The sociology of news production

Political communication in a high-choice media environment: a challenge for democracy?

“…To stay profitable in a time of relentless pressure to invest in new technologies, the number of media mergers has increased in many countries and caused their markets to become more concentrated (Almiron, 2010;Fenton, 2011;Papathanasopoulos & Negrine, 2011). This is frequently seen as a problem for society as it affects the diversity of actors and viewpoints represented in public debates (Cook, 1998;Schudson, 2003;Thompson, 1995). The key concern is that increased ownership concentration in a given political communication environment may lead to a more 'narrow ideological debate' in the media (Benson, 2004;Curran, 2006).…”

When facts, truth, and reality are God‐terms: on journalism's uneasy place in cultural studies

“…Emphasizing "the constraining force of broad cultural symbol systems regardless of the details of organizational and occupational routines," the cultural analysis of journalism moves decidedly in tandem with, but in opposition to, the pronounced and conventional understandings of how journalism works. 5 Undercutting the pronounced sense of self that journalism professionals have long set forth regarding their practices and position in the world, cultural inquiry assumes that journalists employ collective knowledge to become members of the group and maintain their membership over time, yet presumes that what is explicit and articulated as that knowledge may not reflect the whole picture of what journalism is and tries to be. 6 Cultural inquiry thus travels the uneven road of reading journalism against its own grain while giving that grain extended attention.…”

Reporting risk, producing prejudice: How news reporting on obesity shapes attitudes about health risk, policy, and prejudice

“…Less understood is how news media exposure shapes such attitudes. While the "hypodermic" model of media effects e in which the media inject ideas into a passive public e has been largely discredited, there is evidence that the ways in which the news media frame an issue has some causal force, albeit moderated by social location (Schudson, 2003). For instance, after exposure to messages emphasizing that childhood obesity is dangerous, conservatives are more likely to believe childhood obesity is a serious problem and are more likely to support obesity policy interventions when childhood obesity is framed as a threat to military readiness (Gollust et al, 2013;Wallington et al, 2010).…”