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Australian Journalism Review - Current Issue
Volume 46, Issue 2, 2024
- Editorial
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- Articles
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Australian journalism and challenges of climate change reporting: Lessons for journalists and academics
Authors: Kylie Navuku and Levi ObijioforA steadily increasing body of scholarship on Australian media coverage of climate change in Pacific Island countries has emerged over the past two decades. Often critical of journalists and media organizations, this body of research still offers much to learn about Australian journalism and coverage of climate change and its impact on Pacific Island countries. Also significant, are lessons that can be learned about the state of research on this subject. The article draws out common themes in the discussion and raises questions about the ways in which journalists and media organizations are framed in scholarship relating to climate change. Through a review of published literature and media content analysis, lessons for journalists, media organizations and academics are outlined. The article contends that there is need for more research on Australian media reporting on climate change in Pacific Island countries. The authors note that there is room for positivity about the future of Australian reporting on climate change in the region.
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‘What will the lawyers say?’: Australian newsroom perspectives on journalism ethics and naming criminal suspects in a digital world
Authors: Steve Lillebuen and Johan LidbergThis article examines journalism ethics and identifying criminal suspects in Australian news coverage. This study builds off our previous research, which established that naming is so commonplace, it is occurring on a daily basis in the state of Victoria, even in cases with little public interest justification. A survey of 410 Australian news media professionals, as well as twelve semi-structured interviews, found journalists believe naming is an ethical decision, but it is not high on their agenda with naming treated as their default position. Media lawyers play a key role in newsroom naming practices with the legal strongly influencing what is deemed ethical. These findings are significant because it is the first empirical data from Australia and the findings are in stark contrast with news reporting practices in other countries. This article argues for stronger ethical guidelines in a digital news media environment where naming is now global and forever.
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Balancing journalism education and community radio news: A ‘bittersweet’ paradox
Authors: Bridget Backhaus and Heather AndersonThe Community Broadcasting Codes of Practice (the Codes) play an important role in shaping what Australians listen to and how they engage with their local community radio station. In a sector defined by grassroots participation and a non-professional, volunteer workforce, the Codes aim to model best practice in terms of content, community participation and governance. Several sections apply specifically to news and current affairs (NCAF) coverage, yet there is no independent research that explores the sector’s alignment with the Codes in this area. Drawing on a content analysis of 572 community radio NCAF stories broadcast on nationally syndicated programmes, and interviews with journalists and news producers, this research sought to critically analyse NCAF coverage on community radio in light of the Codes of Practice. The results of the research suggest that NCAF coverage on community radio broadly aligns with the Codes of Practice, yet there are mixed interpretations of what can be considered ‘views not adequately represented’ elsewhere. Part of this uncertainty stems from the reliance on media students as volunteer journalists. This article interrogates this tension between the sector’s role as an informal ‘training ground’ for aspiring media workers and its remit to provide alternative NCAF coverage.
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The roles and ethics of journalism: A comparative study of journalistic cultures in two student cohorts
Authors: Louisa Lim, Lucy Smy, Jeff Sparrow and Li-Chia LoThis study uses journalistic instrumental-value surveys to compare how two cohorts of postgraduate journalism students, one of which completed undergraduate studies in Australia and the other in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), weigh the importance of journalistic ethics and roles. It finds that the students who previously studied in Australia consistently value the adversarial and interpretative functions of the press as more important, while the students who studied in China rate the mobilizer and disseminator function of journalists as more significant. While the differences surrounding perception of ethical issues are not pronounced, the students who had studied in China perceive greater difficulty resolving issues of taste and decency. Drawing on a schema used by Hanusch and Hanitzsch in 2019, the study analyses the results in respect of differing journalistic cultures and notes the implications for an Australian journalistic education system that increasingly services international students.
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- Emerging Scholars
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The implications of COVID-19 on regional journalism in far north Queensland: Measuring the heart rate of local communities
More LessIn 2020, COVID-19 thrust newsrooms into lockdown, affecting how journalists source, gather and report news. According to media giant News Corp, the pandemic fast-tracked its axing of more than 112 community newspapers, already vulnerable following a decade of gradual decline exacerbated by the arrival of digital technology. Consequently, hundreds of jobs were slashed and ‘news deserts’ were created across vast swathes of rural Australia, including far north Queensland. This article looks closely at the mediascape in far north Queensland from a journalism industry perspective during COVID-19, a time which saw a raft of differing and, sometimes, conflicting pressures exerted on journalists – from complying with health and safety regulations to fulfilling the community’s insatiable hunger for information. Through an online survey and long-form interviews with journalists, the study informing this article focuses on what happens when newsrooms are centralized, diminished in resources and the most senior journalists are made redundant and, as such, no longer available to mentor or control journalistic quality. It also observes the arrival of a new and independent press or ‘green shoots’ while casting an eye on the future of local news.
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When the public does not trust science: What can journalists do about it?
Authors: Suzannah Lyons and Johan LidbergWhile overall levels of trust and interest in science are high, a significant proportion of audiences are distrustful of or disinterested in science. This is not an esoteric concern. Science literacy is important for the meaningful participation of the public in discussions about the impact of science on society at a time when many key global problems have some basis in science. There are also private benefits for individuals, like preventing them from being misled by misinformation and disinformation. What can science journalists do to address these issues? Using a global media ethics lens, this study deployed a mixed methods approach including surveys and semi-structured interviews, to evaluate how science journalists can produce stories that better engage audiences with science, thereby potentially increasing science literacy. By revealing the cultural barriers holding science back, inherent tensions between journalistic working practices and conveying the true nature of science but also how these might be overcome, the project outlined what strong science journalism could look like in Australia in 2024.
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- Book Reviews
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The Media and Communications in Australia, 5th ed., Bridget Griffen-Foley and Sue Turnbull (eds) (2024)
More LessReview of: The Media and Communications in Australia, 5th ed., Bridget Griffen-Foley and Sue Turnbull (eds) (2024)
London and New York: Routledge, 343 pp.,
ISBN 978-1-03224-905-6, h/bk, AUD 210.40
ISBN 978-1-03224-904-9, p/bk, AUD 59.19
ISBN 978-1-00328-064-4, e-book, AUD 53.59
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The Paradox of Connection: How Digital Media Is Transforming Journalistic Labor, Diana Bossio, Valérie Bélair-Gagnon, Avery E. Holton and Logan Molyneux (2024)
More LessReview of: The Paradox of Connection: How Digital Media Is Transforming Journalistic Labor, Diana Bossio, Valérie Bélair-Gagnon, Avery E. Holton and Logan Molyneux (2024)
Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 184 pp.,
ISBN 978-0-25204-561-5, cloth, USD 110.00
ISBN 978-0-25208-773-8, p/bk, USD 26.00
ISBN 978-0-25205-527-0, e-book, USD 19.95
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Black Witness: The Power of Indigenous Media, Amy Mcquire (2024)
More LessReview of: Black Witness: The Power of Indigenous Media, Amy Mcquire (2024)
Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, 336 pp.,
ISBN 978-0-70226-332-3, p/bk, AUD 34.99
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Antiracist Journalism: The Challenge of Creating Equitable Local News, Andrea Wenzel (2023)
More LessReview of: Antiracist Journalism: The Challenge of Creating Equitable Local News, Andrea Wenzel (2023)
New York: Columbia University Press, 304 pp.,
ISBN 978-0-23120-969-4, p/bk, USD 35.00
ISBN 978-0-23120-968-7, h/bk, USD 140.00
ISBN 978-0-23155-806-8, e-book, USD 34.99
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Multicultural Journalism: Critical Reflexivity in News Practice, Margaret E. Thompson (2024)
More LessReview of: Multicultural Journalism: Critical Reflexivity in News Practice, Margaret E. Thompson (2024)
New York: Routledge, 248 pp.,
ISBN 978-1-13806-642-7, p/bk, USD 75.99
ISBN 978-1-13806-640-3, h/bk, USD 284.00
ISBN 978-1-31515-917-1, e-book, USD 68.99
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Transnational Broadcasting in the Indo Pacific: The Battle for Trusted News and Information, Alexandra Wake (ed.) (2024)
More LessReview of: Transnational Broadcasting in the Indo Pacific: The Battle for Trusted News and Information, Alexandra Wake (ed.) (2024)
London: Palgrave Macmillan, 227 pp.,
ISBN 978-3-03147-570-2, h/bk, AUD 169.00
ISBN 978-3-03147-571-9, e-book, AUD 157.94
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