Death has become more prominent in the news in the past four decades. Articles about a murder or accident, which in the past may have featured on page five or seven of daily newspapers, now often take up all of the front page of The New Zealand Herald. New categories have also emerged, including the threat of death or near death. This is evident from the increase in human interest stories which not only report the details of the incident but also capture emotion. This article follows the increased visibility of death stories on the front page of New Zealand's largest newspaper, The New Zealand Herald, and investigates how that coverage has changed over time. International scholars have examined the visibility of death in the media closely. However, research is sparse about exactly how this large body of work correlates with New Zealand print media. Therefore, this study aims to close this gap by using content analysis to discuss the prominence of death in The New Zealand Herald over four decades from the 1970s, and the reasons for increased coverage of threats of death or near death.
This article identifies changes in gender patterns in New Zealand journalism by focussing on print newsrooms between the national census in 2006 and 2013. Apart from a significant drop (61%) in print journalists over the 7-year period, the ratio of malesto-females in newsrooms remained virtually the same, at around 50:50. In contrast, the article also analyses enrolments by gender at the largest journalism programme in the country. The results highlight a marked discrepancy between the number of females enrolling in journalism courses (76% on average between 2005 and 2015) and the numbers of females in newsrooms. The statistical analysis of the 2013 data indicates that males are more likely to be employed as print journalists, to earn more and achieve senior positions. The chasm between the number of female students and working print journalists reinforces the need for more comprehensive data gathering to monitor gender patterns in the New Zealand media industry and address this inexplicable gap.
Young journalists today are highly likely to cover traumatic incidents early in their careers, with many confronting trauma day to day. This pressure is exacerbated in the current economic climate and fast-paced changing world of journalism. New Zealand graduates are no exception. Few are prepared by their journalism schools to deal with trauma. Should they be taught these skills during their training or should they wait until they are in the workplace? Research has recommended the former for at least two decades. Perhaps it is time New Zealand caught up with many American and Australian journalism schools and introduced changes to the journalism curricula to ensure graduates are equipped with skills to recognise signs of stress in themselves as well as victims. The workplace can support this training with recognition and support, which has been shown to improve productivity and resilience.
Unlike the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia, where celebrities are often subjected to derision in the tabloid media, the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, the country’s longest-running women’s magazine, respects and values its local celebrities. A content analysis of cover lines on the magazine over the past eight decades reveals that although the magazine has adhered to a steadfast formula of celebrating mothers and wives, there has been a steady shift to a focus on the love lives and scandals of foreign celebrities. More recently, however, the magazine has turned its attention to well-known New Zealanders and developed its own brand of celebrity news.
With journalism ethics increasingly coming under scrutiny, it can seem incongruous that editors continue to expect novice journalists to carry out 'death knock' stories, where they are expected to interview the victim's next of kin to find out more about the person. Journalism students are seldom trained in how to deal with these sensitive interviews, instead, most practise on the public. Simple role-play exercises at Auckland University of Technology-using professional actors-highlight the significance of students 'winging' it. The lack of training for challenging but routine duties including death knocks can lead to emotional exhaustion, burn out and a greater chance of victims being retraumatized. This article focuses on the concept of emotional labour (Hochschild, 1983, The managed heart: Commercialization of human feeling. Berkeley: University of California Press) and how it can affect journalists. According to Hochschild, emotional labour refers to the process by which people are expected to manage their feelings in accordance with work-defined rules and guidelines. In other words, this term describes the strategies that people adopt and that go beyond physical or mental duties. It is increasingly important that educators consider emotional labour, not only for the sake of graduates who will cover traumatic events but also for the reputation of journalism as a profession.
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