Volume 16 Issue 6, 2015

Volume 16 Issue 6, 2015 Contents Page The financial news ecosystem: Journalists’ perceptions of group 711-729 hierarchy Scientific objectivity in journalism? How journalists and academics 730-749 define objectivity, assess its attainability, and rate its desirability Lost in a house of mirrors: Journalists come to terms with myth and 750-767 reality in The Newsroom Differences between the quality of the printed version and online editions 768-790 of the European reference press The DC factor? Advocacy groups in the news 791-811 The politicization of entertainment media: A study of the Italian tabloid 812-829 Chi during the 2013 electoral campaign Print and online newspapers as material artifacts 830-846 2 Journalism a lack of attention to journalists’ evaluations of leading media entities and news professionals, whose influence is recognized by their peers. In reality, group hierarchies are a universal, natural feature of social groups as people rank order group members (Anderson and Kilduff, 2009a, 2009b). ‘Prestige’ organizations and individuals perceived as having superior expertise tend to set trends and influence the decisions of group members (Bikhchandani et al., 1988, 1992; DiMaggio and Powell, 1983). Journalism is one such field in which imitative behavior is prevalent (Boczkowski, 2010). An important professional routine is the cross-checking of elite media outlets to guide story selections and news decisions (Dearing and Rogers, 1996). The vast majority of research into the influence of the key players within a news ecosystem has largely focused on political reporting (Breed, 1955; Crouse, 2003; Gans, 1979). While business journalism has witnessed explosive global growth in the past two decades (see Kjaer and Langer, 2005; Koikkalainen, 2007; Shrikhande, 2004; Tambini, 2010; Usher, 2013), research into the inner workings, as well as perceptions, of members of this professional group remains cursory (Davis, 2000; Doyle, 2006; Oberlechner and Hocking, 2004). Some business news experts proclaim which media entities lead the pack (e.g. Roush, 2009; Starkman, 2009), yet these rankings are largely anecdotal. Consequently, little is known about which news outlets and professionals are actually perceived as being influential among financial journalists as a whole, and whether there are differences in opinion among journalist subgroups. This study attempts to fill this gap. The purpose of the current undertaking is to advance our empirical understanding of the group hierarchy within the financial news ecosystem, a subset of business journalism (Doyle, 2006). The United States was selected as the setting for this study as it has the world’s largest financial markets and employs the most financial journalists (Roush, 2011; Usher, 2013). The inferences reported here have important implications for both journalism theory and practice at a time when business news is increasingly relevant to civic life. Literature review Journalists’ perceptions and group hierarchies Journalism studies have long been interested in news people’s perceptions. This literature gauges how journalists perceive their work roles and news routines (Becker and Vlad, 2009; Berkowitz, 1993; Sigal, 1973; Tuchman, 1972, 1978). Related work focuses on levels of perceived professional autonomy (Reich and Hanitzsch, 2013; Weaver et al., 2007), factors journalists believe to influence their work (Berkowitz, 1993; Hanitzsch and Mellado, 2011), and job satisfaction (see Brownlee and Beam, 2012, for a review). To a lesser extent, scholars study perceived credibility as it pertains to journalists’ atti- tudes toward sources (Hanusch, 2012), poll data (Kohut, 1986), and media trust (Cassidy, 2007; Stroud and Lee, 2013). Nevertheless, research remains lacking in examining journalists’ assessments of the influencers within a news ecosystem. Studies of the sociology of the news indicate that journalism has its own sets of routines, traditions, norms, and values, similar to other Downloaded from jou.sagepub.com at MEMORIAL UNIV OF NEWFOUNDLAND on July 12, 2014 Ragas and Tran 3 social groups and systems (e.g. Becker and Vlad, 2009; Bourdieu, 2005; Breed, 1955; Gans, 1979; Shoemaker and Reese, 1996; Shoemaker et al., 2009). Due to limited time and resources, journalists rely on these routines to make their work manageable, includ- ing cross-checking higher prestige media outlets and journalists to form, validate, and confirm their sense of the news (Boczkowski, 2010; McCombs et al., 2011). Therefore, it is necessary to further explore how journalists perceive the leaders they look up to. According to social competition theorists, group hierarchies emerge whenever people congregate (Anderson and Kilduff, 2009a, 2009b). Groups tend to give influence to members who possess superior competence, expertise, or prestige, which specifically refers to social rank granted to individuals who are recognized and respected for their skills, success, or knowledge (Henrich and Gil-White, 2001; Magee and Galinsky, 2008). Economists use somewhat different language, saying organizations and individuals choose to follow those that are perceived as having ‘superior information’ (Bikhchandani et al., 1988, 1992; Lieberman and Asaba, 2006) or have attained greater success. Social systems typically agree upon a hierarchy of elite actors and imitate some of their behav- iors, leading to homogenization. The business news ecosystem Some studies (Dominick, 1981; Ragas, 2014) show that business news coverage across the media often overlaps, although there is little empirical work into which media outlets and which journalists lead the rest of the pack. Previous scholarship does indicate that business journalists turn to the work of their peers as a source for story ideas (Doyle, 2006; Oberlechner and Hocking, 2004; Usher, 2013). Doyle’s (2006) study of UK business journalists, for example, finds that most ideas ‘stem from scanning other media (especially newswires)’ (p. 436). Furthermore, Usher’s (2013) study of US business news organizations recognizes The New York Times as an influential leader in the field. Much of the research into business journalism has focused on the roles, responsibili- ties, and performance of watchdog journalism following the 2000 stock market collapse (e.g. Doyle, 2006; Henriques, 2000), the 2007–2009 housing market bubble, and the global financial crisis (e.g. Tambini, 2010; Usher, 2013). The current study takes on a different task. It deals with how financial news organizations and journalists perceive influential players in their news ecosystem. If we want to further investigate the norma- tive expectations of this field, then it is important to understand a group hierarchy as seen through the eyes of the journalists working within it. Anecdotal evidence of group hierarchy Looking beyond the academic research, there is a mix of anecdotal evidence regarding the perceived financial journalism hierarchy. Most notably, The Wall Street Journal is hailed by many as the bellwether for financial news (Kurtz, 2001; Roush, 2009, 2011; Starkman, 2009). Roush (2009) identifies the following outlets as ‘the powerful players’ (para. 24): The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, the Washington Post, Bloomberg Businessweek, and FORTUNE. Starkman (2009), in turn, offers his own list: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, Bloomberg Downloaded from jou.sagepub.com at MEMORIAL UNIV OF NEWFOUNDLAND on July 12, 2014 4 Journalism News, the Financial Times, FORTUNE, Businessweek, and Forbes. In addition, Reuters and Dow Jones News have also been highlighted (Chozik and Barbaro, 2012; Kurtz, 2001). Turning to individual journalists, the business columnists at The New York Times are noted for having a wide following (e.g. Kurtz, 2001; Roush, 2009; Starkman, 2009). Andrew Ross Sorkin and Michael Lewis receive accolades for their reputation and influence on fellow financial journalists (Pressler, 2011; Sherman, 2009). While not always discussed in flattering light, news people at CNBC, particularly Jim Cramer and Maria Bartiromo, are singled out for their high profiles (Brady, 2003; Stelter, 2011; Tkacik, 2009). Based on this review of the literature, financial journalists, as with any other social group, should be able to collectively articulate a group hierarchy in terms of who holds positions of perceived influence within their field. Although anecdotal evidence helps identify such influential financial media outlets and professionals, no scientific, empirical findings are available to confirm these lists. Therefore, the first set of research ques- tions is submitted: RQ1a. What is the rank order of most influential financial news outlets according to the surveyed respondents? RQ1b. What is the rank order of most influential financial journalists according to the surveyed respondents? Variations in perceptions While journalists share values, norms, and routines, they have never been a monolithic entity (Benson, 2006; Bourdieu, 2005). Surveys of journalists suggest that journalists’ assessments may differ among groups, depending on various determinants. Becker and Vlad (2009), for instance, suggested that news routines vary across settings, among organizations, and among journalists. As early as the 1970s, Sigal (1973) subdivided journalists by their individual and organizational characteristics to gauge perceptual differences. Subsequent studies (Reich and Hanitzsch, 2013; Weaver et al., 2007) further define individual factors

Load more