6+1 Proposals for Journalism

Description

In 2003, Bowman and Willis wrote that “journalism is in the process of redefining itself, adjusting to the disruptive forces surrounding it”. Almost two decades later, the discussion about journalism and its future has not shifted as much as one would have expected. Between then and now, there have been massive changes in the media landscape and great technological developments – financial crises and the emergence of social media platforms, to name a few examples. It could be argued that we still share the same concerns.

This book is essentially a dialogue – each chapter contributes to this dialogue, by highlighting the crisis elements and by pointing to direct proposals. The idea for the present volume emerged through a respective conference – the proposals presented in this book are the direct result of the Advanced Media Institute’s Conference in Thessaloniki, Greece, entitled “Media, Polis, Agora: Journalism & Communication in the Digital Era” (AMIRetreat2018), held in September 2018. The outcome of the intensive and fruitful collaboration between academics and media professionals was the identification of seven key areas that pose obstacles to journalism’s progression, but also indicate the steps we need to take to safeguard and enhance journalism. These areas vary from the current employment conditions and the dominance of “web giants” over crowdfunding, the closer collaboration of professionals and academia, the need to advance our media literacy efforts, and of course, elements of media regulation (as for example, the institution of “Media Ombudsman”). 

The starting point for the book is the Greek context. However, the book goes beyond Greece alone. In this context Greece is regarded as part of an international journalistic context that resides within to the crisis narrative, the new opportunities and the proposed solutions. Greece offers an interesting point of departure not only because the financial crisis was/is evidently interlinked to the journalistic one, but also because the manifestations of this crisis were/are substantial and widespread across various societal layers. Therefore, it arguably serves as an example that indicates tendencies in other countries.

The book is structured into 7 proposals, and each proposal includes two parts: one that discusses the topic through the “Greek prism” and one that provides a perspective of the topic as exemplified by another European country. Each proposal also puts forward two perspectives: an academic perspective and a professional perspective. In this way, the proposals bring two country contexts into dialogue through authors that approach each topic from different angles. 

Sujets

• Media Studies
• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Journalism
• Greece

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 13 mai 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781789386516
• Langue: English

Extrait

6+1 Proposals for Journalism
6+1 Proposals for Journalism

Safeguarding the Field in the Digital Era
Edited by
Sofia Iordanidou and Chrysi Dagoula
First published in the UK in 2022 by
Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK

First published in the USA in 2022 by
Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street,
Chicago, IL 60637, USA

Copyright © 2022 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.

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Cover designer: Tanya Montefusco
Cover image: iStock by Getty Images. Photo by Shanina.
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Typesetting: Newgen

Hardback ISBN 978-1-78938-649-3
ePDF ISBN 978-1-78938-650-9
ePub ISBN 978-1-78938-651-6

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This is a peer-reviewed publication.
Contents
List of Illustrations
Foreword
Charilaos Platanakis
Introduction
Chrysi Dagoula
Part I: Funding Journalism in the Digital Era
Proposal 1: ‘Web Giants’
1. Internet Giants’ Dominance and the Perils of Heteronomy for Digital Journalism
Nikos Smyrnaios
2. Taxing the Internet Oligopoly and Helping Independent Media Survive: A Summary of Recent International Developments and Proposals
Michael Panayiotakis
Proposal 2: Other Types of Funding
3. Crowdfunding, Crowdsourcing and Crowdcreation in Greek and Cypriot Media Websites
Minos-Athanasios Karyotakis, Evangelos Lamprou, Matina Kiourexidou and Nikos Antonopoulos
4. Funding Journalism: Toward New Revenue Streams and Diversity of Business Models
Kathryn Geels
Part II: Journalists’ Working Conditions
Proposal 3: Employment Conditions
5. Clicks über alles: Digital Labour and Greek Digital Media
Eleni Mavrouli and Despoina Fouska
6. Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Continued Struggle of Media and Journalism in Bulgaria’s Media System
Lada Trifonova Price
Proposal 4: ‘Media Ombudsman’
7. The Media Ombudsman Institution
Vasilis Sotiropoulos
Part III: Journalism Education
Proposal 5: Technology and Education
8. Why Do We Need Trained Journalists? The Need for an Improved Training for Media Professionals Today and the Responsibility of Media Companies
Lida Tsene
9. Social Media: Further Anxieties for Media and Journalists?
Chrysi Dagoula
Proposal 6: Academia and Professionals
10. Bridging the Gap between Journalists and Media Academics
Valia Kaimaki
11. Opportunities and Challenges for Academic Engagement in the Multi-Stakeholder Agenda to Safeguard Journalists
Sara Torsner
Proposal 7: Media Literacy
12. Accessing, Evaluating and Engaging with News: The Value of a User-Centric Approach for Rethinking Media Literacy
Joëlle Swart
13. Media Literacy Meets the Twenty-First-Century Challenges
Sofia Papadimitriou and Lina P. Valsamidou
In Lieu of a Conclusion ‘Media, Polis, Agora’, a Challenging Exploration Mission
Sofia Iordanidou
Notes on Contributors
Illustrations
Figures
1 The results for the Greek and Cypriot news websites
2 The results for the Greek and Cypriot news websites that offer direct crowdfunding method(s) for the years 2018 and 2019.
Tables
1 Business structure and revenue stream examples
Case studies
1 Membership case study: experimenting with messaging, pricing and design to boost memberships
2 Commercial collaborations case study: creating an ‘ethical content studio’ to generate revenue and further an organization’s mission
Foreword
Charilaos Platanakis
The threats and challenges for journalists as individuals and journalism as a profession have intensified and transformed due to the shift into a global economy and digital technologies to such an extent that state regulation cannot protect their autonomy any longer. The digital modes of news distribution have overcome the modes of news production, solidifying the state monopoly and control of the past. As a result, the journalist, or even the editor, has been marginalized by the involvement of tech companies, such as Google and Facebook, in the circulation and promotion of news, while profit-driven advertising has cancelled out the seemingly liberal plurality of the openly competitive media sphere. Consequently, the primary influence of publicity has shifted from the quality of news production to algorithmic mechanisms (without transparency or integrity) that promote news/articles based primarily on readers’ customer behaviour and advertisers’ powerful purchasing monopolies.
The impact on readers is immense since it reinforces distorted beliefs and behaviours, notwithstanding the liberal anticipation of media pluralism, an effect that is strengthened further by the grouping of like-minded individuals on social media. Ethical implications of such a one-dimensional perspective disallow an empathic understanding of alternative views and beliefs, demonize anything ‘different’ and undermine the respect for human dignity and rights. In the political domain, such an attitude gives rise to populism by vindicating different political stands, downplaying them as indications of a conspiracy of conspicuous interests, internal and external, which jeopardizes open and deliberative democracy. Still, the cure from that threat should take journalism on board, as it did in the past, by allowing pluralistic and free press to reveal the convoluted nature of our world and the different perspectives of it and by emphasizing the benefits of joint deliberation and cooperation in a sincere and open dialogue that would establish a digital community of respect for the other instead of parallel, isolated, digital monologues.
The digital era of journalism has put journalists in an unprecedented, precarious position with insecure working conditions. The reposting of news by digital companies that focus only on news distribution, often without acknowledgement or reimbursement, is a clear case of unfairness that denies journalists their surplus value. Consequently, it deprives journalists of the resources that would contribute to their economic autonomy, both as individuals and as a professional group, in order to invest in their continuous training and meet the new challenges of the digital era, resulting into the improvement of the standards of the news they could produce. The need for continuous training is now more important than ever and makes the proposal of this volume for the taxation of big digital companies (i.e. Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon) all the more important; something like this would give journalists the necessary resources for economic independence and life-long education, allowing them to perform their free and pluralistic role in our society. Such a proposed taxation would translate into a fair compensation for the squandered profits of journalists who would thus regain dignity of work and improve the standards of their professional activities in the new challenging era.
Only by addressing these two fronts in a synergic manner would media regain their civic role, allowing for an open liberal society to become democratic rather than chiefly capitalist based. Media literacy has a crucial part to play in enabling both journalists and readers to engage in participatory journalism. Redistribution of the profit of big digital companies to journalists, along with crowdfunding, would involve all stakeholders in the communicative sphere of the media. And if the Condorcet’s jury theorem holds, civic participation would also bring us closer to the truth.
Introduction
Chrysi Dagoula
Can you imagine what a world without journalism, or what a world without news would look like? One response to these questions, and one that arguably points to the most alarming consequences of such a world, is to be found in the Washington Post masthead slogan ‘democracy dies in darkness’. First adopted and incorporated into the newspaper’s logo in 2017, it has been described as ‘the most widely debated and commented upon newspaper slogan’ ( Farhi 2017 : para. 1) in modern times. As such, the slogan lets us know what we can expect from a world without journalism. At its most extreme, this is a place where our ability to know what is going on in the world in any factual way is completely undermined. In fact, the role of journalism when it comes to shining a light on what goes on in society is exactly what is at risk in a world without news. As that light goes out and matters of common concern to members of society remain obscure, any formation of a well-informed citizenry as a basic democratic requirement ensuring that people can effectively participate in and influence matters that concern them becomes impossible.
Broadcasting an urgent appeal for the importance of standing up and fighting for journalism, the Washington Post engaged the famous actor Tom Hanks to convey the message regarding the essential public service journalism performs during the 2019 Super Bowl (one of the most watched televised events in the United States):

When we go off to war. When we exercise our rights. When we soar to our greatest heights. When we mourn and pray. When our neighbours are at risk. When our nation is threatened. There’s someone to gather the facts. To bring you the story. No matter the cost. Because knowing empowers us. Knowing helps us decide. Knowing keeps us free.
( Anon 2019 : n.pag.; Judkis 2019 )
Lending further support to the claim that journalism is a societal necessity, Alan Rusbridger writes that ‘anyone growing up in a western democracy had believed that it was necessary to have facts. Without facts, societies co