Inside the TV Newsroom

Line Hassall Thomsen

Description

In an era where the way people get news is ever-changing, how do broadcast journalists work? How do changes to the field affect journalists at traditional public broadcasters? And what similarities are there between license-funded news programmes – like those on the BBC – and commercial news?



This book, built on years of unique access to the newsrooms of BBC News and ITV News in the United Kingdom and DR TV Avisen and TV2 Nyhedeme in Denmark, answers those questions and more. Exploring the shared professional ideals of journalists, the study analyses how they conceive of stories as important, and how their ideals relating to their work are expressed and aspired to in everyday practice.

Part I: Journalists and Newsrooms as Objects of Research

Introduction

Chapter 1: Studying Journalists at Work

1.1 Review of News Production Studies

1.2 Journalism as a Profession

1.3 Media Anthropology with a Focus on Production 

1.4 Conclusions

 

Part II: An Anthropologist Among Journalists

Chapter 2: Anthropology as a Method of Studying Journalists at Work 

2.1 Entering the Newsroom

2.2 Conducting Fieldwork

2.3 Access: A Constant Negotiation

2.4 The Obstacle of Imagining Differences but Finding Similarities

2.5 The Interview

2.6 Presenting the Field

27 Conclusions

 

Part III: Introducing the Four News Divisions and a Relationship of Constant Competition

Chapter 3: Talking About Differences: How News Workers Define Themselves and Each Other

3.1 Monopoly and Duopoly of Broadcasting

3.2 Being ‘Best’ as Boundary-making

3.3 A Shared Struggle

3.4 When Broadcasters Agree

3.5 Conclusions

 

Part IV: Inside the New Newsrooms

Chapter 4: A New Design of the Old Newsroom 

4.1 The Market Logic of Changing the Newsroom

4.2 Inside the Newsroom: Spatial Layout

4.3 Inside the Newsroom: Editorial Meetings 

4.4 Conclusions

 

Chapter 5: Negotiating the Newsroom 

5.1 Negotiating the Stage

5.2 A Room Where Someone Is Always Watching

5.3 The Stage is Set 

5.4 ‘Multi-skilling’ as the Term for What Went Wrong

5.5 Conclusions

 

Part V: New Struggles and Old Ideals 

Chapter 6: The Unity and Community of Journalists

6.1 Following Connections between the Newsrooms

6.2 Communities of Practice and the Imagined Colleagues

6.3 The Constant Peer Review

6.4 How Pride and a Distance to The Others Unites 

6.5 Conclusions

 

Chapter 7: The ‘Good’ Journalist: An Old Ideal

7.1 A Shared Value 

7.2 Good Work as a Public Service 

7.3 The ‘Good News Story’ 

7.4 Good Work as ‘Very Scout-Like’

7.5 Conclusions

 

Part VI: Exiting the Newsroom

Chapter 8: Conclusion: A Profession Under Pressure

8.1 Connections Across Newsrooms

8.2 New Struggles to Reach Old Ideals?

8.3 Methodological Considerations

8.4 Primary Contributions

 

Epilogue

Summary

Appendix

References

Index

Sujets

• Media Studies
• POLITICAL SCIENCE
• ECONOMICS
• General officer
• Television
• Journalism
• Business
• General

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 26 mars 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783208845
• Langue: English

Extrait

First published in the UK in 2018 by
Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
First published in the USA in 2018 by
Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street,
Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Copyright © 2018 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.
Cover designer: Holly Rose
Copy-editor: MPS Technologies
Production manager: Mareike Wehner
Typesetting: Contentra Technologies
Print ISBN: 978-1-78320-883-8
ePDF ISBN: 978-1-78320-885-2
ePUB ISBN: 978-1-78320-884-5
Printed and bound by Hobbs, UK
Inside the TV newsroom: Profession Under Pressure. A Newsroom Ethnography of Public Service TV Journalism in the UK and Denmark Copyright © Line Hassall Thomsen, 2018.
This book is in part based on the Ph.D. thesis New Struggles, Old Ideals: The Everyday Struggle Towards Being a ‘Good Journalist’ Inside Public Service TV Newsrooms in the UK and Denmark submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Department of Aesthetics and Communication at Aarhus University, Denmark.
Drawing in chapter 8.2 courtesy of graphic illustrator at TV Avisen, DR. All other photos and illustrations courtesy of the author
This is a peer reviewed publication.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Prologue
Part I: Journalists and Newsrooms as Objects of Research
Introduction
Chapter 1: Studying Journalists at Work
1.1 Review of News Production Studies
1.2 Journalism as a Profession
1.3 Media Anthropology with a Focus on Production
1.4 Conclusions
Part II: An Anthropologist among Journalists
Chapter 2: Anthropology as a Method of Studying Journalists at Work
2.1 Entering the Newsroom
2.2 Conducting Fieldwork in Newsrooms
2.3 Access: A Constant Negotiation
2.4 The Obstacle of Imagining Differences but Finding Similarities
2.5 The Interview
2.6 Presenting the Field
2.7 Conclusions
Part III: Introducing the Four News Divisions and a Relationship of Constant Competition
Chapter 3: Talking About Differences: How News Workers Define Themselves and Each Other
3.1 Monopoly and Duopoly of Broadcasting
3.2 Being ‘Best’ as Boundary-making
3.3 A Shared Struggle
3.4 When Broadcasters Agree
3.5 Conclusions
Part IV: Inside the New Newsrooms
Chapter 4: A New Design of the Old Newsroom
4.1 The Market Logic of Changing the Newsroom
4.2 Inside the Newsroom: Spatial Layout
4.3 Inside the Newsroom: Editorial Meetings
4.4 Conclusions
Chapter 5: Negotioating the Newsroom
5.1 Negotiating the Stage
5.2 A Room Where Someone Is Always Watching
5.3 The Stage Is Set
5.4 ‘Multi-skilling’ as the Term for What Went Wrong
5.5 Conclusions
Part V: New Struggles and Old Ideals
Chapter 6: The Unity and Community of Journalists
6.1 Following Connections between the Newsrooms
6.2 Communities of Practice and the Imagined Colleagues
6.3 The Constant Peer Review
6.4 How Pride and a Distance to The Others Unites
6.5 Conclusions
Chapter 7: The ‘Good’ Journalist: An Old Ideal
7.1 A Shared Value
7.2 Good Work as a Public Service
7.3 The ‘Good News Story’
7.4 Good Work as ‘Very Scout-Like’
7.5 Conclusions
Part VI: Exiting the Newsroom
Chapter 8: Conclusion: A Profession Under Pressure
8.1 Connections Across Newsrooms
8.2 New Struggles to Reach Old Ideals?
8.3 Methodological Considerations
8.4 Primary Contributions to the Research Field
Epilogue
Summary
Appendix
References
Index
Acknowledgements
I could not possibly name all the people who have helped make this book a reality. Here I attempt to acknowledge just some of the key people to whom I am indebted.
First, and most importantly, I am indebted to all the TV news workers who have shared so openly their everyday working lives with me. From 2007 until 2017, the openness and frankness with which they have shared their everyday work with me has meant everything to this project. Thanks to all the staff at BBC News , at ITV News , at DR’s TV Avisen and at TV2 Nyhederne without whom this project would have been impossible. Also thanks to the management staff and News Editors of each of these four broadcasters who have granted access. Without the access and the openness with which I was met, this book could have never been. The whole idea of this study relies on years of working as a journalist inside both print and TV newsrooms in the UK. I am grateful to all the people who helped me get on and learn about news work during my time working as a journalist in Britain – particularly the journalists at the Home and Arts Desk of The Independent , my fellow colleagues at ITV News Channel , the newsroom at ITV News , More 4 News and everyone at Channel 4 News .
In taking the step from the practice of journalism to the theories of it, numerous academics have been a great help and inspiration. Henrik Bødker has been an invaluable guide throughout the process of writing the Ph.D. which inspired this book. I am very grateful to Nils Bubandt for his sharp eyes on content reading. Unni From, Charlotte Wien and Karin Wahl-Jorgensen have given constructive comments on an early version of this book. Nigel Rapport, Georgina Born, Brian Winston and Robin Nelson have each commented on earlier drafts of several of the chapters. Thanks to Annette Markham, Inka Salovaara and Anja Bechmann for detailed comments and engaged discussions of parts of the book. I am grateful to so many other academic colleagues, both at the Department of Media and Journalism Studies at Aarhus University and at universities abroad.
I am much obliged to Jørgen Bang for enabling funding from the three sponsors: Update at the Danish School of Media and Journalism, the Department of Information and Media Studies at Aarhus University and the national doctoral school, Forskerskolen i Medier, Kommunikation og Journalistik . I am of course thankful to each of these sponsors. As I realised during the initial stages of application, funding a cross-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary project such as this, particularly with an applicant who has been out of academia for a few years, does not happen often. I am very grateful that my three sponsors had enough trust in the project to deviate from this norm.
This project was initially part of the project Dansk public service på journalistikkens betingelser: Udviklinger, dilemmaer, visioner , funded by the Danish Radio- og TV-Nævnet fund for research into Public Service Broadcasting. Being a part of this project, a collaboration between researchers from Aarhus University and the Danish School of Journalism, has been fruitful for the early stages of this book.
Thanks is also due to my aunt Anette and uncle Lars who let me stay with them during fieldwork at DR in Copenhagen, and to Lisbet and family for letting me stay with them in Odense during my fieldwork at TV2. It meant a great deal that I could feel so at home while being in the near vicinity of the newsrooms I studied.
The book in hand would have not existed without the enthusiasm, encouragement and sharp eyes of the excellent staff at Intellect Books. In particular, I would like to extend thanks to production editor Mareike Wehner.
Lastly, and crucially, I am indebted to my family. I am grateful to my mum Susanne Højlund, for supervision and baby-sitting services, to my dad Kurt Thomsen for sailing and lobster-fishing when needed. Thanks to Emil, Marie, Sigurd, Ivan and to Sofie, Leo and Gala. Finally, I am grateful beyond words to my husband John, our son Viktor James and daughter Matilda Aila. Thanks for the music and for keeping alive the sense of wonder.
Line Hassall Thomsen
Prologue
Crossing the Gap
‘We need more bodies!’, yells a Programme Editor. ‘ … and make sure you can’t make out their faces … just bodies! I don’t want disfigured body parts, just bodies and body bags!’ I stay on target, working alongside my colleagues. We all look stern, staring into the screen. We have been covering the tsunami for almost a week now. Today, video feeds of corpses are coming in. The bodies have been laying in tropical climate waiting to be identified. By now I should be used to the sight. But tears are welling up. I cut the last images for the next news bulletin, which goes on in a few minutes, then I hurry to the bathroom. You do not cry in the newsroom.
To my surprise, hiding inside the toilet cubicles I find both a reporter and a producer with mascara running down their cheeks. We laugh. Then we cry and talk about the tragic pictures. Dry our eyes and walk hurriedly, professionally, into the newsroom. And we keep on working, without mentioning our emotions.
– January 2005, inside the ITV Newsroom, Kings Cross, London
The morning meeting has just begun and we are discussing the stories to run today. There is an excited mood in the newsroom. Journalists, Programme Editors and producers are all sat in a semi-circle, relaxed, leaning back on their chairs, coffee in hand. Some reporters share a joke about yesterday’s news programme. Our News Editor has had a cake designed with the Olympic rings on it, and it has just arrived for us to enjoy during the meeting. Yesterday, London was chosen to be the host city for the Olympic Games in 2012. Today we are celebrating.
Suddenly, the bright neon light in the room flickers. The computer screens go black for a moment. Our constant newswire on the computer goes still. One editor starts swearing, tells us to check out the system and get the newswire up again. There’s a top line flashing on the wire when it starts again. The London underground, just below us, has had a power failure, it says.
Moments after, we realise the scale of what is happening. Bombs have exploded in the underground. And then the wh