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POLS306

Week 7: Interpretive Journalism

2nd April 2019

Definition  

Interpretive journalism is opposed to or going beyond descriptive, fact-focused and source- driven journalism On the story-level of analysis, interpretive journalism is characterized by a prominent journalistic voice; and by journalistic explanations, evaluations, contextualisations, or speculations going beyond verifiable facts or statements by sources

Move towards receptive   

Shift from descriptive, fact-based journalism Journalists give meaning to news They become more concerned with the ‘why’, than with the ‘what’, ‘who’, ‘when’ and ‘where’

Aspects to interpretive journalism Positive 

 

Critical of sources o Make judgement as to what is ‘true’ or ‘false’ information provided by sources (e.g. Brexit debate) Can provide moral judgement: something is ‘wrong’ or ‘right’ o E.g. on poverty Help ‘inform’ the public by analysing complex information for a lay public o E.g. on climate change

Negative 



Are journalists competent to provide analysis? o Do we get ‘opinions’ (‘good or bad’, ‘wrong or right’) rather than just analysis? Journalists become the centre of the story, all about their prestige, influence and authority o We hear less of what the sources say (politicians, ministers, voters…) and more of what the journalists claim the sources mean o Journalists (or their editors…) set the agenda

Evidence   

Whatever the normative view of interpretive journalism, evidence is that is more common, although varies across countries What are your impressions about New Zealand? Newspaper reporting v TV news v TV current affairs

POLS306

Week 7: Bias

2nd April 2019

Two Polar Extremes

Definition   

“Consistent patterns in the framing of mediated communication that promote the influence of one side in conflicts over the use of government power.” Important to note that we are interested in how media may help distribute political power to particular groups, causes or individuals Unless to do with ‘political’ ‘power’ and ‘public’, not bothered if biased coverage of All Blacks or Central Otago wines!

How to measure: Visibility   

In effect, how much coverage a particular political actor receives Benchmark against how much coverage we expect a party or candidate to receive, e.g. share of seats in parliament, support in opinion polls, in government or opposition Can also add saliency of coverage e.g. how many page one or lead stories; how many photos

Problems with visibility measures  

From media’s perspective, some politicians are more charismatic (Ardern?) or controversial (Peters), and so received more coverage Some campaign activities more newsworthy (e.g. scandals, faux pas, heckling)

How to measure: Favourability/Tone  

Irrespective of amount of coverage, what about its quality – is the coverage ‘favourable’ to the political actor in the news story How to measure? Simply view from the perspective of the actor

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