Groningen Center for Journalism Studies
Description
This expert workshop aims to bring together scholars to discuss how different styles of journalism configure the ‘rules of truth’ in a manner that appears to generate trust and loyalty with audiences. While there is a fairly striking consensus amongst academics about the meshing of news and entertainment in the 21st century; problematization of the meta-narrative of objectivity; and dissolution of dichotomies like hard and soft news, there remains a diversity of opinions about the seriousness of these developments and pragmatic solutions for traditional journalistic outlets.This corresponds to disagreements over the purpose of news, entertainment, and infotainment; conceptual confusion about rationality and emotion; and the degree of threat that the shifting technological, commercial and communicative landscape poses to the profession.This workshop seeks to stimulate debate on these developments with an eye to addressing methodological and theoretical challenges presented by the appearance of a host of diverse journalisms in the 21st century.
Specifically, the organizers seek papers that address questions of trust, truth, and performance in the media, building upon existing conceptualizations of the role of the media.
The past few decades have seen a sharp rise in news products that deviate sharply in tone from the sort of ‘hard’ journalistic ideal epitomized in 20th century-Anglo-American discourses of professionalism. From the rise of alternative media, to personalised blogs by journalists, talk/news radio, and a slew of ‘infotainment’ broadcasting such as panel shows, cable news magazines, and satirical news it is commonly accepted that the boundary between news and entertainment is evermore blurred.Similarly, both academics and journalists have problematized ‘objectivity’, the hallmark of 20th-century professionalism, to such an extent that claims of achieving this in reporting now appear naively optimistic or hopelessly misguided.Are different media systems, which were less beholden to the Anglo-American ideal of objectivity, finding the transformations impacting the industry less traumatic or are debates about the future and best practices of the profession also hotly contested?
Programme and workshop venues
Date
: Dec. 9th – 11th, 2009
Programme Thursday December 10th
Programme Friday December 11 th
Keynote Speakers
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Professor Stuart Allan, Bournemouth University
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Professor Chris Atton,
Edinburgh
Napier University
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Professor Brian McNair, University of Strathclyde
Workshop Coordinators
Professor Marcel Broersma and Dr. Chris Peters, Groningen Center of Journalism Studies, University of Groningen
