Forward by JRE Section
Chair and Journal Editor
The JRE On-Line Journal attempts to
explore the means and the ways of using action journalism research to help journalists,
journalism students and journalism educators or concerned citizens design the
successful integration of "new paradigms" of educational ideas
(online or other), materials and content with traditional and/or innovation
orientation the ideas of change through an integrated process. I
t is often challenging
to average people to take on ideas that come from research, nonetheless the
three steps in action research of discovery because action and reflection will
seem familiar as indeed they are. What may be new will the unique blend of how
they interact in the process to make seemingly difficult things become very simple?
This allows us to move ahead and make changes in your journalism educational
design that may not have previously been considered.This new edition of JRE
On-Line Journal aims to address the main theme of IAMCR 2010 conference:
“communication and citizenship: Rethinking Crisis and Change.”
The journal
attempts to find ways of making this connection between journalism and
citizenship to enhance their levels of engagement, & satisfy a global
news-hungry appetite as a sound investment in better policy-making and a core
element of good governance. In that context, all submitted papers were reviewed
were of high quality.
The rejection rate was very high because the journal goal
is to promote conduct and dissemination of research into all facets of
journalism research and journalism education. As a result, only six papers were
accepted and cover both different aspects of the journalism research and
education on one hand, and variant geographical areas ranging from Australia,
Brazil, Indonesia, Israel, Portugal, United Kingdom, and United States of
America.
Some of these papers also mark international collaborative research
from scholars and JRE members from different countries and different journalism
schools.
Regardless the location, this historical moment witnesses sweeping
changes in the relation between journalism research and education field with
the societies it serves, and the audiences for news and public affairs it seeks
to address. Besides, there are more changes to come in technology that have
blurred any traditional lines between professionals and citizens, partisan and
objective bystanders, particularly in the emerging public zones of new media
and e-learning, as well as the related innovations.
This volume of the journal examines
these changes and the new concepts needed to understand them in the diverse
context of journalism research and education in today’s setting and the years
ahead. With the accepted research of the JRE members and their contributions,
this collection identifies key issues in the field and paves the way for
further research on the role of journalism in today’s world.
The first paper is entitled: “Artificial
Intelligence. The Future of Journalism: And Digital Identities,” by Noam
Lemelshtrich Latar from Sammy Ofer School of Communications in Israel and David
Nordfors from Stanford Center for Innovation and Communication, Stanford University
in the USA.
In this paper Naom and David talk about the interaction
between journalism, the Internet and social communities is familiar and
intensely discussed, helping us understand how journalism can raise our
collective intelligence. They discuss how artificial intelligence (AI) democratic
society and suggest questions to be explored. Algorithms on the journalism
profession and journalism’s role in a issue a call for stakeholders to jointly
explore the potential effects of AI-digital identities in journalism, and
suggest examples of such principles.
The two scholars discuss how artificial
intelligence (AI) will add to that picture and thus influence the future of
journalism. Along the way, they describe ‘Digital Identities’ and their future
interaction with journalism. Besides, they attempt to summarize
state-of-the-art (AI) methods that could be usable to establish the ‘DNA’ of
journalistic content, how matching that content with digital identities enables
behavioural targeting for consumer engagement. They also attempt to review the
driving forces of such procedures and show an example of a journalistic
behavioural-targeting engine.
In the second paper by Dimas Antônio Künsch, Faculdade Cásper Líbero, Brazil
that is written in Portuguese and is entitled: “Jornalismo
e cidadania: a violência cotidiana dos discursos não-compreensivos (Journalism and Citizenship: the daily
violence of the incomprehensive discourses,” a rather different aspect is
explored. Dimas aims to investigate
"humanity’s true spiritual mission" (Morin) is analyzed, for its
relation with Communication in general and with Journalism in particular.
Under this point of view, the article
studies at first the journalistic covering of the earthquake in Haiti (January
2010) by the main Brazilian weekly magazine, Veja. Secondly, the article brings
the results of a research that analyzed a more ample and older covering of the
war against Iraq (March-April 2003) by the three biggest weekly magazines in
Brazil, Veja, IstoÉ and Época. One report in particular, unique in the ample
field of texts about the war, is pointed as the symbol of the comprehension
sign, going against the warmongering thought.
Methodology-wise, the analysis of the said
coverings is built from the attentive look and the examination of the ways
journalism reveals itself and allows itself to be known in the production of
the daily information: the sources and subjects chosen, the characters, the
game of information and opinion, the different genres, titles and headlines,
visual appeals and pictures, the editing of the text, and the highlighted
ideas. Among the authors quoted are Dominique Wolton and Norval Baitello Junior
(non-communication), Edgar Morin (complex thought) and Michel Maffesoli
(comprehensive sociology).
Moving to a different angle of journalism, Billy
K Sarwono from the Department of Communication Studies, Faculty of Political
and Social Sciences in the Universitas Indonesia offers an important study on the coverage of the 13th and 15th UNFCCC
in Two Indonesian Daily Newspapers. The research is entitled: “Local
Media Construction in Coverage of News on Global Climate.”
The research main thesis is based on the simple idea that there is
no single country in the world that could prevent from the impacts of global
warming, and one of the measures taken at the global level is to conduct UNFCCC.
It is thus both timely and crucial is to consider how local media
present information on UNFCCC while still taking into account the local
interests. Data collection for this study was done through a framing analysis
on the coverage of the 13th and 15th UNFCCC, supported by in-depth interviews to learn about the underlining
construction. The analysis shows that news construction on UNFCCC tends to
reflect the interests of the elite community group and sacrifice the interests
of those without power.
In the
fourth paper, Carla Rodrigues Cardoso from the Licenciatura em Comunicação e
Jornalismo, Escola de Comunicação, Artes e Tecnologias da Informação in Lisboa,
Portugal deals with the link of political journalism and citizenship.
Carla presents a paper entitled: “ Obama on the Cover.”
The paper
kicks off with the selection of the first cover of Time in 2009 of Barack Obama as "Person of the Year”. This
choice is considered by the author recognized the path Obama had initiated in
2008 until his election as the first black president in the U.S. History. The
inauguration of Barack Obama occurred on 20 January 2009, and on that date he
began his first year in office with the backdrop of a world plunged into a deep
economic crisis.
The
objective of this paper is to understand how Barack Obama was portrayed on the
covers of newsmagazines during the year 2009. This particular type of press,
closer to the newspapers than the universe of magazines is characterized by a
rational approach to the events, similar to weekly quality newspapers, their
main competitors. Hence, the research explores the nature of the narratives
written by newsmagazines covers around the figure of Barack Obama? And questioned
the differences that might have existed when considering different titles? This
research involves six different newsmagazines. Four are international editions:
Time, Newsweek (U.S.A.), L’ Express and Le Nouvel Observateur (France); the other two are national editions: Visão and Sábado (Portuguese).
This case study aims to understand how
newsmagazines structure their dispositif
cover and what kind of narratives this hybrid construction that lies between
journalism and advertising is capable of supporting.
The fifth paper is by Lawrie Zion La
Trobe University, Australia and is entitled: “Upstart: An innovation to facilitate
student publishing.” Lawrie begins the research with a
hypothesis, if you’re graduating from a journalism degree in Australia and you
don’t have a portfolio of publications, your chances of landing a media job are
virtually zero. Of course, even graduating students who have had some media
experience are heading into an increasingly competitive environment.
The imperative for journalism students to graduate with a portfolio
of published work has never been greater. But how can journalism degree
programs best facilitate this?
In an attempt to address this challenge in the field of
journalism, the paper reviews the work introduced in June 2009 by the team at
Melbourne’s La Trobe University that launched upstart (http://www.upstart.net.au), a web-based publishing platform for emerging journalists,
writers and filmmakers. The site was designed to provide a showcase for student
work and a playground for experiments in digital journalism, as well as to a
platform for teaching and research.
In the sixth paper
entitled: “Electronic approach to teaching journalism: A pedagogical
perspective,” by Manisha Pandey from UK with a main thesis that innovations are
built on existing perceptions, ideas and structures, at least until the new
ideas and thoughts are fully manifested.
The research assumes
that innovations discard the shackles of the old models and structures and
stand on its own merits and strengths. The development of e-learning and new
internet technologies are used to support this phenomenon and thus reach out to
the mass learners with learning when they want, what they want, where they want
and how they want, making it a learner centric, self paced and individualized
instruction.
Students are
increasingly developing a mindset towards education that skips the boundaries
of where lessons can take place, how learning is undertaken and how it is
disseminated. Location will become less and less important; education will
increasingly become seamless. Such ease of access and choice is far from most
adults’ memories of school. "Class spaces" of the future should
enable journalism students anywhere to acquire information directly from
experts and like-minded individuals.
The paper also
mentions the ‘fractional learning’, where a student can sort an individualized,
balanced view from a multitude of views that is inevitable in Journalism and
Communication. The paper suggests that relative technologies foster a highly
cooperative approach to learning, which enable students to share knowledge
wherever they are. The paper concludes by stating that technology enables
critical discussion between pupils in class spaces in different cities,
countries and continents.
At the end, changes in
journalism practice and education always present problems. If you change too
early the new idea may prove to be a bust and there you are, having invested in
an idea that quickly deteriorated. Universities with online platforms are the
fastest growing anywhere in the world, and new media and e-learning are quickly
gaining in importance, especially for younger generations and in developing
societies.
Regards,
Ibrahim Saleh, Chair
of JRE Section and Editor of JRE On-Line Journal