Bajwa, Wajeeh (1981) The effect of hypertrophy on mRNA of rat liver. PhD thesis http://theses.gla.ac.uk/8654/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] New Media and Journalism Implications for Autonomous Practice within Traditional Constraints Rena Bivens, B.A. M.A. Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences University of Glasgow April 2008 Abstract This is a study of news production by eight major news organisations in the UK and Canada. Through observation of daily routines and semi-structured interviews, 124 journalists were included in the final sample. The overall aim of this research was to explore the interrelationships between new technologies, the potential autonomy accessible by journalists and the structure of constraints under which they operate. The news marketplace has become congested while audiences have fragmented and public news-producing behaviours have soared, facilitated through the ubiquity of new media. These developments were crucial to the analysis of mainstream news production within a media environment that has left news organisations struggling to retain audiences and their own credibility. New technologies adopted by news organisations have altered routines both within newsrooms and out in the field. News values have shifted towards ‘live’ coverage while workflow has been improved and convergence become the norm. At the same time, new media available within the public realm – including the internet, online publishing tools and advanced mobile phone technologies – are also available to individual journalists. However, it is those journalists already familiar with technology who are more likely to incorporate them into their own daily routines, along with the wider range of sources now available within the information producing strata of society. Research findings relate to the specific locations in the news production process at which new technologies, journalistic autonomy and constraining factors have the most impact. For this purpose, a model was developed along with an autonomy-constraint ratio. Key findings are that the transmission phase of news production presents the least amount of autonomy for journalists while the newsgathering phase offers the greatest amount of autonomy. Due to the temporal and theoretical limits of previous research frameworks, an autonomy-centred approach is proposed as a means of complementing the existing constraints-based approaches that have tended to dominate news production studies. Keywords: autonomy, citizen journalism, immediacy, new media, news production, user generated content. Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................... 2 Table of Contents ........................................................................................................... 3 List of Tables and Figures ................................................................................................ 7 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ 8 Author’s Declaration....................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................ 10 Chapter 2: Literature Review ........................................................................................ 14 1. Schudson and McNair’s Evaluations of the Literature ............................................... 16 2. The Two Phases of Research: An Obsession with Constraints ................................... 20 3. News as Social Construction: Exposed through Routines .......................................... 22 3.1 Planning Routines: Relevance of the News Diary ............................................... 24 3.2 The Importance of Logistics ................................................................................ 25 4. The Information-Producing Strata ............................................................................. 27 4.1 The Reign of News Agencies ............................................................................... 28 4.2 The Emergence of VNRs ...................................................................................... 29 4.3 The Requirements of Objectivity and Impartiality .............................................. 31 4.4 The Relationship between Objectivity and Sources ............................................ 33 4.5 Official Sources and Production Routines ........................................................... 36 5. Internal and External Pressures ................................................................................. 37 5.1 Policy, Routinized Meetings and Editorial Control .............................................. 37 5.2 Incorporating External Pressure into Daily Practice ........................................... 40 5.3 Ensuring Conformity within News Organisations ............................................... 41 5.4 Complexities of the Broadcaster-State Relationship .......................................... 43 5.5 Instances of Direct Government Intervention .................................................... 44 6. Shared News Values ................................................................................................... 48 6.1 Images ................................................................................................................. 49 6.2 Importance, Interest and Entertainment ............................................................ 50 6.3 Size, Proximity and Skin Colour ........................................................................... 51 6.4 Immediacy ........................................................................................................... 52 7. Considering the Audience .......................................................................................... 54 8. Summary ..................................................................................................................... 57 Bivens, R. K. 2008 – Table of Contents 4 Chapter 3: Methods and Sample ................................................................................... 59 1. Conceptual Development ........................................................................................... 59 2. Methods and Sample .................................................................................................. 61 2.1 The Sample .......................................................................................................... 62 2.2 Methodology: the Questions .............................................................................. 66 3. Method of Analysis ..................................................................................................... 73 4. Summary ..................................................................................................................... 75 Chapter 4: Introduction to the Results – Setting the Context ........................................ 76 1. Hierarchical Structure ................................................................................................. 76 1.1 Canada versus the UK .......................................................................................... 78 2. General Path and Control Structure of a News Item ................................................. 79 2.1 Bulletins, 24 Hour News and Convergence ......................................................... 81 3. Summary ..................................................................................................................... 82 Chapter 5: Intake Phase – The Information Producing Strata and News Flow ............... 84 1. Traditional Elements of News Flow ............................................................................ 85 1.1 News Agencies ..................................................................................................... 86 1.2 Other News Organisations .................................................................................. 90 1.3 Official Sources and the Public Relations Industry .............................................. 93 1.4 News Bureaus ...................................................................................................... 94 2. Contemporary Elements of News Flow ...................................................................... 96 2.1 The Development of Public News-Producing Behaviours ................................... 97 2.2 Breaking News Items and UGC .......................................................................... 101 2.3 UGC as Online Comments ................................................................................. 104 2.4 Organisational Changes to Accommodate UGC ...............................................