Sharon Coen

The transformative potential of new interactive technology in journalism and specifically in broadcasting, where it touches on participatory programming is widely acknowledged in recent scholarship. Yet, there is no consensus on the implications of interactive technology adoption on the highly contentious profession of journalism and how technology is related to journalistic values and role conceptions. While studies of journalistic role conceptions rest on the assumption that conceptions are assessed from enacted journalistic contents (cf. Mellado and Lagos, 2014; Tandoc et al 2013; Ngomba, 2010), at best, relationships between technology and role conceptions, as perceived rather than as enacted in journalists' content is equally worthy of assessment. Following a review of literature on this purview, this article seeks to contribute to the ongoing discussion on new media and journalism and suggests an integrated conceptual model developed from extant theories on technology adoption and journalistic role conceptions in order to answer some pertinent questions. The proposed generic model could then be used to explore journalists' dispositions to interactive technology and how different roles may be engendered in the digital era.

SALTSA is a collaboration programme for occupational research in Europe. The National Institute for Working Life in Sweden and the Swedish confederations of trade unions SACO (the Swedish Confederation of Professional Associations), LO (the Swedish Trade Union Confederation) and TCO (the Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees) take part in the programme. Many problems and issues relating to working life are common to most European countries, and the purpose of the programme is to pave the way for joint ...

is study tests the associations between news media use and perceived political polarization, con- ceptualized as citizens’ beliefs about partisan divides among major political parties. Relying on repre- sentative surveys in Canada, Colombia, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States, we test whether perceived polarization is related to the use of televi- sion news, newspaper, radio news, and online news media. Data show that online news consumption is systematically and consistently related to perceived polarization, but not to attitude polarization, understood as individual attitude extremity. In contrast, the relationships between traditional media use and perceived and attitude polarization is mostly country dependent. An explanation of these  ndings based on exempli cation is proposed and tested in an experimental design.

Public service broadcasters (PSBs) are a central part of national news media landscapes, and are often regarded as specialists in the provision of hard news. But does exposure to public versus commercial news influence citizens’ knowledge of current affairs? This question is investigated in this article using cross-national surveys capturing knowledge of current affairs and media consumption. Propensity score analyses test for effects of PSBs on knowledge, and examine whether PSBs vary in this regard. Results indicate that compared to commercial news, PSBs have a positive influence on knowledge of hard news, though not all PSBs are equally effective in this way. Cross-national differences are related to factors such as de jure independence, proportion of public financing and audience share.

We propose a context‐dependent approach to the study of political information. Combining a content analysis of broadcast news with a national survey measuring public awareness of various events, issues, and individuals in the news, we show that properties of national media systems influence both the supply of news and citizens’ awareness of events in the news. Public service‐oriented media systems deliver hard news more frequently than market‐based systems. It follows that for citizens living under public service regimes, the opportunity costs of exposure to hard news are significantly lowered. Lowered costs allow less interested citizens to acquire political knowledge. Our analyses demonstrate that the knowledge gap between the more and less interested is widest in the US and smallest in Scandinavia.

As news media change, so media news consumption changes with them. This paper, part of a larger international research project involving 11 countries in four continents (Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia), is focused on news consumption. As the range of media outlets has increased dramatically in recent years, this paper asks which news sources are people regularly watching, listening to or reading to understand what is happening in the world. Moreover, the paper tries to detect whether television news remains at the top of the news hierarchy, seeking to identify differences in news consumption in different countries with different media cultures and, consequently, different media behaviour, as well as to reveal differences in news media uses between older and younger generations

"In analysing the news media’s role in serving the functions associated with democratic citizenship, the number, diversity and range of news sources are central. Research conducted on sources has overwhelmingly focused on individual national systems. However, studying variations in news source patterns across national environments enhances understanding of the media’s role. This article is based on a larger project, ‘‘Media System, Political Context and Informed Citizenship: A Comparative Study’’, involving 11 countries. It seeks, first, to identify differences between Countries in the sources quoted in the news; second, to establish whether there are consistent differences across countries between types of media in their sourcing patterns; and, third, to trace any emergent consistent patterns of variation between different types of organization across different countries. A range of findings related to news media source practices is discussed that highlights variations and patterns across different media and countries, thereby questioning common generalizations about the use of sources by newspapers and public service broadcasters. Finally, a case is made for comparative media research that helps enhance the news media’s key role as a social institution dedicated to informed citizenship."

While numerous studies view the internet as a patron of internationalism and public empowerment, this comparative study of leading news websites in nine nations shows that online news is strongly nation-centred, and much more inclined to cite the voices of authority than those of civil society and the individual citizen. Online news is very similar, in these respects, to newspaper and television news. This convergence is due to the way in which leading media conglomerates have extended their hegemony across technologies. It also reflects the constraints exerted by the wider societal context across all media.

This study, based on a content analysis of television news and survey in eleven nations, explores the split between those who see the media as politically alienating and others who see the media as encouraging greater political involvement. Here, we suggest that both positions are partly right. On the one hand, television news, and in particular public service television news, can be very effective in imparting information about public affairs and promoting a culture of democracy in which news exposure, public affairs knowledge, sense of democratic competence and political interest feed off each other. On the other hand, the views represented in public affairs news are overwhelmingly those of men and elites, which can discourage identification with public life.

... Pippa Norris, 'The Restless Searchlight: Network News Framing of the Post Cold-War World,' Political Communication, 12 (1996), 357 ... 20 Anker Brink Lund: 'Media Markets in Scandinavia: Political Economy Aspects of Convergence and Divergence.' Nordicom Review, 28 (2007 ...

In analysing the news media's role in serving the functions associated with democratic citizenship, the number, diversity and range of news sources are central. Research conducted on sources has overwhelmingly focused on individual national systems. However, studying variations in news source patterns across national environments enhances understanding of the media's role. This article is based on a larger project, “Media System, Political Context and Informed Citizenship: A Comparative Study”, involving 11 countries. It seeks, first, to identify differences between countries in the sources quoted in the news; second, to establish whether there are consistent differences across countries between types of media in their sourcing patterns; and, third, to trace any emergent consistent patterns of variation between different types of organization across different countries. A range of findings related to news media source practices is discussed that highlights variations and patterns across different media and countries, thereby questioning common generalizations about the use of sources by newspapers and public service broadcasters. Finally, a case is made for comparative media research that helps enhance the news media's key role as a social institution dedicated to informed citizenship.

On October 16th 2008, Ed Miliband, the UK government’s Energy and Climate Change Secretary, announced that Britain will sign up to a legally binding commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050. This ambitious legislation will need public support if it is to succeed, yet a recent MORI poll revealed widespread scepticism among the British public regarding the science of climate change and the government’s motives in addressing it (Ipsos MORI, 2008). This raises the important question, addressed in this paper, of what concerns British people have about the new legis- lation. We analysed 348 comments posted in response to online versions of UK newspaper articles reporting Ed Miliband’s announcement. Thematic analysis was employed in order to identify recurring issues raised by those commenting. It was found that a wide range of criticisms were made of the le- gislation, including suggestions that it was an excuse for higher taxes; that it would be bad for the country (by making it less competitive and/or by lowering standards of living), and that it is super uous because the UK contributes relatively little on a global scale. Criticisms of climate change science and environmentalism were also common. However, some commenters were more positive and many proposed and discussed alternative ways in which the government could cut greenhouse gas emissions. The kinds of comments made varied according to the newspaper being responded to. Our  ndings provide useful insights into the concerns that the British government will need to address if the British public are to embrace the legislation, and may provide pointers for other governments considering similar legislation.

British newspapers have denigrated anthropogenic climate change by misrepresenting scientific consensus and/or framing climate change within unsympathetic discourses. One aspect of the latter that has not been studied is the use of metaphor to disparage climate change science and proponents.This article analyses 122 British newspaper articles published using a religious metaphor between summer 2003 and 2008. Most were critical of climate change, especially articles in conservative newspapers The Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and The Times. Articles used religion as a source of metaphor to denigrate climate change in two ways: (1) undermining its scientific status by presenting it as irrational faith-based religion, and proponents as religious extremists intolerant of criticism; (2) mocking climate change using notions of sin, e.g. describing ‘green’ behaviours as atonement or sacrifice.We argue that the religious metaphor damages constructive debate by emphasizing morality and how climate change is discussed, and detracting attention from the content of scientific data and theories.