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Diversity of Journalisms. Proceedings of ECREA/CICOM Conference, Pamplona, 4-5 July 2011
The results show how the media discourse in cases analyzed transforms from
business towards political one. The empirical referents of this transformation are the
selection and interpretation of facts, the desire to dramatize the events, usage of
emotional arguments and untypical vocabulary. Thus, we fix the changes in the
functions, traditionally exercised by the business media.
Chasing the Unicorn. Romanian Journalism’s Quest for Quality and
Professionalization
Coman, Mihai; Gross, Peter; Ilie, Rad
University of Bucharest, Romania, Bucharest, Romania
The 2009 World of Journalism surveys of journalists’ perceptions of institutional roles,
journalism epistemologies, ethical ideologies, internal and external influences on their
work seems to suggest similarities among Eastern European countries, as well as
between them and countries in Western Europe, Africa, Latin America, the Middle
East and the United States. There is little evidence offered by studies about Eastern
European journalism to suggest that such sameness exists.
On the basis of focus group interviews with Romanian journalists, and a thorough
review of the existing literature on Romanian journalism published in the last decade,
this paper exposes the discrepancies between the answers provided in the Worlds of
Journalism survey and the reality in the field of news and information and
dissemination in that country. What surfaces in the study is the unmistakable
intersection between professional ideology and the extant economic, political and
cultural ideologies. The findings give rise to two important questions: What do the
findings say about (1) professionalization in Romania and (2) about the integration of
Romanian journalism into the exigencies of a democracy and of the European Union.
Diverse interpretations of media transparency: reformulating ethical journalism
in Ukraine
Grynko, Anastasiia
Mohyla School of Journalism, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Kyiv,
Ukraine
The study examined transparency and non-transparency (opacity) of media practices
in Ukraine as they were experienced, understood and interpreted by Ukrainian editors
and journalists during the presidential elections 2009-2010.
Based on the qualitative data collected from leading journalists and editors (method of
focus-group discussion), the author explores diversity of non-transparent influences
that challenge independent journalism in the country and analyzes how media
practitioners perceive and interpret these influences.
The study indicates the gap between the normative conceptualization of media
transparency (or how it is presented by professional rules and standards) and the
ways this phenomenon is evaluated, understood and interpreted by the individuals,
involved in media practices. Research findings showed that Ukrainian media
practitioners continue to experience multiple, mainly indirect, influences from news
sources, which are often perceived as acceptable, and find the ways to “keep
balance” between professional ethics and temptation to earn monetary “bonuses” for
coverage. Journalists tend to not only justify the influences on media content, but also
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