Charting the Field

Review by Cathy DeShano

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Handbook of Journalism Studies, edited by Karin Wahl-Jorgensen and Thomas Hanitzsch. New York: Routledge, 2009. ISBN10 HB: 0-8058-6342-7. 446 pp.

The Handbook of Journalism Studies is a thoughtfully organized and valuable collection that helps “chart the field of journalism” and offers future research agendas in an international context. Part of the International Communication Association’s Handbook Series, the volume includes seasoned and promising scholars who explore historical foundations of journalism research, current research emphases, and future directions while considering journalism’s role as a key institution in countries and cultures around the world.

The book includes an introductory section and then is organized into four themes: “News Production, “News Content, “Journalism and Society,” and “Journalism Studies in a Global Context.” The themes are examined through the varied research lenses that contribute to the field of journalism studies, such as sociology, cultural studies, and political science, and range from journalism as agenda-setting to journalism as “social, cultural and political institutions.” Within each chapter, scholars examine the historical context, theoretical frameworks, and methodological issues associated with particular areas of study, as well as consider directions for future research.

Contributors in the book’s introductory chapters suggest that a more cooperative approach in which scholars, practitioners, and educators work toward “comprehensive shared frames” (See Barbie Zelizer) may be needed if journalism is to persist and thrive, and sustained connections would seem productive for enriching each group’s endeavors. Such an approach could invite scholars to broaden their examination of newsroom practices to encompass all types of journalism practitioners (Zelizer), for example. It may bring together practitioners and educators to reflect on journalism’s objectives (Beate Josephi), or necessitate that scholars scrutinize how meaning circulates throughout mediated processes and technologies, as well as in their social and cultural contexts, so we comprehend more about how media is produced and received (Mirca Madianou). Research and practices that work toward collective frameworks could lead toward a development or “re-invention” of journalism (Karin Wahl-Jorgensen and Thomas Hanitzsch) and better understanding of journalism as varied institutions.

The last section is dedicated solely to global themes, though many scholars throughout the entire collection consider ways in which journalism studies can better explore global journalism practices and roles in societies. The editors’ goals for “internationalizing” the field of research are key for enhancing journalism studies in an increasingly interconnected world. As a number of authors point out (see, for example, Hanitzsch, and Herman Wasserman and Arnold S. de Beer), journalism studies historically has been explored through a “Western lens” and more contextualized scholarship is needed. Globalization, Wasserman and de Beer rightly suggest, offers key opportunities for understanding how journalism develops at the “regional and global-local” levels.

“Collaborative” and “interdependent” research in comparative journalism studies might lead to improved knowledge about global journalistic cultures. In their chapter on journalists’ functions as gate-keepers, for example, Pamela J. Shoemaker, Tim P. Vos, and Stephen D. Reese stress a need, among other things, for more comparative research into how different political cultures and institutions shape and structure different news cultures. Kyu Ho Youm encourages scholars to examine more fully how freedoms of the press may vary among governments grappling with national security issues. In some research areas, scholars need to “standardize” concepts to enhance scholarship that investigates journalism practices in different countries (for example, see Xu Xiaoge).

Among the future directions for research that many scholars encourage is exploring further how people’s use of interactive communication technologies, such as the Internet and mobile phones, may influence traditional journalism and societies. A growing focus, this area rightly deserves more research, given the use of Twitter by individuals during the 2009 Iranian elections, for example, or blog writing by diasporic Kenyan writers during the lead-up to the 2007 elections. Such research into user-generated content could offer constructive knowledge into political cultures and everyday life. Lee B. Becker and Tudor Vlad, in examining news organizations and routines, suggest that scholars will need to consider how news-agendas may differ for user-driven sites. S. Elizabeth Bird and Robert W. Dardenne contend that content created by citizens could be changing the “conventions” of storytelling and suggest that “authoritative journalistic narratives” could “break through the media clutter” to offer citizens informative stories that inspire them to “action” and challenge dominant ideologies.

While the array of research covered is broad and insightful, some topics could be explored more fully in future editions. Alternative and citizen journalism, which the authors define as journalism by non-trained, non-professional individuals, have been combined into one chapter but may merit distinct pieces. Community media and independent media, the latter of which seems to fall outside the authors’ umbrella definition of alternative journalism, aren’t included. Examinations of scholarship in these areas certainly would build on our understanding of journalism as social, cultural, and political institutions. As the editors note in the opening pages, however, not everything can be included, and they have done a commendable job of selecting diverse and significant readings for the volume.

This is the type of collection many will wish they had had when beginning their studies and find constructive now for it’s wide-ranging coverage of journalism studies. The breadth of disciplines, theories, and methodological approaches represented here means that readers will come away with a solid understanding of the history of research into journalism and a guiding framework of journalism studies moving forward together.