Journalistic expertise: A communicative approach

Abstract

Journalists’ privileges and the perceived value of their contributions are being affected by the increasing belief that journalistic work is a product that can be produced by anyone. This perspective should prompt questions related to the conceptualization of journalistic expertise and the functions of educational institutions that assert they teach it. This research contributes to scientific knowledge by introducing an alternative scholarly approach toward defining journalistic expertise—a communication perspective. Prestige in the digital landscape is increasingly associated with the ability of communicators to package information conveying their expertise to various publics. We proposed a set of variables to assess expertise: journalism-related degree, previous professional journalism experience, affiliation, journalism awards, specialization, technical skills, journalism skills, and public service through a content analysis of public Facebook fan pages. The results revealed that journalists communicated their expertise by highlighting their affiliation, previous experience, and specialization(s).

The effects of journalistic routines on LGBTQ+ advocates’ efforts to influence media framing of religious exemptions to anti-discrimination laws

“…Three primary themes emerged in relation to RQ1’s focus on how study participants perceive their roles within the field of journalism and the larger public sphere. The first, “journalist as explainer,” fit nicely within the traditional service-oriented informative roles identified by previous research (Carlson, 2017; Grubenmann & Meckel, 2017) but countered the increasing belief that journalistic work is a product that can be produced by anyone (Carpenter & Kanver, 2017). All but two of the reporters interviewed for this study emphasized the fact that covering the U.S. Supreme Court beat requires more technical expertise than most others because of the highly complex nature of the legal documents and procedures involved.…”

Expert Media Content in the Media and Educational Practices

“…The discussion about the components of the concept of "expertise" is continued by researchers J. Wai and K. Perina, who raised the question of the criteria of expert knowledge in the field of media (Wai et al, 2011). In the discussion on the criteria of professional journalism, it is also worth noting the work of S. Miller-Carpenter and D. Kanver, in which a set of variables for evaluating expert knowledge was proposed: specialized education, previous professional experience in journalism, awards, specialization, technical skills of the profession and the social role of the author, which is assessed by content analysis of open source materials in social media (Carpenter, Kanver, 2017). The role of journalists as "conductors" of knowledge is interpreted in the work of M. Nisbet and F. Declan (Declan, Nisbet, 2015).…”