Critical Incidents in Journalism: Pivotal Moments Reshaping Journalism around the World

by Edson Tandoc Jr. (Editor), Joy Jenkins (Editor), Ryan Thomas (Editor), Oscar Westlund (Editor)

Overview

This edited collection examines critical incidents journalists have faced across different media contexts, exploring how journalists and other key actors negotiate various aspects of their work.

Ranging from the Rwandan genocide to the News of the World hacking scandal in the UK, this book defines a critical incident as an event that has led journalists to reconsider their routines, roles, and rules. Combining theoretical and practical analysis, the contributors offer a discussion of the key events that journalists cover, such as political turmoil or natural disasters, as well as events that directly involve and affect journalists. Featuring case studies from countries including Australia, Germany, Brazil, Kenya, and the Philippines, the book explores the discourses that critical events have generated, how journalists and other stakeholders have responded to them, and how they have reshaped (or are reshaping) journalistic norms and practices. The book also proposes a roadmap for studying such pivotal moments in journalism.

This one-of-a-kind collection is a valuable resource for students and scholars across journalism studies disciplines, from journalism history, to sociology of news, to digital journalism and political communication.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367895341
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/09/2020
Pages:	282
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Edson C. Tandoc Jr. is an Associate Professor at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. His research focuses on the sociology of message construction in the context of digital journalism. He has conducted studies on the construction of news and social media messages. His studies about influences on journalists have focused on the impact of journalistic roles, new technologies, and audience feedback on the various stages of the news gatekeeping process. This stream of research has led him to study journalism from the perspective of news consumers as well, investigating how readers make sense of critical incidents in journalism and take part in reconsidering journalistic norms; and how changing news consumption patterns facilitate the spread of fake news

Joy Jenkins is an Assistant Professor of digital journalism at the University of Tennessee School of Journalism and Electronic Media. Her research uses a sociological approach to examine changing organizational identities and practices in newsrooms, with a particular focus on local media. Jenkins is also a research associate at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford.

Ryan J. Thomas is an Associate Professor of Journalism Studies at the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism. His research program addresses the intersection of journalism ethics and the sociology of news, focusing on journalism amid processes of change: the forces shaping journalism, how journalists make sense of them, and how these changes affect journalism’s institutional obligations and role in public life. His research has been published in such journals as Journalism Studies, Digital Journalism, the Journal of Media Ethics, Journalism Practice, and New Media & Society

Oscar Westlund is a Professor at the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at Oslo Metropolitan University, where he leads the OsloMet Digital Journalism Research Group. He holds secondary appointments at Volda University College and University of Gothenburg. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Digital Journalism. He leads the epistemologies of digital news production, a research project funded by the Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences. He is a project member of the international research project Source Criticism and Mediated Disinformation (2020-2024). His most recent book is What is Digital Journalism Studies? (Routledge, 2020), co-authored with Steen Steensen.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations x

List of contributors xi

Acknowledgments xviii

Introduction: Theorizing critical incidents in journalism across the globe Joy Jenkins Edson C. Tandoc Jr. Ryan J. Thomas Oscar Westlund 1

Section I Conceptualizing Critical Incidents 13

1.1 Critical incident as a construct in journalism studies Paul D'Angela 15

1.2 Journalistic critical incidents as boundary making and the making of boundaries around critical incidents Matt Carlson 28

Section II Characteristics of journalistic Work 43

2.1 Peeling or plagiarizing? A Danish media scandal as an incident of re-instating boundaries in the grey zones of "good" journalistic citing practices Jannie Møller Hartley Maria Bendix Wittchen Mark Blach-Ørsten 45

2.2 The voices of Aleppo: Re-evaluating US journalistic practices for news coverage of children during the Syrian Civil War Jeanna Sybert 57

2.3 Reporting when the current media system is at stake: Explaining news coverage about the initiative on the abolition of public service broadcasting in Switzerland Linards Udris Mark Eisenegger Daniel Vogler Andrea Häuptli Lisa Schwaiger 71

2.4 "You can't run away from the truth": Journalistic reflections of enduring injustices that shape news-making in Kenya Irene Awino 85

2.5 Mexico's 2006 Drug War and its impacts on newsroom practices: From violence to anonymity and self-censorship Manuel Chavez 99

2.6 (Re)telling the story: Is the Rwanda genocide a critical incident in journalism? Florence Madenga 109

2.7 False accusations in a school: A critical incident in Brazilian journalism 25 years later Rafael Grohmann Felipe Moura de Oliveira Moreno Osorio 119

Section III Communities Engaging in Interpretation 127

3.1 Critical incidents and auto-analysis: Photojoumalists' introspections while covering the drug war in the Philippines Ma. Diosa Labiste 129

3.2 Boundary work on media freedom after the phone hacking scandal in the United Kingdom Binakuromo Ogbebor 139

3.3 United in protest: Coverage of attacks against journalists in the 2019 Hong Kong demonstrations as a critical incident James Zhang Joy Jenkins 152

3.4 Save the Children UK's #blogladesh campaign and the change in humanitarian reporting Glenda Cooper 166

3.5 Lives and livestreaming: Negotiating social media boundaries in the Christchurch terror attack in New Zealand Matthew Chew Edson C. Tandoc Jr. 178

Section IV Consequences of Critical Incidents 190

4.1 Cross-border investigative collaboration on the surviving stories: The Forbidden Stories Maria Konow-Lund Eva-Karin Olsson 191

4.2 The Spiegel Affair, 1962: The incident that changed German journalism history and mediatized politics Thomas Birkner Sebastian Mallek 203

4.3 From disruptive power to trapped endurance: Egypt's journalistic agency after the Tahrir Revolution Hanan Badr 216

4.4 An uncritical incident?: Journalism and Indigenous deaths in custody in Australia David Nolan Lisa Waller 230

5 Critical incidents in journalism: Conceptualization, characteristics, communities, and consequences Ryan J. Thomas Edson C. Tandoc Jr. Oscar Westlund Joy Jenkins 244

Index 261

Editorial Reviews

"This timely volume authoritatively develops the idea of the critical incident as a key sensitizing concept in journalism studies. The book offers a rigorous conceptualisation, followed by a truly global and diverse range of case studies – from the Hong Kong demonstrations to the Rwandan genocide. In opening up for new ways of seeing journalism, the book stands as both an invaluable contribution to knowledge and indispensable reading for students and scholars of journalism."

Professor Karin Wahl-Jorgensen, Cardiff University

"A book that offers fresh perspectives on critical incidents in journalism was long overdue and Joy Jenkins, Edson C. Tandoc Jr., Ryan J. Thomas, and Oscar Westlund are perfectly placed to competently and authoritatively lead such an ambitious global endeavor. Using meticulous research, rigorous analysis and influential scholarship, their volume presents new methodological and theoretical directions that will undoubtedly help shape the future of journalism studies."

Professor Bruce Mutsvairo, Auburn University

From the Publisher