show not as “fake news,” but as an experiment in journalism. It argues that the show uses techniques drawn from genres of news, comedy, and television talk to revive a journalism of critical inquiry and advance a model of deliberative democracy. Given the increasing popularity of the program, this essay concludes that The Daily Show has much to teach us about the possibilities of political journalism in the 21st century.     

云南境外替代发展的问题和思考

中国云南省特别是与缅甸、老挝相邻的地州很早就开展了境外替代发展的实践,并取得了一定的成效,积累了一些经验。但境外毒品形势的发展变化、境外缅甸国内局势的变化等客观因素,以及国内一些政策及实施中存在的问题等因素对可持续性的境外替代发展提出了新的挑战。对此,我们应从境外替代发展跨边界的特殊性角度,结合云南省多年的实践,分析境外替代发展所面临的困境,进而探讨如何实现可持续性的境外替代发展。     

Journalism education and practice in South Africa and the discourse of the African Renaissance

Abstract

At the turn of the century there was sheer optimism that ‘Africa's time’ to address all its problems had come, and as a result the 21st century was widely hailed as the ‘African century’ (Ban 2008; Makgoba 1999; Mbeki 1999; O'Reilly 1998; Zoellick 2009). This pronouncement was accompanied by the parallel call for the African Renaissance, which challenged many institutions to align themselves with this ‘crucial phase’ in the history of Africa. In the process, expressions such as ‘de-Westernisation’, ‘Africanisation’, ‘indigenisation’ and ‘domestication’ became buzz-words. Yet, after almost a decade of such claims, there appears to be very little, if anything, gained from these confident pronouncements. This article is situated within embryonic debates on the Africanisation of the curricula. The article explores the current thinking on journalism education (the teaching of journalism) and practice (the practice of journalism) in the country, with a view to furthering our understanding of journalism agility deemed important for the ‘African century’. It further explores the opportunities and limitations of situating journalism education and journalism practice within the discourse of the African Renaissance. The key data that form the basis of this article were collected through interviews and an open-ended questionnaire from a sample consisting of journalists, journalism educators and senior journalism students. The findings point to the need to rethink journalism education and journalism practice, given the trends of globilisation and the equally compelling need to Africanise.     

Journalism and cultural literacy: an exploration towards a model for training journalism students

SUMMARY

Since the end of the Second World War, the growing influence of television and the gradual decline of newspaper readership worldwide have been linked to a continuing lowering in the level of cultural literacy and general knowledge of the general population, and specifically that of adolescents. Various surveys have confirmed that specialisation can also be linked to this phenomenon.

Since 1987 the debate about the causes of the decline in acceptable levels of cultural literacy has centred on the study of E D Hirsch who refused to lay the blame for this state only at the door of television, rather suggesting that a great deal of accumulated evidence exists that faulty policy in the schools is the chief cause of deficient literacy and, eventually, cultural literacy.

Journalism educators are confronted daily by the reality of unacceptable levels of cultural literacy when it is often expected of them to bring journalism students up to standard, even in postgraduate courses.

In this article a brief historical background is given of the debate about the causes of cultural illiteracy. Definite proposals are also made to address the question of eliminating this problem among journalism students who purport to be the future information gatherers and messengers. Some of these are, inter alia, the introduction of stricter admission standards at journalism schools and a structured course in cultural literacy and general knowledge, as well as the teaching of higher-order skills (metaskills) to students.     

国外俄罗斯民族主义研究综述

"俄罗斯民族主义"一词字面上可能包含三重涵义:俄罗斯人及其代表所具有和表现出的族裔共同体意识、情感、思想和运动,是文化和种族意义上的民族主义①;俄罗斯多民族国家的国家民族主义②;泛指俄罗斯国家的各种民族主义③.     

越南革新开放以来新闻传媒的发展历程及对社会主义新闻事业的启示

本文在对越南1986年革新开放以来的新闻传媒发展历程进行梳理的基础上,从其人民论坛观点的理论与实践以及依法治业两个方面分析其对社会主义新闻传媒发展的启示。     

From Contest to Content: The Impact of Public Journalism on New Zealand Election Campaign Coverage

Supporters of public journalism hope to reengage citizens with politics and overcome the shortcomings of contemporary political journalism. However, there has been little systematic study of how public journalism differs from mainstream journalism. During the 1996 general election campaign in New Zealand, the first under proportional representation, three newspapers, conscious of the challenges imposed by electoral changes, experimented with public journalism coverage. This presented an opportunity to study how coverage as a whole differed from coverage of the previous elections and what specific changes were the result of public journalism initiatives. The researchers analyzed 1,938 stories from a 12-day sample of the New Zealand general election campaign coverage in 1993 and 1996. A total of seven metropolitan and provincial papers were included. The results showed public journalism articles covered proportionally more policy issues and concentrated less on personality than conventional campaign stories. Public journalism stories also were less negative and more neutral in tone and were more inclined to be ''soft'' news, reflecting a tendency to cover issues rather than events. Public journalism articles also were less likely than conventional coverage to cover the campaign from a ''horse race'' angle. The findings provide support for the utility of public journalism in campaign reporting.     

A Watershed in White House Journalism: Explaining the Post-1968 Rise of Aggressive Presidential News

Presidential journalism is known to have grown substantially more aggressive through the 1970s and beyond, but a definitive explanation for this trend remains elusive. Some suggest that events surrounding Vietnam and Watergate transformed the professional norms of journalism. However, the trend could also be a more superficial and transitory response to other circumstantial factors that converged in the same time period, such as president-level characteristics (the prevalence of Republicans, Washington outsiders, and more vigorous news management efforts), the political environment (the rise of official discord), and the economic environment (a downturn in the business cycle). This study disentangles these various factors and assesses their relative success in explaining trends in journalistic conduct in the postwar era. Data are drawn from a large sample of presidential news conferences from 1953 through 2000, focusing on the aggressiveness of journalists' questions. The results strongly support the normative shift hypothesis, although economic factors have also been consequential. These results suggest a punctuated equilibrium model of journalistic change in relations between the White House press corps and the presidency.     

Feedback Opinions and Suggestions from Readers at Home and Abroad

To build a bridge between editors and readers and improve the editorial equality of International Understanding, Asking for Opinions and Suggestions was issued by our editorial office last December; we have received active responce from our readers at home and abroad. Many officials from foreign embassies in Beijing have offered high appreciation, they hold that International Understanding is a window open to mutual understanding between China and the rest of the World. An Australian reade…     

中国赴新加坡留学潮解析

新加坡以其特有的优势吸引着中国留学生。与欧美等发达国家相比,新加坡是一个后起的留学目的地,开展对中国赴新加坡留学潮的研究具有现实意义。     

华商关系网在我国对外贸易和对外直接投资中的作用

在众多的研究中,无不承认遍布世界的华商关系网是华人经济取得成功的重要因素之一。东南亚在世界经济中的迅速崛起,更引起人们对华商关系网的重视,因为这个地区的经济发展很大程度上归因于华商关系网。既然华商网络在世界经济中的作用已引起了不少国家的重视,作为3000多万海外华侨华人的祖籍国——中国,更应该重视和研究海外华商网络,并在我国日益融入世界经济的进程中更好地借助这个网络。本文仅对华商关系网在我国对外贸易与对外直接投资中的作用做初步探讨。一、华商关系网在国际贸易与国际投资中作用的主要文献与传统的国际贸易理论有所…     

The Pinochet Case: 'Forced to be Free' Abroad and at Home

In part one of this article it was posited that the Pinochet case was best understood not as a harbinger of a borderless world of eroded state sovereignty and universal rights, but rather as an indication that those distanced from popular sovereignty and citizenship by the deals struck in a pacted democratic transition may have found their most potent means of forcing a reopening of the particularist national debate on who belongs to, and in, 'the nation'. Here, two phases of the Pinochet case are examined through this prism. The extradition attempt saw Pinochet's victims 'escape' the legalized confines of domestic space only to shape the understanding of national citizenship from afar. The case's surprising development after repatriation revealed the potential coercive power of the cosmopolitan liberal consensus on 'deserving sovereignty' similar to the conditionality associated with the neo-liberal 'Washington consensus' on economic reform. Three primary lessons are drawn: cosmopolitanism may have to be coerced; pacts are not forever; and place and belonging still matter even as justice is 'globalized'.