Journalism Conundrum: Perceiving Location and Geographic Space Norms and Values

Putting “Place” in the Center of Journalism Research: A Way Forward to Understand Challenges to Trust and Knowledge in News

“…Spatial journalism enables “information and geographic space [to] be connected to a concept called place-based knowledge” (Schmitz Weiss, 2015, p. 116). Schmitz Weiss (2018) fails to distinguish between space and place, however, instead explaining that “geographic location is conceptualized in the study as the space and place in which a news event occurs” (p. 46). Despite this issue, her work has drawn significant attention to news consumers’ geographic preferences (e.g., what kind of local news is of most interest to them).…”

“…Journalism scholarship often tends to treat space and place as interchangeable, although collapsing these two terms limits their explanatory value. Schmitz Weiss (2018), who has made the most significant contribution to developing a “spatial journalism framework,” urges “an emergent kind of journalism that incorporates space, place, and/or location (physical, augmented, and virtual) into the process and practice location” (p. 51). Spatial journalism enables “information and geographic space [to] be connected to a concept called place-based knowledge” (Schmitz Weiss, 2015, p. 116).…”

“…More generally, however, “network” is used as a descriptor for understanding global and transnational flows of news and capital, bridging the local and global. As noted, research on networks of news and information invoke space rather than place, and often muddle how they define space and place (Castells, 1996/2011; Schmitz Weiss, 2015, 2018). Studies of networks are often rooted in a political economy perspective that seeks to understand how economic concerns, political and geopolitical power, and cultural dominance shape journalism.…”

Differentiating distance in local and hyperlocal news

“…This article seeks to contribute to the geographic turn in journalism studies by suggesting that (physical) 'distance' requires further exploration of the ways it influences the construction and consumption of local and hyperlocal news. Recent theoretical and empirical research into local and hyperlocal news heavily draws upon geographical concepts like proximity, place-making and boundaries to facilitate understanding into the interrelationships between and implications of changing journalism practices and notions of space and place (Adams and Jansson, 2012; Gutsche and Hess, 2019;Schmitz Weiss, 2018). However, much of this work contains normative assumptions that position distance as something to overcome, which neglects the broader everyday effects of distance on both news-making and audiences.…”

Did You Find the World or Did You Make it Up? Media, Communications and Geography in the Digital Age

“…While this sounds like a positive step, not all connections are equal (Randell-Moon), and it leaves news rooms and journalists to reconsider the notion of local news. As the number of channels by which we can access journalism increase, the more it becomes fragmented, and the harder it is to see what the consumer wants in terms of local journalism (Schmitz Weiss, 2018). This makes Brantner's (2018, this issue) call for visual communication research that investigates the impacts of algorithmic techniques all the more urgent, and one that perhaps should go beyond visualizations, in order to avoid a regime that equates seeing with knowledge (Rose, 2016).…”