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Summary: "This groundbreaking collection advances understanding of the concept of media practices by critically interrogating its relevance for the study of citizen and activist media. Media as practice has emerged as a powerful approach to understanding the media's significance in contemporary society. Bringing together contributions from leading scholars in sociology, media and communication, social movement and critical data studies, this book stimulates dialogue across previously separate traditions of research on citizen and activist media practices and stakes out future directions for research in this burgeoning interdisciplinary field. Framed by a foreword by Nick Couldry and a substantial introductory chapter by the editors, contributions to the volume trace the roots and appropriations of the concept of media practice in Latin American communication theory; reflect on the relationship between activist agency and technological affordances; explore the relevance of the media practice approach for the study of media activism, including activism that takes media as its central object of struggle; and demonstrate the significance of the media practice approach for understanding processes of mediatization and datafication. Offering both a comprehensive introduction to scholarship on citizen media and practice and a cutting-edge exploration of a novel theoretical framework, the book is ideal for students and experienced scholars alike"-- Provided by publisher.

Summary: Citizen Journalism explores citizen participation in the news as an evolving disruptive practice in digital journalism. This volume moves beyond the debates over the mainstream news media attempts to control and contain citizen journalism to focus attention in a different direction: the peripheries of traditional journalism. Here, more independent forms of citizen journalism, enabled by social media, are creating their own forms of news. Among the actors at the boundaries of the professional journalism field the book identifies are the engaged citizen journalist and the enraged citizen journalist. The former consists of under-represented voices leading social justice movements, while the latter reflects the views of conservatives and the alt-right, who often view citizen journalism as a performance. Citizen Journalism further explores how non-journalism arenas, such as citizen science, enable ordinary citizens to collect data and become protectors of the environment. Citizen Journalism serves as an important reminder of the professional field's failure to effectively respond to the changing nature of public communication. These changes have helped to create new spaces for new actors; in such places, traditional as well as upstart forms of journalism negotiate and compete, ultimately aiding the journalism field in creating its future.

Summary: Media independence is central to the organization, make-up, working practices and output of media systems across the globe. Often stemming from western notions of individual and political freedoms, independence has informed the development of media across a range of platforms: from the freedom of the press as the ""fourth estate"" and the rise of Hollywood's Independent studios and Independent television in Britain, through to the importance of ""Indy"" labels in music and gaming and the increasing importance of independence of voice in citizen journalism. Media independence for many, therefor.

Summary: African newsrooms are experiencing the disruptive impact of new digital technologies on the way they generate and disseminate news. Indeed, newsrooms are being forced to adapt in various ways and there are clear dimensions of localized creativity and adaptations by journalists to the digital revolution. In the same way, the influences of digitization, internet, and social media are changing the informational needs of readers, including how they engage with news. These developments nonetheless remain on the margins of ‘mainstream’ journalism research – very few researchers have sought to qualitatively capture the implications of developments in digital technologies on the routine practices of African journalists, especially in their ‘natural habitat’, the newsroom. In this light, this edited volume interrogates the changing ecology of news-making in Africa in the context of rapid technological changes in newsrooms as well as in the wider social context of news production. It brings together six contributions drawn from five countries: Egypt, Mozambique, South Africa, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, to explore practices, challenges and professional normative dilemmas emerging with the adoption and appropriation of new technologies. While the studies point to dimensions of localised new technology appropriations as defined by the complex socio-political structures in which African journalists operate, they are not rigidly confined to Africa. They are expressly in dialogue with theoretical observations largely emerging from Western scholarship. In this sense, the book goes beyond simply mainstreaming African perspectives, it engages directly with dominant theoretical observations and offers a point of departure for developing what could loosely be branded as an African digital journalism epistemology.

Summary: "There is no doubt, journalism faces challenging times. Since the turn of the millennium, the financial health of the news industry is failing, mainstream audiences are on the decline, and professional authority, credibility and autonomy are eroding. The outlook is bleak and it's understandable that many are pessimistic. But this book argues that we have to rethink journalism fundamentally. Rather than just focus on the symptoms of the 'crisis of journalism', this collection tries to understand the structural transformation journalism is undergoing. It explores how the news media attempts to combat decreasing levels of trust, how emerging forms of news affect the established journalistic field, and how participatory culture creates new dialogues between journalists and audiences. Crucially, it does not treat these developments as distinct transformations. Instead, it considers how their interrelation accounts for both the tribulations of the news media and the need for contemporary journalism to redefine itself"--Provided by publisher.

Summary: This volume revisits what we know about the relationship between journalists and their sources. By asking new questions, employing novel methodologies, and confronting sweeping changes to journalism and media, the contributors reinvigorate the conversation about who gets to speak through the news. It challenges established thinking about how journalists use sources, how sources influence journalists, and how these patterns relate to the power to represent the world to news audiences. Useful to both newcomers and scholars familiar with the topic, the chapters bring together leading journalisms.

Summary: "As the world of politics and public affairs has gradually changed beyond recognition over the past two decades, journalism too has been transformed. Yet the study of news and journalism often seems stuck with ideas and debates which have lost much of their critical purchase. Journalism is at acrossroads: it needs to reaffirm core values and rediscover key activities, almost certainly in new forms, or it risks losing its distinctive character as well as its commercial basis."--Jacket.

Summary: Drawing on current theoretical debates in journalism studies, and grounded in empirical research, Heinrich here analyzes the interplay between journalistic practice and processes of globalization and digitalization. She argues that a new kind of journalism is emerging, characterized by an increasingly global flow of news as well as a growing number of news deliverers. Within this transformed news sphere the roles of journalistic outlets change. They become nodes, arranged in a dense net of information gatherers, producers, and disseminators. The interactive connections among these news providers constitute what Heinrich calls the sphere of "network journalism".

Summary: "International Journalism and Democracy" explores a new form of journalism that has been dubbed ‘deliberative journalism’. As the name suggests, these forms of journalism support deliberation — the processes in which citizens recognize and discuss the issues that affect their communities, appraise the potential responses to those issues, and make decisions about whether and how to take action. Authors from across the globe identify the types of journalism that assist deliberative politics in different cultural and political contexts. Case studies from 15 nations spotlight different approaches to deliberative journalism, including strategies that have been sometimes been labeled as public or civic journalism, peace journalism, development journalism, citizen journalism, the street press, community journalism, social entrepreneurism, or other names. Countries that are studied in-depth include the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Finland, China, India, Japan, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Nigeria, Brazil, Colombia and Puerto Rico. Each of the approaches that are described offers a distinctive potential to support deliberative democracy. However, the book does not present any of these models or case studies as examples of categorical success. Instead, it explores different elements of the nature, strengths, limitations and challenges of each approach, as well as issues affecting their longer-term sustainability and effectiveness. The book also describes the underlying principles of deliberation, the media’s potential role in deliberation from a theoretical and practical perspective, and ongoing issues for deliberative media practitioners.