Is it futile to fight for quality in journalism?

1. Is it futile to fight for quality in journalism? Journalism, Media Research, and the Public in Democracies

2. Freedom of the Press Worldwide in 2014 Source: http://rsf.org/index2014/en-index2014.php

3. Press Freedom Ranking 2014 Serbia 54 • Finland 1 • Switzerland 15 • Germany 14 • U.S.A. 46 • Czech Republic 13 • Latvia 37 • Poland 19 • Italy 49 • Romania 45 • Albania 85 • Ukraine 131 • Eritrea 180

4. Whyis a Free Press important? • To keepcitizensinformed • To providedifferentviewpoints: “Marketplace of ideas” • To keep the powerfulresponsible • In particular: to fightcorruption

5. Corruption Perception Indexfrom Transparency International 2014 Survey results Source: http://www.transparency.org/cpi2014/results

6. Corruption Perception Ranking 2014 • Denmark 1 • Switzerland 5 • Germany 12 • U.S.A. 17 • Poland 35 • Czech Republic 53 • Latvia 43 • Italy 69 • Romania 69 • Albania 110 • Ukraine 142 • Somalia 174 Exception to the rule: Singapore: Corruption: 7 Press Freedom: 150 Serbia 78

7. JournalistsasActivists “For journalists, there should be no objectivity, no neutrality, about freedom of expression and other key liberties that are at the foundation of self-rule. There should be an open bias toward openness and freedom—and news people who don’t use their reports to push those values are not fit to call themselves journalists.” Dan Gillmor Source: Backchannel, 2.12.2014 https://medium.com/backchannel/when-journalists-must-not-be-objective-fad5aadd8cb3

8. How can a Free Press beguaranteed? • Constitutional rights are important, but not enough • We need to defend constantly press freedom • A professional culture of journalism helps to defend press freedom and to keep journalism itself responsible • Infrastructures to improve journalistic quality & self governance of media needed

9. The other Side of theCoin No press freedom without media accountability Needed: - High professional standards – journalistic quality - A culture of responsibility (the three «C’s»: corrections, complaints managment, coverage of the media by the media

10. Quality Criteria: The Magic Polygone • Objectivity • factualprecision • news values • criticaldistance to PR sources • separation of news and opinions • variety of perspectives • „fair play“ • „background“ • Topicality / Relevance • timing (being fast) • settingprioritiesaccording • to audiences’ needs & wants Criteria of journalisticquality • Interactivity • stimulating feedback • activating the audience • Comprehensibility • simplification • intelligibility (language and context) • Originality • stimulating audience • independentinvestigation/”exclusives” • Transparency / • Reflection • presentingconditions of reporting • naming and evaluatingsources

11. In thenewsroom Outside newsroom University curricula On the job training Private Journalism schools Preventive ex ante An IntegralApproach to JournalisticQuality Infrastructuresasmeans to obtainjournalisticquality Accreditation of journalism schools Mid career programs • Using manifold sources/Cross-checking • Respecting news values & professional rules • Observing competitors: Benchmarking • Editing/Proof reading • Newsroom ethics codes Proof reading by outside experts During production Mid career programs Auto criticism, corrections corners copytests, feedback from audience, Press councils, watchdogs, media monitoring, advocacy ads Corrective ex post Ombudsmen Market & Media Research Media journalism Journalism awards

12. Quality: Vanishing in the Bermuda Triangle? Advertising • shiftingtothe Internet • reducedrates due tocompetition/ classifiedsforfree • targetedads (searchengines, • socialnetworks) • becomestoo dominant • endangersjournalism‘scredibility • uses open gates due toshrinkingnewsrooms • replacespartiallyadvertising Journalism • Shifting to the Internet • Expecting news for free PR Publics

13. The Missing Links • Setting • qualitystandards • in journalism • education • Bridging the gap between media research & media practice

14. The MissingLinks Lack of research transfer in the field of communications research, in particular: • lack of “science writing” – need to support media sections of high quality newspapers, professional magazines and their websites; • lack of access to research results for practitioners of non-English mothertongue • focus on the Anglo-Saxon world (“one way street”): lack of access to research results from the non-Anglo-Saxon world (what isn’t published in English language journals, does not exist)

15. EJO Network: Expansion Towards The East and the Southwest Website in 11 languages Newcomer 2014: Portugal www.ejo.ch www. ejo-online.eu

16. Thanks!!!! Any suggestions, help, criticism welcome!!!!!! From: GEO Wissen „Kommunikation“ Nr. 2/ 6.11.89, 2

17. Whichroledoes media research play?

18. Whoisfinancing media research? • Taxpayers (basic research) • Media companies (market research) • Foundations/philanthropists (basic & market research – frequently tax-exempt)

19. Whyshould media researchbeaccessible? Conclusion: • The public’s right to know (and to become more quality conscious) • Journalists & media managers chance to benefit from research and to improve their products • Researchers’ responsibility to share their knowledge • Journalists responsibility to serve their publics by keeping them informed (& possibly “educating” them…)

20. EJO THE EUROPEAN JOURNALISM OBSERVATORY Engaging in Research Transfer, Press Freedom and Media Accountability Making Communications Research Accessibleacross Cultural Borders

21. EJO on Facebook and Twitter

22. Media Journalism in RegionalNewspapers NEUE LUZERNER ZEITUNG DER TAGESSPIEGEL DER BUND CORRIERE DEL TICINO ST. GALLER TAGBLATT MITTELLAND-ZEITUNG www.ejo.ch

23. Partnering Professional Journals and Websites in the German Speaking World www.ejo.ch

24. Print contributions are republished and translated • Otherwise: Online first • Links to other websites

25. The Main Focus: Journalism & Media Research

26. The European Journalism Observatory (www.ejo.ch)... • Observes trends in journalism and in the media • Contributes to the improvement of journalistic quality and serves the needs of journalists, editors and media managers • Bridges the gap between communications research and the media • Helps to understand the different journalistic cultures within Europe and in the US

27. Characteristics • Transnational perspective: Focus on comparative analysis of developments in various European countries and in the US • Transfer of knowledge: EJO selects and presents interesting research results of other institutes or research centers in a condensed, readable and understandable form • Academic credibility: Studies are carried out by researchers and professionals with international experience (from Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Italy and the U.S.). Independence guaranteed by three participating universities. • Multilingual presentation: Brief analysis in English, Italian, German and Polish. Complete research reports in the original language with abstracts in the other languages • Journalistic professionalism: EJO researchers and collaborators know the media industry and have practical experience in journalism

28. The Challenges Helping professional journalism to survive Defending press freedom Promoting media accountability Making relevant media and journalism research accessible to media practitioners Bridging the gap between European journalism cultures Benchmarking: Providing “best practice” examples of journalism www.ejo.ch

29. Opportunities • Contributing to professionalization of journalists («knowlege is power») • Subsidy for Newsrooms/Professional Journals: in particular “foreign correspondence” about media/journalism • A “J-School” for media & (social) science journalism • Credible journalism about (and thus PR for…) Communication Sciences • A possibility for our webeditors to finance their doctoral dissertations • Possibility for qualified students to bridge the time between graduation and finding a full employment • A multilingual and multicultural workplace, combining research with journalism

30. Transfer in National Dailies or Weeklies Switzerland: NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG Austria STANDARD.AT DIE FURCHE (AUSTRIA) www.ejo.ch

31. Problems • Decentralizing and creating a network – finding the “right” partners among research institutions and in media journalism (in pipeline: French, Serbian versions of www.ejo.ch) • Finding new sponsors • Improving the “showcase” – the English Website (needed: two American and two European partners – from Netherlands, Britain, Ireland and/or Scandinavia) • Cooperating with interpreters, providing high quality translations, integrating the “joint venture” • Balancing own and translated content – adding context to translations • Finding and cooperating with interpreters providing high quality translations • Integrating the network “joint venture” – maintaining similar professional standards • Lack of interest in research institutions and in the media branch • Finding sponsors

32. Partnerships & Sponsors Institutional Partnerships – so far: • TU Dortmund • University of Wroclaw • USI Lugano In the “pipeline”: Turiba Business School, Riga (Latvian); Karls University, Prague (Czech), University of Belgrade (Serbian); University of Neuchâtel (French) Major funding from: • Stiftung Pressehaus NRZ (German and Polish Website) • Fondazione Corriere del Ticino (English and Italian)

33. How the World Ends „New York Times: World Ends - Third World Countries Hit Most Seriossly Wall Street Journal: World Ends - Dow Jones Index Touches Zero Washington Post: World Ends - White House Ignored Early Warnings AccordingtoGovernmentSources USA Today: We Are All Dead. Final Sports Results on Page C 6