Die Furche, Deccember 10, 2009

Austrians are all too familiar with the unfavorable media attention focused on their Swiss neighbors, for as the Austrians learned, once the electorate sheers obstreperously from the consensus of “political correctness“ on which political elites tend to agree, all hell breaks loose.

Larger neighboring countries descend on small ones, and the media’s buzz climbs to a roar. Reporters become experts on the psyche and internal functions of adjacent nations and begin to speculate wildly. As serious, comprehensive investigation costs time and money, many journalists opt to recycle or plagiarize material published elsewhere.

European Journalism Observatory, December 11, 2009

Editor & Publisher, a century-old magazine chronicling the peaks and valleys of the newspaper industry, will slip from the media landscape by the end of this year. 

The small magazine, serving 10,000 subscribers and 800,000 unique monthly visitors to its Web site, was ultimately brought down by the same factors it covered.  Revenue plummeted as advertisers moved to the Web, which lead the Nielson Company to terminate Editor & Publisher along with Kirkus Reviews, a pre-publication book review magazine. Additionally, Nielson will sell a number of trade publications, including Adweek, Mediaweek, Billboard, Brandweek, Film Journal International, Backstage and the Hollywood Reporter.

Click here to read more at Romenesko.

Die Furche, November 12, 2009

It’s hard to believe that 20 years have passed since the Berlin Wall came down, and, together with it, the Iron Curtain dividing Europe.

In Germany, media reports on the event made it seem as though the wall came down only yesterday. There is one particular point in which the media tends to glorify its own role, misrepresenting history. According to legend, the demise of the “Anti-Fascist Protection Wall,” a title the East German government assigned to the monstrous fortification, was instigated by Western television which brought news, advertising and promises to the East like a Trojan horse, finally forcing the totalitarian regimes to step down. 

Schweizer Journalist, Nr. 10 + 11/2009

American journalism is in a “protracted moment of painful change,” and “both its business model and its sense of mission are in full retreat.”

How might journalism regain its relevance, asks Brent Cunningham, managing editor of the Columbia Journalism Review, as he describes today’s journalists as being driven rather than driving. According to Cunningham, the keeper of the record is “aggressively catered to by a public relations apparatus that permeates every public or private institution,” emitting “an endless stream of incremental developments” keeping reporters “busy, busy, busy.”

This leaves “far too little room” for more important roles of the press such as “investigator, explainer, and arbiter of our national conversation” – all functions not easily adopted by amateurs and bloggers. Cunningham suggests the press should pay “less attention to breaking, event-driven news and more to sustained coverage of ideas and – crucially – solutions.” It should stop “reflexively marginalizing voices that come from the fringes simply because no one ‘official’ is embracing them.”

European Journalism Observatory, November 29, 2009

Despite the delicate financial state of the news media, jouralism schools seem to be thriving.

In fact, the education sector is perhaps the only area of journalism maintaining a healthy business model. In an article published in The Chronicle Review, Nicholas Lemann, dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, asks why journalism schools haven't suffered the same fate as newspapers. According to Lemann, "Journalism schools ought to explore, and are already exploring, the possibility of becoming significant producers of original news reporting to make up for the loss of the reporting that economically devastated news organizations can no longer afford."

To read the complete article, click here.

Image: Flickr - merelymel13

European Journalism Observatory, November 28, 2009

As 2009 comes to a close, the various problems afflicting the newspaper industry have hardly subsided, although several plans aimed at improving the state of affairs were spawned.

Pay walls, micro-payments, cost-cutting initiatives, online subscriptions, micro-donations, government bailouts – the list continues, although no clear winner surfaced. Of greatest value, perhaps, is the collection of ideas and experiments designed by researchers and practitioners, hoping to erect a new platform for the kind of journalism we gravely require. In what he calls a "Flying Seminar on the Future of News," Jay Rosen, author of journalism blog PressThink, collected several high-caliber articles dealing with the economy of news. 

For a thorough review, see his entry at Pressthink.

European Journalism Observatory, November 24, 2009

"Covering the Crisis," a conference organized by the EJC, focuses on the media's role in the financial crisis.  

Colossal failures in predicting the crash and reporting on Wall Street lie at the center of discussion. In her analysis, Cristina Romero writes, "The growing distance between the journalism industry, which is insufficiently funded, and public relations teams, often sophisticated and powerful lobby machines, is worsening the confrontation between the interests of the two."

Image: Flickr - geirarne

European Journalism Observatory, November 24, 2009

"Worlds of Journalisms," a collaborative project conducted by journalism researchers across the globe, releases data for download on the Web.

A comparative study aimed at examining journalism cultures across nations, news organizations and professional milieus, "Worlds of Journalisms" gathers data from 1800 journalists working for 356 news organizations in 18 countries. Countries surveyed include Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Egypt, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Mexico, Romania, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Uganda and the United States. According to the project's Web site, initial results suggest that detachment, providing political information and the watchdog function are journalism's broadest appeals, while various aspects of objectivism and the importance of separating fact from opinoin appear to play out differently by country.

As the project's research teams progress with data analysis, further results will be presented.

European Journalism Observatory, November 19, 2009

The Pew Internet and American Life Project examines social isolation and new technology.

Lee Rainie, director of the project, set out to test the assumption that the Internet contributes to feelings of isolation. The Pew survey finds that Americans are not as isolated as previously reported. In fact, use of the mobile phone and the Internet is associated with larger and more diverse discussion networks.

For the full Pew report, click here.

Photo: Flickr - MAheSh BaSeDiA