In this article we suggest economic theory (specifically rational choice theory) as a promising approach to analyze the dramatic changes journalism is currently going through. Referring to the model of the 'homo economicus maturus' as well as to previous research by a small but growing number of scholars of mass communication, we describe journalists as rational actors seeking to maximize materialistic and non-materialistic rewards (e.g. attention, reputation, fringe benefits). We explain why, how and under what kind of restrictions journalists trade information for attention with their sources, calculating risks and benefits. Further, we apply economic concepts (free-riding, external effects, and principal-agent theory) to journalism to provide more in-depth explanations for specific developments in journalism such as 'pack reporting'. We conclude that assuming self-interested behaviour of media professionals will enable scholars of journalism to identify and predict more systematically the failures of journalism and blind spots of media coverage.
This article presents key results of a comparative journalists' survey on media accountability, for which 1762 journalists in 14 countries had been interrogated online. The article explores how European journalists perceive the impact of old versus new media accountability instruments on professional journalistic standards -established instruments like press councils, ethics codes, ombudsmen and media criticism, but also more recent online instruments like newsroom blogs and criticism via social media. Thus, the study also adds empirical data to the current debate about the future of media self-regulation in Europe, ignited by the Leveson Inquiry in the United Kingdom as well as the European Commission's High-Level Group on Media Freedom and Pluralism.
The last decade has witnessed a significant, albeit understudied, increase in media reporting and media criticism in the U.S. news media. An exploratory study of leading media reporters and media critics in the United States indicates that these journalists have considerable potential as instruments of media self-regulation. Their impact on other media professionals, however, is partially left unexploited, mainly because of the peer orientation of media critics and media reporters.
The crisis in Ukraine was one of the dominant topics in international news coverage of 2014 and the following years. Representing a conflict along the lines of an East-Western confrontation unprecedented since the end of the Cold War, the news reporting in different European countries with different historical backgrounds is an essential research topic. This article presents findings of a content analysis examining coverage of the conflict in the first half of 2014 in newspapers from a diverse set of 13 countries: Albania, Czech Republic, Germany, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, as well as Ukraine and Russia. Drawing on prior literature on news values, key events, and news cycles in foreign coverage, this study maps the evolution of the conflict in the course of four key events and identifies specific characteristics of the coverage in different newspapers. The results show that attention for the conflict varies considerably across the countries, which might be traced back to different degrees of geographical and cultural proximity, domestication, and economic exchange, as well as lack of editorial resources especially in Eastern Europe. Russia dominated the news agenda in all newspapers under study with a constant stream of conflict news. Contradicting prior literature, media sought to contextualise the events, and meta-coverage of the media’s role in the crisis emerged as a relevant topic in many countries with a developed media system.
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