Access to full-text SAGE journal articles that have been carefully selected to support and expand on the concepts presented in each chapter. Journal articles can act as an ideal resource to help support your assignments and studies.

Click on the following links, which will open in a new window.

Article 1: Kelly, Lisa W. and Raymond Boyle. 2011. “Business on Television: Continuity, Change and Risk in the Development of Television’s ‘Business Entertainment Format.’” Television and New Media. 12(3): 228-247.

Abstract: This article traces the evolution of what has become known as the business entertainment format on British television. Drawing on interviews with channel controllers, commissioners, and producers from across the BBC, Channel 4, and the independent sector, this research highlights a number of key individuals who have shaped the development of the business entertainment format and investigates some of the tensions that arise from combining entertainment values with more journalistic or educational approaches to factual television. While much work has looked at docusoaps and reality programming, this area of television output has remained largely unexamined by television scholars. The research argues that as the television industry has itself developed into a business, program makers have come to view themselves as (creative) entrepreneurs, thus raising the issue of whether the development off-screen of a more commercial, competitive, and entrepreneurial TV marketplace has affected the way the medium frames its on-screen engagement with business, entrepreneurship, risk, and wealth creation.

1. What do the authors’ mean by business entertainment programming? How has such programming emerged from economic constraints faced by media producers?
2. The authors are discussing British shows, but what are some U.S. shows that you think might fit this description?
3. What are some of the tensions that arise from combining entertainment values with journalism?

Article 2: Greenberg, Susan. 2010. “When the Editor Disappears, Does Editing Disappear?” Convergence. 16(1): 7-21.

Abstract: With the shift to mass self-publishing on the internet, commentators have hailed – or sometimes mourned – the death of professional intermediaries such as the editor. The question remains, however: does editing disappear along with the editor? The short answer is ‘no’, when one understands editing generically, as an essential part of the process of creating meaning in a text. In reviewing examples on the internet, one sees that it does not disappear, but shifts from a third-party intermediary to the author and the reader, and from human to more automated types of intervention. However, despite the promise of the ‘semantic web’, these kinds of intervention are unlikely to reach high standards on a consistent basis. The absence of experienced human mediation in the writing process – as in other areas of life – can be harmful to public life, and ways should be found to show the added value that they make.

1. Chapter 4 discusses the role of editors in the selection and presentation of the news. What phenomenon of new media is Greenberg discussing in her article?
2. How does the author define the process of editing?
3. What does the author argues happens to the role of the editor when so much material is self-published on the Internet? Do you agree with her assessment?

Article 3: Cleary, Johanna and Terry Bloom. 2011. “Gatekeeping at the Portal: An Analysis of Local Television Websites’ User-Generated Content.” Electronic News. 5(2): 93-111.

Abstract: A content analysis of 353 local television station websites found 49.6% of stations are including user-generated content (UGC), mostly designed to capture eyeballs, rather than to engage citizens in the journalistic process. The user-generated material included video (50.9%), audio (14.3%), still photos (82.3%), and other content (13.7%) including blogs, event announcements, news tips, and viewer comments. The overwhelming majority (76%) of UGC focused on weather-related events with only 17.7% classified as breaking news. Editorial guidelines focused on legalities such as terms of use and privacy policies related to accepting content, not editorial standards. Gatekeeping theory was applied to find that the local press largely retains its traditional editorial function.

1. How do the authors go about studying user-generated content? What questions are they trying to answer?
2. How does the advent of user-generated content in news organizations force these organizations to alter their news routines and standards?
3. What do the authors’ find about the user-generated content on local television websites? Are users becoming citizen journalists? Why or why not?

Article 4: Schofield Clark, Lynn. 2013. “Cultivating the media activist: How critical media literacy and critical service learning can reform journalism education.” Journalism. 14(7): 885-903.

Abstract: The task of journalism education has been defined in relation to both the professional needs of the journalism industry and the need to educate well-informed citizens. A key part of journalism education involves introducing students to what Deuze (2005) terms the professional ideology of journalism, which includes commitments to public service, commitments to impartiality or objectivity, and a belief in the ideal of journalistic autonomy. Deuze has argued that this professional ideology has shifted in response to multiculturalism and new media. This article therefore sets out to explore the implications of these changes for journalism education and for the formation of the worldview of student journalists. The article considers a case study of a project involving critical service learning in an introductory class for journalism students. The article proposes that media activism, public journalism, and critical service learning may be drawn upon in journalism education as resources in the formation of an emergent journalistic worldview. Exploring student responses to this project through a framework of Youth Participatory Action Research, the article argues that such efforts can help journalism educators to achieve the pedagogical goal of enabling students to critique existing arrangements of power and develop a globally sensitive perspective while producing news stories across media platforms that reflect a deep appreciation for learning about and understanding the diverse communities they serve.

1. What are the 5 qualities to the professional ideology of journalism? How does this correspond to the idea of socialization into professional roles as talked about in Ch. 4?
2. Why does Schofield Clark think criticial service learning should be an important element in journalism education?
3. What were the details of the case study and its purpose? How effective was it in turning traditional journalism students into public journalists or media activists?
4. What kind of journalism do you think is most important for the quality of news today? How can this type of journalist be “created”? What elements are necessary?