Textbook News Values : the Discourse of What Journalists "Have"
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
TEXTBOOK NEWS VALUES: THE DISCOURSE OF WHAT JOURNALISTS “HAVE” TO COVER AND “CAN’T” IGNORE By Perry Parks A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Information and Media–Doctor of Philosophy 2018 ABSTRACT TEXTBOOK NEWS VALUES: THE DISCOURSE OF WHAT JOURNALISTS “HAVE” TO COVER AND “CAN’T” IGNORE By Perry Parks Journalists each day make countless selective news judgments that determine what kinds of stories get reported, what elements of those stories are emphasized, and how those stories are presented. Although the U.S. Constitution and a robust professional ethos help construct an environment in which American journalists express and defend extensive autonomy to make such judgments, they also hold themselves and their peers to an array of unwritten standards for what constitutes valid or essential news. In this dissertation, I examine one discursive means of constructing the conditions under which journalists define the types of people and events that they must cover, and can’t ignore: the news values implicitly and explicitly introduced in journalism textbooks. Such texts, often taught in introductory journalism classes, embody an interpretive synthesis that offers a window into prevailing journalism values and practices in a given era. Textbooks are many journalists’ first encounter with the criteria that reporters and editors use to rationalize what is and is not newsworthy, including key concepts such as timeliness, proximity, prominence, unusualness, impact, conflict, and human interest. Textbooks also introduce journalism students both to a culture of explicitly celebrated professional autonomy to define the news, and to a system of explicit and implied constraints on that autonomy under written law, institutional norms, and varyingly viscous socio-cultural conditions. Through close reading of 75 textbooks published from 1894-2016, I highlight the enumeration of key news judgment criteria and map both consistency and change in the treatment of such criteria over nearly 125 years of journalism instruction. Analysis focuses on several areas of interest: identification and definition of key news values, with special attention to the affective elements of human interest and contradictory rationalizations for emphasizing conflict; an exploration of rhetoric that veers paradoxically between defenses of autonomy and justifications for disciplinary restraint; and application of the discipline-autonomy paradox to the special case of presidential news coverage. I present the analysis through the lens of social theorists Michel Foucault and Pierre Bourdieu, who both studied how individuals are implicated in power relations influencing behavioral patterns that cannot be explained solely by rational or self-interested choice, even when these individuals are not directed to act in a particular way. Specifically, I draw on Foucault’s concepts of discipline and governmentality and Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and professional fields to explore how naturalizing patterns of thought and action artificially limit journalists’ perceived choices in reporting and presenting news, even when no formal constraints intervene. This study provides a rare long-range view of news values, which are more frequently studied in contemporary snapshots to inform content or framing analyses. By bringing Foucault and Bourdieu to bear on the interaction of news values and the more commonly studied concept of “objectivity,” this analysis offers new insights into the discursive conditions favoring news decisions that influence the course of U.S. representative democracy. The dissertation concludes with a review of three non-traditional frameworks for news, with an emphasis on non- representational approaches that might help expand possibilities for conceiving and presenting news in the future. To Amy My adviser in everything iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation culminates five years of intellectual exploration facilitated and enhanced by everyone and everything I’ve encountered in my lifetime, not to mention everyone and everything encountered by my ancestors going all the way back to some protozoan somewhere, not to mention the lifespan of matter and energy and all its entanglements. Just as journalists have to select which elements of infinity to arrange into any given story, however, I here will use my best judgment to identify the human individuals who have contributed most essentially to the conception and completion of this document, knowing it’s a hopelessly abridged acknowledgement. My first thanks are to my dissertation committee, chaired by Dr. John C. Besley, whose trust and confidence in this work has been empowering and energizing. John’s open-minded intellect and expansive knowledge of journalism theory made him the ideal chair for this project. I rarely leave John’s office after a conceptual discussion without some perfect book in hand from his office library of Gans, Schudson, Bennett, and dozens of other scholars who have informed my research. John’s curiosity and pointed observations have improved my thinking in innumerable ways, and my better scholarship will always reflect his rigorous guidance. Dr. Lynn Fendler of the College of Education was known to me on arrival at MSU as one of my wife’s most important doctoral advisers a decade earlier. I sought out Lynn for her deep background and exquisite teaching in critical, cultural, and social theory and was rewarded beyond my hopes. Lynn’s enigmatic approach to teaching generates an ever-expanding buffet of intellectual opportunities from which her students are invited to choose, selecting just what their curiosity and scholarly desires demand at any given time. I was fortunate to sample non- v representational theory at her gentle suggestion a few years ago, and that has opened opportunities for research and inquiry that I never knew existed. Lynn’s enthusiasm for her students’ projects and unflagging support for my research have made this scholarly path possible. And her close reading and guidance at every step of the dissertation process have been instrumental to the structure and theoretical flavor of this document. Dr. Manuel Chavez was generous to join this committee to solve one problem and has since helped me work through numerous others, offering timely mentoring on research, academic culture, and the scholarly process that has proved invaluable for this project and for my career as a scholar. His advice and support have been essential to my rewarding experience in the IM doctoral program, which he chairs with great concern for the success and well-being of all students. Dr. Bruno Takahashi was my first major research partner, generously encouraging me to take the lead on a project that interested him and supporting that project through publication as both a co-author and mentor. Bruno’s collegiality, productivity, breadth of research skills, and openness to new ideas have accelerated my research agenda and developed my faith in the power of academic collaborations. Dr. Michael Stamm of MSU’s Department of History, an early guidance committee member, provided invaluable conceptual support and rigorous reviews of several projects, in addition to suggesting a class that helped form the theoretical foundation for this dissertation. His insights and guidance have strengthened my work immeasurably. In addition to my committee, I am grateful for the support of all my teachers, administrators and mentors at Michigan State, including Drs. Serena Carpenter, Emilee Rader, Aaron McCright, Sean Forner, Jen VanDerHeide, Steve Lacy, Geri Alumit Zeldes, Lucinda vi Davenport, and Prabu David. Dr. Brendan Watson offered insightful critique that included valuable contextual data and helped me clarify my argument. Research librarian Hui Hua Chua offered helpful support toward getting my textbook sample together. I am also thankful to my teachers and research advisers at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia, where I spent my first year of doctoral studies: John Greenman, Drs. Janice Hume, Jeff Springston, Bart Wojdynski, Jay Hamilton, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Welch Suggs, Jeong-Yeob Han, Carolina Acosta-Alzuru, the late, great Barry Hollander, and especially Elli Lester-Roshanzamir, who introduced me to critical theory and set me on the particular intellectual path I’ve chosen. Thanks also to Dr. Brian Creech at Temple University, a former master’s student of mine who became an early and continued mentor in critical studies; and Dr. Michael McDevitt at the University of Colorado Boulder, who invited me onto a multi-university study that expanded my research range. I want to thank several fellow students (many now Ph.D.’s) who have most influenced and helped me on this intellectual journey: At Georgia, Dr. Andrew Lewis, Dr. Felicia Harris, and Rosanna Cruz; At MSU, my original NRT project partners Dr. Cori McKenzie, Dr. Jon Wargo, and Scotty Secrist; fellow Critical Studies searchers Dr. Aaron S. Zimmerman, Dr. James Wright, Scott Jarvie, Vivek Vellanki, Rachel Jones, Erin Bronstein, Chris Thelen, Alecia Beymer, and Wanfei Huang; my erstwhile officemate and coding partner Tony Van Witsen; and fellow environmental journalism scholar Ran Duan. My journey in journalism scholarship would never have left the ground without certain giants of journalism teaching and practice who introduced me to the field, imbued it with importance, and then helped complicate it for me. Among these formative