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Abstract
How do broadcast journalists work today? How do changes to the field of journalism affect journalists at traditional public service broadcasters? And what, if any, are the similarities between license-fee funded and commercially funded TV news work? The study in Inside the TV Newsroom draws on 18 months of unique access to the newsrooms of BBC News, ITV News (in the UK) and DR TV Avisen and TV2 Nyhedeme (in Denmark), providing new insights to the discussion of journalism practice today: It finds that journalists sense their everyday work as a struggle to suit both their own professional ideals of good journalism and new management demands of multi-skilling, collaboration and multi-platform journalism. The extensive ethnographic fieldwork illustrates how the clash of market and consumer oriented logic and the classic ideals of journalism as professional logic is perceived as a mismatch of ideals and aspirations for good journalism. Exploring the shared professional ideals of journalists, the study analyzes what journalists perceive as doing ‘good work’ and working towards the ‘good story’, and how these ideals are expressed and aspired in everyday practice.
| ‘Line
Hassall Thomsen’s take on the backstages of two major newsrooms combines an
anthropologist’s keen analysis of journalism culture with the style of great
storytelling. What an engaging read! This is not just a study of two
newsrooms, but a primer for the history of contemporary journalism practice,
a deep look at what matters to journalists, a story of how journalists
negotiate their roles in the digital age of citizen journalism and a solid
argument for what makes this community of practice persist.’ Annette Markham, Aarhus University and Loyola University, Chicago ‘Inside the TV Newsroom is indispensable reading for anyone concerned about the health of journalism. Through careful ethnographic work at public service broadcasters in Denmark and the UK, Line Hassall Thomsen injects a much-needed note of hope into discussions about the future of the profession.’ Karin Wahl-Jorgensen, Cardiff University ‘Comparative participant observation of television news production on this scale is rare and welcome. This rich and readable volume offers one of the most thorough and original news ethnographies of recent times.’ Chris Paterson, University of Leeds |
Line Hassall Thomsen, Ph.D., is lecturer at Aarhus University. She has spent fifteen years working as a journalist in Denmark and the UK.
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cover | Cover | ||
| Half Title | i | ||
| Title | iii | ||
| Copyright | iv | ||
| Contents | v | ||
| Acknowledgements | ix | ||
| Prologue | xi | ||
| Part I: Journalists and Newsrooms as Objects of Research | 1 | ||
| Introduction | 3 | ||
| Chapter 1: Studying Journalists at Work | 19 | ||
| 1.1 Review of News Production Studies | 21 | ||
| 1.2 Journalism as a Profession | 27 | ||
| 1.3 Media Anthropology with a Focus on Production | 41 | ||
| 1.4 Conclusions | 44 | ||
| Part II: An Anthropologist among Journalists | 49 | ||
| Chapter 2: Anthropology as a Method of Studying Journalists at Work | 51 | ||
| 2.1 Entering the Newsroom | 56 | ||
| 2.2 Conducting Fieldwork in Newsrooms | 62 | ||
| 2.3 Access: A Constant Negotiation | 73 | ||
| 2.4 The Obstacle of Imagining Differences but Finding Similarities | 82 | ||
| 2.5 The Interview | 84 | ||
| 2.6 Presenting the Field | 93 | ||
| 2.7 Conclusions | 97 | ||
| Part III: Introducing the Four News Divisions and a Relationship of Constant Competition | 103 | ||
| Chapter 3: Talking About Differences: How News Workers Define Themselves and Each Other | 105 | ||
| 3.1 Monopoly and Duopoly of Broadcasting | 109 | ||
| 3.2 Being ‘Best’ as Boundary-making | 111 | ||
| 3.3 A Shared Struggle | 120 | ||
| 3.4 When Broadcasters Agree | 128 | ||
| 3.5 Conclusions | 130 | ||
| Part IV: Inside the New Newsrooms | 133 | ||
| Chapter 4: A New Design of the Old Newsroom | 135 | ||
| 4.1 The Market Logic of Changing the Newsroom | 139 | ||
| 4.2 Inside the Newsroom: Spatial Layout | 142 | ||
| 4.3 Inside the Newsroom: Editorial Meetings | 151 | ||
| 4.4 Conclusions | 158 | ||
| Chapter 5: Negotioating the Newsroom | 161 | ||
| 5.1 Negotiating the Stage | 163 | ||
| 5.2 A Room Where Someone Is Always Watching | 168 | ||
| 5.3 The Stage Is Set | 176 | ||
| 5.4 ‘Multi-skilling’ as the Term for What Went Wrong | 181 | ||
| 5.5 Conclusions | 191 | ||
| Part V: New Struggles and Old Ideals | 195 | ||
| Chapter 6: The Unity and Community of Journalists | 197 | ||
| 6.1 Following Connections between the Newsrooms | 200 | ||
| 6.2 Communities of Practice and the Imagined Colleagues | 204 | ||
| 6.3 The Constant Peer Review | 214 | ||
| 6.4 How Pride and a Distance to The Others Unites | 219 | ||
| 6.5 Conclusions | 224 | ||
| Chapter 7: The ‘Good’ Journalist: An Old Ideal | 227 | ||
| 7.1 A Shared Value | 232 | ||
| 7.2 Good Work as a Public Service | 234 | ||
| 7.3 The ‘Good News Story’ | 239 | ||
| 7.4 Good Work as ‘Very Scout-Like’ | 247 | ||
| 7.5 Conclusions | 255 | ||
| Part VI: Exiting the Newsroom | 259 | ||
| Chapter 8: Conclusion: A Profession Under Pressure | 261 | ||
| 8.1 Connections Across Newsrooms | 263 | ||
| 8.2 New Struggles to Reach Old Ideals? | 264 | ||
| 8.3 Methodological Considerations | 267 | ||
| 8.4 Primary Contributions to the Research Field | 269 | ||
| Epilogue | 277 | ||
| Summary | 279 | ||
| Appendix | 281 | ||
| References | 285 | ||
| Index | 309 | ||
| Back Cover | Back Cover |