#CommLadies Know (Lots of Stuff) +1, now with Women-Led Authors in Journalism
As discussed earlier in our open-access celebration of female journalism and communication scholars for International Women’s Day, there’s an important structural imbalance in the recognition and the success of academic work done by female scholars. A number of journal editors have worked to make articles by women scholars open-access for a brief time to help highlight their contributions. Thus far, Digital Journalism and Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly have worked to make this possible (see these articles here!). Now, Journalism has done the same, thanks to editors Barbie Zelizer and Howard Tumber and the supportive folks at Sage. A roundup of women-led studies in the journal from 2018 is below, featuring top notch research. Read and cite!
It bears reminding why this effort matters: women get cited less than men*. Research across the social sciences shows that female scholars are less cited, get paid less, are less likely to be invited to give talks, and have difficulty moving beyond associate professor. In Communication, the problem persists: between 1991 and 2005, women were lead authors of 40 percent of the articles in the Journal of Communication and Communication Research, but their citation rate was roughly at two-thirds lower than those articles by male lead authors.* In 2017, leading communication scholars documented citational patterns in the field’s encyclopedias and reference handbooks that are nothing short of atrocious. The Journal of Communication, which began in 1951, has yet to have a female editor-in-chief. Open access is one way to attract attention for female scholars, and if you’ve got ideas and energy, please take a look at Badass Ladies of Communication, a developing effort.
Articles in Journalism by women-led authors: 2018 edition
- Julia Lück, Hartmut Wessler, Antal Wozniak,Diógenes Lycarião
In a comparative quantitative content analysis of the newspaper coverage in five democratic countries (Brazil, Germany, India, South Africa, and United States) during four United Nations climate change conferences from 2010 to 2013, both textual-visual framing and narrative features were studied simultaneously for the first time. Bullet point: country-specific narratives exist & matter.
2. Karen McIntyre, Nicole Smith Dahmen, Jesse Abdenour
The contextualist function: US newspaper journalists value social responsibility
A survey (N = 1318) evaluated US newspaper journalists’ attitudes toward contextual reporting — stories that go beyond the immediacy of the news and contribute to societal well-being. Takeaway: Responses revealed new journalistic role functions, including the ‘Contextualist’, who placed high value on being socially responsible and accurately portraying the world.
3. Seungahn Nah, Masahiro Yamamoto
Conceptualizing citizen journalism: US news editors’ views
Takeaway: This article discusses the extent to which citizen journalism is defined and guided by demographic variables, individual journalistic experience, and organizational characteristics.
4. Amanda Alencar, Sanne Kruikemeier
This study investigates to what extent audiovisual infotainment features can be found in the narrative structure of television news in three European countries, Ireland, Spain, and the Netherlands. Takeaway: findings indicate no clear pattern of the use of infotainment techniques across news topics as coded in this study
5. Emily A Ehmer, Ammina Kothari
Coverage of Burmese refugees in Indiana news media: An analysis of textual and visual frames
This study investigates how Burmese refugees were framed by Fort Wayne’s The Journal Gazette located in one of Indiana’s cities where refugee resettlement has taken place over the last two decades. We analyzed 335 stories and 286 accompanying images to identify salient textual and visual frames. Takeaway: Results show that the human interest and attribution of responsibility were most salient textual frames, while the visual frame of exotic was dominant.
6. Marina Dekavalla
This article explores frame building in Scottish television coverage of the 2014 independence referendum. Takeaway: It argues that broadcasters’ perception of their role in this event and the powerful influence of political sources were factors that encouraged policy-focused coverage, while the journalistic routine of balance and media organizations’ perceptions of what would attract audiences favoured the strategic game frame.
7. Danielle K Kilgo, Summer Harlow, Víctor García-Perdomo, Ramón Salaverría
This study analyzes 400 articles from online-native news organizations across the Americas, evaluating the sensational treatment of news categories and news values, and their associated social media interaction numbers on Facebook and Twitter. Takeaway: Findings suggest that ‘hard’ news topics like government affairs and science/technology were treated sensationally just as often as traditionally sensationalized categories like crime or lifestyle and society.
8. Na Yeon Lee, Kanghui Baek
The purpose of this study is to examine how economic journalism — news about economic issues — has changed over the past 20 years under pressure of the financial crisis experienced by newspaper companies in South Korea. Takeaway: Findings suggest an imbalance of news coverage about economic issues that may limit the information that the public needs in order to make informed decisions about a wide range of economic issues.
9. Shakuntala Rao
While there is substantial scholarship available in areas of political science and finance about the relationship between China and India, little research has been conducted comparing the two countries’ journalism and media content and practices. Takeaway: Interviews with Chinese and Indian journalists reveal that the two most important ethical issues for journalists in the two countries are corruption in media signified by practices of red envelope journalism in China and paid news in India and media’s declining credibility.
10. Yi Liu, Hao Xiaoming, Nainan Wen
Professional impact and job satisfaction among Chinese journalists
Through a survey of 343 journalists from 5 metropolitan newspapers, this study explores the link between job satisfaction of journalists and their perceived work impact within the social context of China. Takeaway: The study shows that Chinese journalists may not be happy about the current press system in China; however, this does not necessarily make them feel dissatisfied with their job.
11. Qian Gong, Gary Rawnsley
This article analyses the perceptions of media freedom and responsibility by journalists and politicians in South Korea during the Presidency of Roh Moo-huyn (2003–2008). It draws on in-depth interviews with 10 journalists and 10 politicians with different political affiliations and interests. Takeaway: the political press remained partially shackled to specific legacies and economic conditions. The most pressing example is the way the paternal power of conservative media owners challenged the editorial independence of journalists
12: Haiyan Wang, Colin Sparks, Huang Yu
Popular journalism in China: A study of China Youth Daily
This article examines an official paper, China Youth Daily, which is a central organ of the Communist Youth League of China. The findings of a content analysis demonstrate that this title differs significantly from other central official titles, like People’s Daily, but also from commercial papers, like Southern Metropolis Daily. Takeaway: While China Youth Daily’s journalism is close to the official pole in the amount of propaganda-related material it covers, it also has a greater emphasis on watchdog journalism than does People’s Daily.
13: Qi Ling, Dan Berkowitz
Constructing a ‘first’ First Lady through memory: The case of China’s Peng Liyuan
Our study analyzed how cultural memory of previous and contemporary First Ladies was used as a journalistic device by US media to make sense of the unusual case of Peng Liyuan, the current First Lady of China. Takeaway: Although Peng’s performance as a ‘first’ First Lady was celebrated in international politics, it is important to be aware that cultural values and gender norms associated with the First Lady identity can become rhetorical tools that sustain the existing political order between the West and the non-West.
14. Meng Li
Staging a social drama: Ritualized framing of the spring festival homecoming in Chinese state media
The transformation of Chinese media from the propaganda organ of the Party-state to its central means of hegemony has given rise to typified news practices that vary in formality but cohere in functionality. Integrating theories of media ritual and framing, this study explores how Chinese state media ritualistically manufacture a public consensus on the interpretation of the annual Spring Festival homecoming, a chronic social problem that exposes socioeconomic inequalities and policy deficiencies. Takeaway: an analysis of the 2014 homecoming coverage on China Central Television (CCTV) reveals that state media create and popularize a state-sponsored social drama, reducing a complex, multifaceted social problem to a one-dimensional transportation crisis.
15. Mina Lee, Eun Hye Ha, Jung Kun Pae
This study investigated posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms on Korean journalists and the contributing variables. Takeaway: The findings revealed that, first, Korean journalists had suffered severely from PTSD symptoms according to the prevalence rate. Second, the extent of traumatic event exposure, the length of career, the use of dysfunctional coping strategy, a lack of social support, and negative beliefs were identified as significantly related variables.
16. Yuan Zeng
Amidst the debate over a ‘global journalistic culture’, this study, drawing on Hallin and Mancini’s typology of media systems and Hanitzsch’s deconstruction of journalistic role perception, looks into how foreign correspondents in China perceive their professional roles, and how their role perceptions differ across different media systems. Based on a survey analysis of 101 journalists, the study identifies three role types among China correspondents: detached disseminator, populist watchdog, and facilitative change agent. Takeaway: A majority of respondents perceive their professional role as non-facilitative and non-advocate, disputing the ‘hostile foreign forces’ allegation China usually employs to discredit foreign correspondents.
17. Mala Ekayanti, Hao Xiaoming
Journalism and political affiliation of the media: Influence of ownership on Indonesian newspapers
Using the Model of Hierarchy of Influences on Media Content as its conceptual framework, this study examines the impact of political ownership of newspapers on journalists’ practice of professional values in day-to-day news-reporting activities in Indonesia. Takeaway: The findings show that political ownership of newspapers may not directly affect the practice of professional values but it can affect such a practice indirectly through interventional practices in the newsroom.
18. Y Roselyn Du
Social media is widely seen as playing a crucial role in the Arab Uprisings. This study compares news coverage in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan regarding social media in the Arab Uprisings. Content analysis of 162 news stories revealed that media in the three regions constructed their coverage within different frames, despite the events being geographically remote to the three Greater China regions and occurring in countries with which Greater China has little cultural, religious, ethnical, or economic connections. Takeaway: Overall, a clear pro-social-media pattern was found in Hong Kong and Taiwan media coverage, whereas in mainland China social media and the users involved in the Arab Uprisings were treated in the news in an obscured or unfavorable manner.
19. Shangyuan Wu
Evaluating all journalism realities through the Western lens may create erroneous perceptions that alternative systems are lacking or deficient. This study uses a framework of crisis narratives to shed light on the web of structural-causal factors that might be influencing fears of journalism crisis in such hybrid societies. Takeaway: Of interest are two Asian ‘global cities’ in transition, Singapore and Hong Kong. Through surveys and in-depth interviews, this study uncovers stark differences in the journalism crisis perceptions of news-workers in Singapore and Hong Kong and argues the existence of a ‘crisis of legitimacy’ narrative, pertaining to the system of governance, that must be accounted for when studying journalism’s decline outside of the Western context.
20. Soomin Seo
Covering the hermit regime: A comparison of North Korea coverage at the Associated Press and NK News
How do traditional and new media outlets cover North Korea? This article analyzes content at NK News — a US-based niche news site — and the AP in 2014. Takeaway: I find the AP coverage to be softer in theme than NK News and also find more diversity of perspectives at the latter. Although the AP is one of only five international media outlets with Pyongyang bureaus, it was short-staffed, with most of the articles written by a single person in the capital.
Note: As mentioned, parsing out these inequities is only the beginning of a longer discussion about equity in academia: discussions of gender bias that focus on a binary between women and men fail to acknowledge key factors such as race, intersectional identity, and gender-identity.
