Understanding the Global Journalist: a hierarchy-of-influences approach

Abstract

Globalization of media organizations has brought accompanying debates about the proper education and professional standards for the journalists who work for them. These journalistic and press performance issues have attracted a correspondingly global community of scholars to conduct often transnational, comparative studies. In this article, I consider the issues raised in examining these "global journalists" from a sociology-of-media and a cross-national comparative perspective. I propose a "hierarchy of in uences" levels-of-analysis model to help clarify and address such questions, including the problematic nature of "professionalism". From micro to macro, these levels address what factors shape media and news content, and include the individual journalist, news routines, organizational, extra-media, and ideological, with each carrying a different view of the professionalism issue. While many studies, comparative and otherwise, have been conducted at the individual level, often using surveys to examine the views and characteristics of individual professionals, this model requires that we take into account the larger structure within which these journalists function. More important than national differences may be the emergence of a transnational global professionalism, the shape of which will greatly affect how well the world's press meets the normative standards we would wish for it.

Analysis of Newspaper Coverage of Food Security through a Disability Studies Lens

“…It is well known that newspapers are influenced by their environment including ownership, funding, need for circulation, advertisement revenue and the readers preference for reading like-minded news (Abbring & Van Ours, 1994;Allport & Faden, 1940;Anderson, 2009;Bulkow, Urban, & Schweiger, 2013;Carragee & Roefs, 2004;Gentzkow & Shapiro, 2010;George, 2007;Gilens & Hertzman, 2000;Illia, Lurati, & Casalaz, 2013;McCauley, Blake, Meissner, & Viswanath, 2013;Price, 2003;Reddaway, 1963;Reese, 2001;Roberts & McCombs, 1994;Schudson, 2002;Shoemaker, Vos, & Reese, 2009;Sill, Metzgar, & Rouse, 2013;Weaver & Elliott, 1985;White, 2013;Winseck, 2002).…”

When the “Fortress Crumbled”: The Israel-Jenin Story in U.S. News Media

“…Next is the extramedia level, where such elements as public relations and advertising contribute to newsmaking. Finally is the ideological level, where meaning conveyed in media messages is usually mobilized in the service of power thereby letting particular ideologies thrive over others (Reese, 2001).…”

“…We should recognize that certain coverage characteristics, such as political violence labeling, alerts us to the control process behind the control practiced by media per se. In other words, both the extramedia and ideological levels of influence within the hierarchy-of-influences upon newswork (Reese, 2001) come into play here. These levels underline the notion that media institutions are not the sole creators of news.…”

Greening and Energy Issues: An Analysis of Four Canadian Newspapers

“…It is well known that journalists influence media delivery and also often set agendas and that journalists are influenced by their environment (Allport & Faden, 1940;Bulkow et al, 2013;Carragee & Roefs, 2004;Illia et al, 2013;McCauley et al, 2013;Reese, 2001;Shoemaker et al, 2008;Sill et al, 2013;Tilley & Hollings, 2008;Weaver & Elliott, 1985). Ahchong and Dodds and Liu found that the regional newspapers they investigated (Toronto Star and Houston Chronicle) both covered little local and regional content but mostly national and International content related to climate change (Ahchong & Dodds, 2012;Liu et al, 2008).…”

“…Unfortunately the other local newspapers that are distributed in Calgary and Edmonton who have a different ownership are not available through the Canadian Newsstand database or another database available to us. News generated is also influenced by context outside the media organization (Reese, 2001). We have chosen two newspapers from a Canadian province that heavily depends on energy production.…”