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PP 286
Contributions to Practice ? Roles of Journalism Researchers
P. Bro
1
1
University of Southern Denmark, Centre for Journalism, Odense M., Denmark
Following the seminal works of scholars like Bernard Cohen (1963) and Thomas E. Patterson and Wolfgang Donsbach (2004), researchers within the field
of journalism have studied the roles of journalists for centuries. But what are the roles of journalism researchers themselves, and how have these roles
developed over time?The study of what journalism researchers do - and should do – in relation to the field we cover, namely that of journalism and journal‑
ists, has been largely overlooked. This is unfortunate, since researchers increasingly have come to affect the norms and forms of journalism by way of both
newsrooms and classrooms. This paper reviews literature about the roles of researchers in general and journalism researchers in particular. These are works
that include everything from James W. Carey’s “A Plea for a University Tradition”(1978) and Barbie Zelizer’s “Making the University Matter”(2011) to some
of the recent reports and policy statements published by journalism schools. Among these later reports are, for instance,“Educating journalists: A new plea
for the university tradition,” written by three former deans of journalism schools in the US: Nicholas Lemann, Jean Folkerts and John Maxwell Hamilton
(2013). On the basis of the review, this paper develops a typology of the four main roles of journalism researchers these days. These roles differ in relation
to the ends, means and methods of researchers – including how passive and active, inclusive and exclusive the researchers are. The reach and relevance
of each of the roles are described and discussed in relation to some of the key publication within the field (monographs, anthologies and the most important
international journals, such as Journalism, Journalism Studies and Journalism practice). The paper concludes by discussing how factors internal (inside at
universities, other research institutions etc.), and factors external (from the media business, government etc.) are currently affecting how researchers adapt
and adhere to each of these four roles.