The Jeremiad Over Journalism

normative expectations and aspirations. (…) What really matters is how journalists or other
media personnel function in practice.‖ 623
Yet, even though important information has been added to the process of Americanization by
looking at the driving forces behind transmission, transnationalization, and appropriation in the
present dissertation, it is also acknowledged, that other methods could nuance ―how the process
happens concretely.‖ 624
Especially when dealing with a contemporary historical phenomenon like Americanization of the
media an ethnographic approach ―based on field observation and extensive interviewing,‖ would
seem a fruitful approach to clarify the present findings to an even greater extent and tying these
methods closer to the quantitative analysis conducted. 625 A few examples of interviews have been
provided through the communication with Anders Krab-Johansen as well as former New York
Times-journalist Joseph Treaster. Greater emphasis on the key actors in the Americanization
process, however, seems a fruitful way to gain even more concrete knowledge of the process.
For example, building on the driving forces identified by this dissertation, one could envision a
study identifying a number of journalists who had been on exchange to the United States through
Fulbright, or other trips sponsored more directly by the American government, being interviewed
(or observed in their editorial environment) after their exchange experience and then conducting a
content analysis of these individuals‘ journalistic output before and after their exchange. Other
studies linking key actors in the qualitative and quantitative studies closer together than it has been
done in the present dissertation seem equally productive. 626
623
Hallin and Mancini, Comparing Media Systems. Three Models of Media and Politics. Page 303-304.
624
Ibid. Page 303.
625
Ibid. Page 303-304.
626
Hallin and Mancini note, the quantitative analysis has its merits, but should ideally be combined with more
qualitative approaches. Following the American ―participant observation‖ examples set by Gans, Tuchman, Hallin and
Schudson and building on Danish scholars like Ida Willig‘s work would seem to add an important component to the
debate over Americanization which is missing in the current study. Herbert J. Gans, Deciding What's News: A Study of
CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, Newsweek and Time (New York: Vintage Books, 1980). See also Tuchman,
"Objectivity as Strategic Ritual: An Examination of Newsmen's Notions of Objectivity." As well as Hallin, "The
Passing of The "High Modernism" Of American Journalism." Also Schudson, Discovering the News: A Social History
of American Newspapers. In the Danish context see, Ida Schulz, "Bag Om Nyhedskriterierne [Behind the News
Criteria]," (Roskilde: Center for Journalism, Department of Communication, Journalism and Computer Science, RUC,
2006).
231