Search

The rule of thirds is a longstanding principle that helps artists and photographers to compose aesthetically pleasing images. Despite the rule's wide use by photographers, little is known about its impact on viewers in particular to raise attention to the main subject and narrative of an image but also to possibly limit cognitive load. The findings of this exploratory, experimental study of undergraduate students at a U.S. university suggest that the rule of thirds serves as a geometric guiding structure that directs participants' vision. The rule of thirds appears to enhance participants' ease of information processing by raising attention to the predominant visual content of an image, making it more salient to the observer. Overall, the rule of thirds enabled a more correct recognition of the primary valence and the main subject or focus of interest of an image, indicating that participants may glean a better understanding of the intended message of an image. But findings also indicate significant differences between the rule of thirds composition and the placement of the main subject along the rule of thirds grid, suggesting the latter as being more effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term Lügenpresse, 'lying press', was used by the German National Socialist Party before and during the Third Reich to discredit the news media and to undermine public trust. By 2014, reports of verbal and physical attacks on journalists and news organizations by individuals calling them Lügenpresse, had again become a frequent feature of the public discourse in Germany. While the term 'fake news' is used to similar effect and intent in the United States, Lügenpresse is a historically and politically charged expression of distrust in news media on an institutional level. This research examines the responses and institutional strategies of 27 news editors and executive editors in Germany's leading broadcast, print and online news organizations to the accusations that they are lying to their audiences. Findings indicate that the reemergence of the term Lügenpresse, has led to considerable self-reflection within institutions, in an effort to counter the lack of trust and to demonstratively better serve the public. The main focus across newsrooms is on improving established processes and on making professional standards and practices more visible to the audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ghostwriting became a popular practice in sports journalism during the 1920s, as championed by sports press agent Christy Walsh. The practice has re-emerged in the 21st century, in social media and particularly as demonstrated by the new website The Players' Tribune. Its popularity encourages ethical discussion about ghostwriting's conflation of journalism and public relations, and the ethical debate it incites. Particular attention centers on the core journalism value of transparency, as it relates to both professions. The article posits that the blurring of professional boundaries between public relations and journalism can have detrimental effects to the credibility of both fields. The authors call for greater transparency in the use of ghostwriting, particularly when used in a sports journalism setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This mixed-methods study, conducted during the highly polarizing and uncivil 2016 U.S. presidential election, examines how college students' conceptions of audience and the tone of discourse on social media informed their decisions to express or withhold political opinions. A preelection survey found that students (N = 198) preferred to discuss political views offline rather than on social media. Postelection focus groups (N = 196) found near consensus that posting political opinions on social media was an ineffective way to persuade others or break new ground in political dialogue. Participants perceived no benefit to sharing opinions that had already widely circulated within their politically homogenous social network, and they sought to avoid conflicts they witnessed when outspoken members of their networks engaged with people with whom they disagreed. We explore how students' impression management and perceived identity threats led them to limit political expression on social media despite having strong interest in and feelings about the election. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a journalistic norm transparency has gained institutional acceptance in the United States. However, comparatively little is known about the extent to which news organizations in other national contexts have adopted this norm. This paper explores how transparency, as an innovation in journalism, has been diffused, i.e. perceived and possibly implemented, in German newsrooms. Interviews with 17 journalists from leading German news organizations indicate that although certain forms of openness have been conceptually adopted, transparency is far from being embraced as an innovation nor institutionally implemented, indicating that the adoption of an innovation such as transparency remains contingent on national contextual factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion that journalists in an interconnected world increasingly share values typically associated with the so-called “professional model” has gained considerable currency with scholars arguing that ideas such as a belief in journalistic autonomy, public service, objectivity, and the significance of ethics are widely espoused by journalists on a global scale. Underlying this conceptualization is a taken-for-granted assumption regarding the adoption of journalistic values that originated in Western democracies which neglects how they are embraced in non-Western contexts. This paper examines newsroom values in India’s regional television channels, which have emerged as a major news source in the country. Findings indicate that in the case of Indian regional television, local socio-political and economic factors undermine the adoption of professional norms derived from the Anglo-European model by Indian journalists who see such norms as having little functional value or relevance to their work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In late 2010, a series of tapes containing damaging conversations between 30 Indian journalists and Niira Radia, leading lobbyist for major business interests, became public. The tapes revealed journalists across the entire Indian news industry violating fundamental professional norms and offering the lobbyist's clients scripted interviews, giving advice on how to place stories in media outlets, talking about writing columns relying on positions articulated by Radia, and even apparently conveying messages on behalf of political interests close to the lobbyist. This paper explores how Indian news media responded to these revelations that posed a threat to the institution of journalism due to the pervasiveness of normative breaches. We propose that the Indian news media's response can be understood as an attempt to repair the institutional myth of the profession broadly defined as the way in which the public views journalism and its norms, using strategies associated with image restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The first season of the television drama The Newsroom drew predominantly negative critiques by journalists. A textual analysis of The Newsroom’s first season and more than 90 articles in US news media about that season showed that journalists rejected the idealistic depiction of the journalism profession. Applying new institutional theory and the concepts of decoupling/coupling, we argue journalists criticized such a depiction because it clashed with their own institutional myth that is understood to legitimize journalism to the broader public. Journalists’ mostly negative responses were an attempt to rhetorically restore this myth by decoupling it from journalistic practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facing a decline in public credibility, news organizations have been encouraged to embrace transparency to combat rising public distrust. In this paper, we examine how journalists at six leading news outlets in the United States grapple with the concept of transparency and its implementation in their newsrooms. Our data indicate that news outlets engage in a limited and strategic form of transparency that enable them to appear transparent without offering substantive insights into the journalistic process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the concept of selfie as participatory and witnessing journalism with a Point of View. Topics discussed include the literature on photography and witnessing, the self-presentation online, the production and sharing of selfies, and the community-based and transparent shift represented by selfies.

Germany is a technologically advanced democracy with free media and high levels of literacy, yet political blogging has not developed as rapidly in Germany as in the United States or other European democracies such as France and Poland. Using data obtained from in-depth interviews with 28 leading national and regional political bloggers in Germany in spring 2011, this study identifies a complex combination of factors that these bloggers say have impacted the emergence of political blogging in Germany: fears associated with Internet technologies; hostility of traditional news media toward blogs; continued trust of the population in traditional news media, notably public broadcasting; and legal challenges faced by political bloggers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]