“How we Performed”: Embedded Journalists' Attitudes and Perceptions Towards Covering the Iraq War

Abstract

A survey of embedded journalists suggests an overall positive perception of embedded reporting. While most embeds agreed their reports provided a narrow slice of the conflict, they still had a positive view of their work. Respondents also noted their stories differed from the stories of non-embedded journalists and perceived both types of reporting as invaluable. Further, embeds' attitudes towards the war, age, professional experience, and online reporting were correlated with perceived performance.

Journalists do live in a parallel universe: A response to practitioner critiques of journalism academics

“…If truth be told, to use a classic journalism cliché, journalists are the most reluctant people to listen and learn from their own mistakes (Fahmy, Shahira, and Thomas J. Johnson, 2005 We dismiss reports and scholarly research based on systematic and structured study of our work, because -we say-it is 'irrelevant' or presented in convoluted language and terminology that makes it 'inaccessible'. Some of us have gone on to claim that we do not have time for scholarly criticism that overlooks the pressures we face and undermine the democratic value of what we do.…”

Media and foreign policy: A comparative study of journalists’ perceptions of press—government relations during the six-party talks

“…This has been one of the most popular questions in journalism research, given the impact of journalists' coverage of certain issues on audiences' perceptions of those issues (McCombs 2004;Shoemaker and Reese 1996;Wanta, Golan, and Lee 2004). Accordingly, scholars have presented diverse approaches to answering it and have identified factors at different levels that influence journalists' news decisions (Donsbach 2004;Fahmy and Johnson 2005;Kepplinger, Brosius, and Staab 1991;Shoemaker and Reese 1996;Starck and Soloski 1997). According to Donsbach (2004), there are four main areas that need to be analyzed: news factors, institutional objectives, the manipulative power of news sources, and the subjective beliefs of journalists.…”

“…Of these various factors, the influence of individual journalists' subjective beliefs on news decisions has generated important arguments among professional journalists and journalism scholars (Donsbach 2004;Fahmy and Johnson 2005;Shoemaker and Reese 1996).…”

“…Individual-level factors that have been analyzed in this area of 7 research include personality, values, religion, experience, attitudes, and role conceptions (Bissell 2000;Fahmy and Johnson 2005;Kepplinger, Brosius, and Staab 1991;Shoemaker and Reese 1996;Starck and Soloski 1997). For example, Bissell found in her study of photographic decision making at a newspaper that photographic gatekeepers' decisions were influenced by their political preferences, perceptions of audience expectations and personal opinion about explicitness (2000:90).…”

“…As previous studies have suggested, journalists' perspectives of their roles can influence the way they cover certain issues (Donsbach 2004;Donsbach and Patterson 2004;Patterson and Donsbach 1996;Fahmy and Johnson 2005;Shoemaker and Reese 1996;Soloski 1997;Starck and Soloski 1977). Based on a survey of journalists who covered the six-party talks, this study examines whether journalists perceive their roles in foreign policy to be primarily neutral messenger or active participant roles.…”