Shifting Roles,

Enduring Values

Laura Jing3320170

Three Historical Journalistic Roles(Ward, 2004)

• Essayist

• Spectator

• Register

Three Historical Journalistic Roles(cont.)

• Essayist Someone who writes essays giving their

ideas about politics, society etc

• Examples Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe Frank Devine Older and Wiser, Essays by

Frank Devine 2002–2009 more details

Three Historical Journalistic Roles(cont.)

• Spectator Someone who gives commentary on politics,

important events, or arts without incitement/provocation

• Examples• Spectator (editors: Joseph Addison & Richard

Steele)• Columbia Daily Spectator (the student newspaper

of Columbia University)

Three Historical Journalistic Roles(cont.)

• Register Someone who keeps and gathers all kinds of

records

• Examples Daily Courant (England newspaper) Harper’s Magazine INDEX

BUT, this categorical distinction is not working in contemporary world.

“Many bloggers, with their mix of commentary and reporting, are present-day partisans and spectators, contemporary versions of earlier pamphleteers.”

(Gillmor, 2004; Kochan, 2006)

Q: So, who are journalists?Are they——

• someone who give me information that I can trust?

• someone who are professionally dedicated to truth seeking (Wasserman cited in Thomas, 2005, p. 16)?

• someone who are trained to report nonfiction events to an audience (Turow, 2003, p.

45)?

A: Everybody !

picture by Carlos Gershenson(2006)

Q: And what’s the new role of a journalist?

Everything!

“The Web has brought many opportunities for journalists, as well as many new players into the new arena.”

(Rosen, 2009)

Journalists are those who provide information.

3 broad journalistic normative values(Hayes et al. 2007)

• Authenticity

• Accountability

• Autonomy

Saying About Authenticity

“For journalists, trust is earned through the regular provision of information that is credible, and inextricable interconnection of roles, values, and content.”

(Bok, 1989)

Examples• http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/horror-of-

entire-towns-flattened/2008/05/14/1210444529953.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

• http://www.theage.com.au/world/journey-through-an-earthquake-20090508-axyo.html?page=-1

Saying About Accountability

“The medium provides the capability; it’s up to humans to provide the credibility. And then it’s up to the community to say it’s so.”

(Hayes et al. 2007)

Example

• http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/model-forces-google-to-reveal-skank-bloggers-identity-20090819-epz0.html

Saying About Autonomy

“Journalists today find their autonomy challenged not so much by government, but by the very citizens to whom they owe their primary loyalty.”

(Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2001; Singer, 2007)

ExampleMedia Watch from ABC

Media Watch turns the spotlight onto those who literally 'make the news': the reporters, editors, sub-editors, producers, camera operators, sound recordists and photographers who claim to deliver the world to our doorsteps, radios, computers and living rooms. We also keep an eye on those who try to manipulate the media: the PR consultants, spin-doctors, lobbyists and "news makers" who set the agenda.

(Media Watch n.d.)

To sum up:

“News are not supposed to be just the report of something happened, they are supposed to be a GOOD report of it.”

(VoIP, 2008)

ReferencesMedia Watch ABC Television, 2010, accessed Aug 14, 2010,

<http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/more.htm>

Asher Moses, 2009, The Sydney Morning Herald, accessed Aug 14, 2010, <http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/model-forces-google-to-reveal-skank-bloggers-identity-20090819-epz0.html>

Daily Courant, Wikipedia, accessed Aug 14, 2010, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daily_Courant>

Hayes, AS, Singer, JB, and Ceppos, J 2007, ‘Shifting Roles, Enduring Values: The Credible Journalist in the Digital Age’, Journal of Mass Media Ethics, vol.22, no.4, pp. 262-279

John Garnaut and Francois Bougon, 2008, The Sydney Morning Herald, accessed Aug 13, 2010, <http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/horror-of-entire-towns flattened/2008/05/14/1210444529953.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1>

John Garnaut, 2009, The AGE, accessed Aug 13, 2010, < http://www.theage.com.au/world/journey-through-an-earthquake-20090508-axyo.html?page=-1>

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 5th Edition

Patrizia 2008, ‘What’s the role of a journalist’, weblog post, 20 February, accessed 18 August 2010,<http://woip.blogspot.com/2006/03/whats-role-of-journalist.html>

Rosen J 2009, WPN Viedios: The Role of Journalism in New Media, Las Vegas, online video, accessed 17 August 2010, <http://videos.webpronews.com/2009/10/23/the-role-of-journalism-in-new-media/>