Anglo-American journalism has typically drawn a firm dividing line between those who report the news and those who run the business of news. This boundary, often referred to in the West as a ‘Chinese Wall’, is designed to uphold the independence of journalists from commercial interests or the whims of news proprietors. But does this separation still exist in today’s age of social media and at a time when news revenues are under unprecedented pressure? This article focuses on Twitter, now a widely used tool in the newsroom, analysing the Twitter output of 10 UK political correspondents during the busy party conference season. It examines how they promote their own stories or ‘personal brand’ and whether they are stepping over a once forbidden line, blurring the boundary between news and the business. The research is complemented by interviews with political correspondents and analysis of editorial codes of practice on the use of social media. It draws on a conceptual framework of boundary work (Carlson & Lewis, 2015) to pose the question whether such practice has now become accepted and normalised. The findings suggest that the 10 political correspondents are highly individualistic in their use of Twitter but all have embraced its use to promote their own work plus that of colleagues both inside their own organisation and those working for rival news outlets. Their acceptance of Twitter as a tool for self-promotion and branding suggests that in this area of reporting the practice has become normalised and the wall has been breached.
The political and media rhetoric of the pandemic is that of conflict and a call to arms in face of a hidden enemy. But this is not a distant war where journalists are parachuted in to report on the action for a few weeks and then fly home. It is on our own doorstep. Many of those covering the global crisis do not correspond to the popular image of hardened conflict reporters and may have little experience in dealing with distressing stories of death, grief and mourning. How are journalists coping with the everyday diet of trauma when the corona frontline may be affecting their families, friends and colleagues? this article explores these issues through narrative interviews with UK-based journalists covering the pandemic for broadcast, print and digital media. It seeks to capture their "emotional labour" and explore possible differences in their practice and the coping strategies they employ. The paper locates this discussion within the context of an industry that has paid relatively little heed to these issues and considers what longterm implications the coronavirus may have for the next generation of digital journalists.
Since peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the country´s leftist Farc guerrillas began in 2012, it is generally accepted in the country that journalism has a responsibility to nurture peace and that the media can positively influence reconciliation in the aftermath of violence. But a recent analysis of domestic news coverage of the conflict concluded that the voices of victims were distinctly absent and that the overwhelming majority of Colombian news coverage involved official sources. This paper argues that a journalism intended to promote peace and reconciliation must include a wider range of voices and more specifically speak to those who have direct experience of conflict and the suffering it can inflict.In particular, we argue that a deeper understanding of trauma may help to strengthen resilience in both individuals and society, and ultimately contribute to peacebuilding. Drawing on the authors' research project working with young people embroiled in Colombia's civil conflict, the paper explores an alternative and innovative approach to the retelling of the stories of others and to post conflict reporting. At a broad societal level, the project aimed to make a contribution to the process of reconciliation in Colombia, using an autobiographical approach to capture and re-construct the participants' first-hand experiences of the conflict and to highlight the challenges of re-integration. It presented their hopes for peace and reconciliation through animation and the creation of a short, animated documentary. At a journalistic level, the project set out to explore the efficacy of combining traditional methods of storytelling with animation technology to offer anonymity to vulnerable contributors of testimony. The paper describes the research project and reflects on the challenges of working with vulnerable children and of telling their stories in a way that can promote the reintegration of marginalised individuals and groups into society.
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