ECREA16-Abstract

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Thursday, November 10

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Sources and Actors in the News: Relation Patterns and Legitimation Practices

V. Doudaki

, A. Boubouka

Uppsala University, Informatics and Media, Uppsala, Sweden

Independent Researcher, Athens, Greece

While newsgathering processes and ethics set the foundations of any journalistic practice, the studies that examine issues related to the nature of sourc‑

es and the practices of sourcing, are not too many, and largely remain at the level of describing, usually quantitatively, the sources’ main features or

the journalists’ main preferences (in certain types of sources). The relations of journalists with sources are not easy to study, due to, among other reasons,

the sources’, but also the journalists’, reluctance to discuss openly issues of collaboration, pressure, interdependence or dependence. Also, what a source is,

is not straightforward, and one of the main difficulties, when attempting to study sources in the news texts, is to identify them. A challenge, frequently

encountered, is to distinguish between sources and actors in the news. This study, attempting a conceptual and methodological demarcation in the iden‑

tification of news sources, examines critically the presence of sources in the news and investigates how these sources are used by journalists, not only in

giving the basic information and range of opinions on the important issues for societies, but also in legitimating actions and policies.The research focuses on

the events of the financial crisis in Greece, and more specifically on the periods around the signing of the three memoranda between Greece and the Troika

(2010–2012, 2015), which were presented as necessary for the‘salvation’of the Greek economy, and which, since they included harsh measures, needed to

be legitimated by the involved actors. For the purpose of the study, articles from the two domestic daily newspapers with the highest circulations at the time

of research –Ta Nea and Kathimerini- are analysed, using both quantitative and qualitative content analysis. The specific aim of the research is two-fold:

First to examine, after locating the sources’ main characteristics, the patterns of relations developed in the news between sources and actors. Second, to

study how the sources are used in the news texts to legitimate or delegitimate other sources, actors or policies related to the bailout agreements, and their

implications. The analysis, informed by the critical discussion on the ideological aspects of news, will profit from a previously developed model of discursive

legitimation mechanisms (Doudaki, 2015; 2016), as well as from van Leeuwen’s (2007) work on legitimation in discourse.

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Mapping the Journalists’ Journey – Strategies in Digtal News Gathering

P. Bakker

, L. Vreekamp

, A. Nienhuis

Technical University Utrecht, School of Journalism, Utrecht, Netherlands

A journalist is an explorer and investigator, he or she ‘spots’, recognizes or is presented with ideas for news. These ideas are made into news by a complex

news gathering process, finding new sources, checking facts, and corroborating it with already available information. In the end the end product is pro‑

duced, published and marketed. Traditionally the ideas generating phase is underdeveloped in journalism studies. Much focus is on gathering and produc‑

tion with emphasis on sources, selection and routines (Gans, 1979; Manning White, 1950; Breed, 1960; Tuchman, 1973). In our study we build upon these

classics but we will shift our attention to the ideas generating and information gathering phases of the journalist in the digital era, where digital sources,

online publishing, availability of a wide ranges of sources, social media, online collaboration and integrated newsroom form the background against new

working ways. We ask how journalists work in a fully digital environment, how they generate and pitch ideas, what tools they use, how they find sources,

combine these sources in their production, how they collaborate with colleagues and finalize the productions. The aimwas to draw a realistic picture of this

process and discuss suggestions on how the whole process could be more structured and efficient. Recent literature by Machill and Beiler (2009), Diekerhof

and Bakker (2012), Nieman (2012) and Broersma, Den Herder and Schohaus (2013) suggests that information gathering is often an unstructured process

and that reliance on digital sources is substantial. How ideas are gathered, and how (or whether) journalists structure their unstructured behavior is not yet

clear. Theoretically our research also builds upon grounded theory and design thinking as a method for extracting meaningful data from our respondents.

For out research we interviewed and observed two dozen journalists in different media (TV, online, print, multi-media) and in different age categories. In

the interviews insights from design thinking were used as we had journalists also draw their ideas generating and information gathering process (their

journalistic journey map) and have them reflect on that later as well. The results show that for ideas most journalists rely heavy – or sometimes only –

of digital sources, with social media (i.e. Twitter) as the number one sources, also other media, newsletters, and personal tips where used. Many journalists

developed a 24/7 social media habit.They often feared pitching their ideas as it could be demolished withinminutes, sharing with colleagues in general was

not very popular. In some cases, however, the sharing led to better ideas and stories as colleagues offered tips and advise. Gathering was – as was already

demonstrated in other studies – extremely unstructured.The final production stage was a sole operation for most journalists.We conclude that much can be

won in structuring search strategies, better dossier-building and more structured collaboration in the first and last phase of the journalistic journey.The fact

that some journalists profit from the much dreaded ‘sharing’experience can lead to better and more efficient produced news items.

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How the Language of Journalists Is Seen: Permanent Expectations and Criticism Throughout History

A. Jacquet

Université libre de Bruxelles, ReSIC, Bruxelles, Belgium

The way journalists use language is regarded both as a reflection of general usage and as a standard (Raymond & Lafrance 2001). This double feature can

cause a tension in social expectations but also in the practice of journalists. Journalists are being set up as examples, but we know very little about the rea‑

sons and details of such a status and we do not know to what extent journalists actually accept this role. We propose to question the existence of a“commu‑

nication contract”related to the use of language by journalists. Charaudeau (2011) suggests that a communication contract is ruled by both the regulation

of social practices and social discourses building its value. Our presentation will precisely study the social discourses about the language of journalists and

its status in a sociohistorical perspective (Le Cam & Ruellan 2014): how do media workers, linguists, media specialists, and the public of the media (Higgins

2008) consider the way journalists write and speak? We focus on the French-speaking part of Belgium and the period stretching from 1920 to nowadays.