Abstract
I am pleased (and to be honest, quite intimidated) to assume the role of editor for the Newspaper Research Journal. For more than 40 years now, this journal has been a mainstay in the field of journalism-related research, and I look forward to its continued success. Before moving forward, I would like to thank outgoing editor Dane Claussen for his efforts to strengthen the journal’s reputation internationally that will benefit the journal for many years to come. I have big shoes to fill, and I commit to do my best.
This journal has an important role to play as the journalism industry continues to face an uncertain and sometimes unsettling future. Like most everything else in the world, the news industry has grappled with the effects caused by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic—from wide sweeping layoffs, the demise of some print newspapers, and a loss of revenue.
But there is also much to be hopeful for as we look to the future. In its 2021 Digital News Report (Newman, 2021), The Reuters Institute found that this crisis has put a spotlight on the value of accurate and reliable information. For instance, according to the report, trust in the news has grown in the midst of the pandemic, with 44% of respondents saying they trust most of the news most of the time. The highest levels of trust (65%) were found in Finland, while the United States had the lowest level of trust (29%). Some of the more interesting findings from this report include:
The “trust gap” between traditional news content and content consumed from aggregated sources has grown, suggesting there is more value on accurate and reliable information.
There was larger consumption of trusted news brands, particularly in countries where there is “strong and independent public service media.”
A majority (74%) of respondents said they prefer news that offers them a wide range of opinions and “lets them decide what to think.” Approximately two-thirds (66%) believe that news outlets should be neutral on every issue.
Using social media for news remains strong, particularly for young people.
There are also some findings in this report that are worth keeping an eye on:
Global concerns over false and misleading information continues to creep up.
Participants believe that globally, the news media are not representing fairly young people (especially young women), political partisans and individuals from minority ethnic group.
The value of local and regional news coverage tends to be limited to a small number of subjects, including local politics and crime. Consumers tend to rely more on search engines and internet sites for other types of local information (weather, housing, jobs, etc.)
Using mobile devices to get news has increased at its fastest rate in several years (73%), with this dependence growing through the COVID-19 lockdowns.
What does all this mean? Through all the turmoil of declining circulation, shrinking profits, smaller newsrooms, lack of trust, and many other challenges the industry has faced, I believe journalism has a bright future. The recent pandemic has reminded society that there is a value and need for what we do. For instance, a recent Pew Study revealed that more than a third (37%) of U.S. adults were following news about the coronavirus outbreak “very closely.” In addition, previous studies have revealed that local news outlets play an important role in keeping consumers informed about the outbreak.
Findings like this suggest that journalists have an opportunity to strengthen, or in some cases recapture, trust among their audience. We can reestablish our role in our communities. Obviously, what we do and how we do it will continue to evolve. The “old models” of journalism may not be as effective anymore, but there are still many opportunities for us to put into practice the long-standing values of journalism. If we embrace these new opportunities, we can reach younger audiences, increase credibility, and strengthen our place within our communities.
Thus the need for continued introspection and journalism-related research is as vital as it ever has been. Newspaper Research Journal can and will continue to be a leader in producing this research and I am excited to be a part of this process. Thank you for joining me on this journey.
Summary of This Issue
In this issue, you will find a wealth of research examining areas involving international law, politics, immigration, and the pandemic.
In the first article, Newly Paul studied how the media in India framed its coverage of the country’s Supreme Court decision in 2018 to overturn a law criminalizing consensual homosexual sex between adults. Paul reviewed more than 400 articles from Indian news outlets, analyzing the types of frames used in the coverage, the sources, and the length of the articles. She concluded that the press tended to highlight human/civil rights and human-interest frames over others. “In doing so, it reflected the changing values of Indian audiences,” she said.
Lloyd Carpenter and Alison Fields sought to identify the role that newspapers played in constructing the language used to describe the era of the “gold rush.” Specifically, they explored the contributions of the Polynesian newspaper in spreading the news of the rush to the Australasia and the U.S. East Coast. They found that news reports provided “something more than recollections, memoirs, biographies or histories: they offer on-the-spot reports of people who—in the earliest days—had no idea of the magnitude or importance of what they were witnessing, nor did they properly understand how this would change economies and populations.”
In her research, Stephanie Gibbons explored why diversity continues to be an issue within U.S. politics. Specifically, through a content analysis of newspaper headings, images, and article text, Gibbons investigated the presence of stereotypes within news coverage of female candidates during the 2020 U.S. presidential election. As a result, she offered three primary findings. First, the news media continues to reinforce and create new stereotypes in their coverage of women and women of color who run for political office. Second, female journalists disproportionally write the articles about the female candidates. Finally, images of women in online news stories are being supplanted by videos or infographics.
Two articles in this issue addressed issues related to immigration and refugees. Juan Liu assessed the effects of news frames on a reader’s attitudes and anti-immigrant sentiment when consuming refugee news. she found that as a reader is exposed to a benefit frame, opinions of immigration admission policies tend to be favorable, while exposure to an innocent victim frame created stronger anti-immigrant sentiments. Liu goes on to suggest that the “negative effects of victimization frames have significant implications for national politics, policies and journalism practices.
Noam Tirosh, Steve Bien-Aime, Akshaya Sreenivasan, and Dennis Lichtenstein conducted a comparative analysis of coverage around the annual World Refugee Day (WRD), branded by the UN as a means of raising awareness and create public discussions on refugees. Specifically, they examined frames used in migration-related stories by newspapers in four different countries—United States (New York Times), India (The Times of India), Germany (Sueddeutsche Zeitung), and Israel (Haaretz). They were curious to know if the “refugee crisis” in 2015 altered news coverage of refugee issues. In analyzing 18 years of coverage (before and after 2015), they concluded that migration-related stories around WRD each year were published consistently across the studied time frame. In addition, the 2015 refugee crisis did not substantially influence the coverage of WRD.
Finally, the current COVID pandemic continues to provide a wealth of research opportunities. You’ll find two of those studies in this issue. Stephanie Davis Kempton and Carlina DiRusso investigated newspaper narratives of pregnancy. Through an analysis of articles in The New York Times, they identified three themes: a reexamination of women’s reproductive rights, highlighting inequalities within the U.S. health care system, and uncertainty/fear among pregnant women and women’s health professionals.
Kelsey Mesmer, Darryl Frazier, and Scott Burgess analyzed how local newspapers framed the Detroit water crisis, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, they examined how the experts (government officials, utility representatives, etc.) were used as sources and how the news outlets chose to frame their coverage. They also wanted to know how the news chose to contextualize the crisis when it came to the impact on residents. Finally, they explored the impact of the pandemic and whether the crisis reentered the news cycle in 2020, considering the increased emphasis on hand washing, and so on. They found that the primary focus tended to be on economic consequences and responsibility frames. Few articles focused on the human element of the crisis, relying more on the official sources rather than residents. “If journalists were connected to more local activists and community leaders, they may have realized the on-going significance of the issue, and the behind-scenes-work that many advocacy groups engaged in could have made it in the mainstream news,” the authors suggested.