Towards a Praxis-based Media and Journalism Research , livre ebook

Intellect Books

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

173 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

This volume weaves together ongoing scholarly debates around how to bridge the gap between theory and practice in media and journalism research. It relies heavily on articles media scholars and media practitioners have written on how the sides can work together for the good of society. The contributions to this volume represent the first effort to look at praxis in terms of the dual dynamic of communication and how its two pillars can work together to address relations and interactions from critical perspectives of media and journalism practice and research. The result will lay important groundwork for scholarship on this new and increasingly important phenomenon.

Introduction: Theory Is Not Enough: How to Convert Media and Journalism Studies into Relevant, Useful and Practical Research

Leon Barkho

Part I: What Media Practitioners Say

Chapter 1: Journalists and Scholars: A Short Manifesto

Vin Ray

Chapter 2: Towards a New Relevance: Why the New Media Landscape Requires Journalists and Media Scholars to Forge a Genuine Partnership for the First Time

Matthew Eltringham

Chapter 3: Journalism’s Practitioners and the Academy: Must They Eternally Live in Different Universes?

Kevin Marsh

Chapter 4: Why Practitioners Resent Academic Writing

Leon Barkho

Chapter 5: When the Media Criticize the Media

Åke Pettersson

Chapter 6: Bridging the Chasm: Can Theory Help Media and Journalism Practitioners

Leon Barkho

Part II: What Media Academics Say

Chapter 7: Towards a Praxis-based Media and Journalism Research

Leon Barkho and Ibrahim Saleh

Chapter 8: From the High Ground to the Swamp: A Model for Immersive Journalism Research

Sarah Niblock

Chapter 9: Minority Media as Intercultural Dialogue: Towards a Communicative Praxis

Fackson Banda

Chapter 10: Inside Out/Outside In: (Auto-)Ethnographic Work on the Position of the Newspaper Sub-editor

Astrid Vandendaele

Chapter 11: Photojournalism and the Role of Images as Part of Design and Branding

David Machin and Lydia Polzer

Chapter 12: Notes on a Practice-based Media and Journalism Research from a Critical Cultural Perspective

Marcela Pizzaro

Part III: Who Gets It Right?

Chapter 13: Journalists Do Live in a Parallel Universe: A Response to Practitioner Critiques of Journalism Academics

Jairo Lugo-Ocando

Chapter 14: Linking Theory to Practice: Changing the Approach of Media and Journalism Research

Leon Barkho

Chapter 15: Media Academics versus Media Practitioners: Who Gets It Right?

Leon Barkho

Sujets

Disciplines

Language Arts

Media studies

Journalism

Cultural Studies

Media

Informations

Publié par	Intellect Books
Date de parution	01 juillet 2017
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781783207473
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,3660€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

First published in the UK in 2017 by
Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
First published in the USA in 2017 by
Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street,
Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Copyright © 2017 Intellect Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library.
Copy-editor: MPS Limited
Cover designers: Emily Dann and Lucy MacArthur
Production manager: Richard Kerr
Typesetting: Contentra Technologies
Print ISBN: 978-1-78320-745-9
ePDF ISBN: 978-1-78320-746-6
ePub ISBN: 978-1-78320-747-3
Printed and bound by TJ International, UK.
This is a peer-reviewed publication.
Contents
Introduction: Theory Is Not Enough: How to Convert Media and Journalism Studies into Relevant, Useful and Practical Research
Leon Barkho
Part I: What Media Practitioners Say
Chapter 1: Journalists and Scholars: A Short Manifesto
Vin Ray
Chapter 2: Towards a New Relevance: Why the New Media Landscape Requires Journalists and Media Scholars to Forge a Genuine Partnership for the First Time
Matthew Eltringham
Chapter 3: Journalism’s Practitioners and the Academy: Must They Eternally Live in Different Universes?
Kevin Marsh
Chapter 4: Why Practitioners Resent Academic Writing
Leon Barkho
Chapter 5: When the Media Criticize the Media
Åke Pettersson
Chapter 6: Bridging the Chasm: Can Theory Help Media and Journalism Practitioners
Leon Barkho
Part II: What Media Academics Say
Chapter 7: Towards a Praxis-based Media and Journalism Research
Leon Barkho and Ibrahim Saleh
Chapter 8: From the High Ground to the Swamp: A Model for Immersive Journalism Research
Sarah Niblock
Chapter 9: Minority Media as Intercultural Dialogue: Towards a Communicative Praxis
Fackson Banda
Chapter 10: Inside Out/Outside In: (Auto-)Ethnographic Work on the Position of the Newspaper Sub-editor
Astrid Vandendaele
Chapter 11: Photojournalism and the Role of Images as Part of Design and Branding
David Machin and Lydia Polzer
Chapter 12: Notes on a Practice-based Media and Journalism Research from a Critical Cultural Perspective
Marcela Pizzaro
Part III: Who Gets It Right?
Chapter 13: Journalists Do Live in a Parallel Universe: A Response to Practitioner Critiques of Journalism Academics
Jairo Lugo-Ocando
Chapter 14: Linking Theory to Practice: Changing the Approach of Media and Journalism Research
Leon Barkho
Chapter 15: Media Academics versus Media Practitioners: Who Gets It Right?
Leon Barkho
Notes on Contributors
Introduction
Theory Is Not Enough: How to Convert Media and Journalism Studies into Relevant, Useful and Practical Research
Leon Barkho
M edia academics rarely influence working professionals. The disconnect between theory and practice in media and journalism studies is obvious. Academic research seldom impresses practitioners and their organizations, while the academy has little faith in what practitioners do. Academic professors generally do not appreciate work by practitioner-turned-scholars. The Guardian (2015) ran an article by an anonymous academic under the headline: ‘Journalism academics: Mocked by the media and stifled by universities’. The writer argued that the journalism practitioners universities hire to focus on practical vocational skills find themselves ‘in the precarious position of bridge-builder between’ two competing non-conciliatory camps of researchers and working professionals. Media and journalism scholars recognize the mutual antipathy and the dissonance that seems to prevent any agreement on how to move forward and bring rigour and relevance together. The relevant literature in journalism and mass communication, as far as the editor of this volume can see, lacks studies on how to bridge this divide.
Do we need to relate our theories to practice? Should our curricula include day-to-day training aspects of journalism? I think, if we in the academia want to be relevant, we should respond to the needs of the society we want to serve and the organizations we research. Academics at medical and nursing schools offer their students the type of education that combines theory with practice and prepares them to offer good service to patients in hospitals and clinics. One might wonder whether media and journalism schools take such a connection between practice and theory seriously. Alternatively, one might also wonder if it is possible for research to hypothesize whether our ‘findings hold implications for our teaching practices’ (Cohen 2005: 338). Academics need to balance student needs and demands when designing their curricula and doing their research. A medical doctor, an engineer or a veterinarian is equipped with the skills to practice the profession once leaving the university.
Media and journalism studies might be the closest to practice among other social science disciplines but the research – and the teaching – rarely has anything to do with the learning of professional skills the industry requires. A combination of theory and practice – the drive of this volume – would make media and journalism a wonderful subject to teach and practice at the same time.
Scholarship versus practice
The body of academic knowledge journalism schools offer is important. It provides students with the tools necessary to analyse and interpret the world around them and the media organizations they may encounter or work for. The practice-based approach or methodology this volume seeks to promote does not deny the role of journalism and media scholarship. It strives to build bridges and develop ways to help both academics and practitioners perform their teaching and research in a way that makes the convergence and merger of skills and theory possible. The nature of the media as a profession requires that universities pay attention to vocational skills. It demands media and journalism scholars produce knowledge that is useful and relevant to the profession’s practitioners instead of always striving to meet the highest standard of scientific rigor and academic quality (de Burgh 2003).
No doubt, the academy has succeeded in unravelling the world of the media and journalism through rigorous studies based on critical and cultural concepts. The academy’s emphasis on the role of power has uncovered a variety of news systems and patterns of production and reproduction of content. However, these studies have failed to bridge the theory-practice gap because, as Reese and Cohen (2000: 200) note, they ‘do not typically engage much with the professions and are easily marginalized’. This state of affairs has led to the emergence of a few voices in the academy and the practitioner community urging a more praxis-based approach to research and teaching curriculum (Harcup 2012; Harrington 2008).
Journalism studies departments or their counterparts, in the wider defining category of communication, journalism and media studies, have done their best to produce ‘conventional research’ based on conceptual, theoretical and methodological frameworks prevalent in other social science disciplines. For many, this is the only way to get credits, promotion and higher ranking. This volume calls for a shift in research focus and approach, highlighting methodologies targeting the special workplace needs of media and journalism practitioners.
Student needs
Students at journalism and mass media colleges and departments seek the skills they need to work in the media. Media, communication and journalism academics should furnish them with the right skills and knowledge and have them prepared for real-life situations. Teaching theory is still vital but it should be ‘infused into a practice-based curriculum’ (Cohen 2005: 336).
The organizations our graduates aspire to join are witnessing drastic transformations. And when practitioners themselves strongly criticize academic language, writing and teaching modules (see Chapters 1–4), it should ring alarm bells about our curriculum and teaching practices. Many media (newspapers, radio and television outlets) have transformed their situations to meet the digital onslaught. When academics refuse demands by practitioners for theory not to lose its practical base, there are consequences: our ‘ivory tower’ or ‘fortress’ becomes target of practitioner attacks and our research findings rarely make it to the newsroom (Chapter 2).
Journalism in crisis
Today, there is much talk in the media and a plethora of research about the ‘crisis in journalism’. The crisis has emanated from the way the media have struggled to adapt and respond to transformations brought about by the digital revolution. The crisis is reflected in the closure of newspapers, vanishing jobs and revenues, and plummeting circulations (see Barnett 2002; Blumler 2010; Fuller 2010; Franklin 2012).
These problems are not merely structural. In the United Kingdom, for instance, public trust in journalists and their output is declining. ‘That goes right across the board – TV and newspapers’, according to a survey by YouGov for Prospect Magazine (Kellner 2010). For instance, the survey found that the public trust rating of ITV’s journalists nosedived to 33 per cent in 2010 from 80 per cent in 2003. The BBC fared no better, with the public trust rating of its journalists dipping to 21 per cent from 81 per cent over the same period.
A 2011 Pew survey found that 75 per cent of Americans thought that journalists could not get their facts straight (Moos 2011). A 2013 Ipsos MORI poll found that Britons’ trust in journalists is even less than Americans, with only 21 per cent of British adults having faith in what reporters do (Beaujon 2013).
Journalism theory and scholarship define and measure issues and variables of impartiality