Tamara Witschge
Biographic Data
| ID | 4499591 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Tamara Witschge |
| GIVEN NAMES | Tamara |
| FAMILY NAME | Witschge |
| SIGNATURE | WITSCHGE T |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Groningen, The Netherlands |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7642-4868 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 376 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Re-centring Community, Care, and Curiosity in a Decentred Journalism Studies: A Response to Journalism Studies for Realists
In this response to the article by Matt Carlson and Chris Peters, we consider the challenge that the authors deem key for journalism studies and their answer to this challenge: “realist journalism studies.” We explore what the authors mean by decentring journalism studies, by “realism,” and the reason for wanting to keep journalism studies. We conclude by exploring what we consider the main challenge for journalism studies: to untangle what journ…
Improvisation and Entrepreneurial Journalism: Reimagining Innovation
With the rise of innovation and entrepreneurship as avenues for journalists to take in their search for journalistic work, we need to critically interrogate how these terms are understood. Various journalism institutions are pushing a particular understanding of journalism, and of what constitutes meaningful and innovative journalism. In this paper, we review the literature on these themes and draw on experimental research done by one of the auth…
From Suspicion to Wonder in Journalism and Communication Research
In this article, we call for a critical reflection on the lens that we adopt when researching journalism and communication. Adopting a lens of wonder can enhance our ability to consider the rich diversity that can be found in the field. Through a variety of research projects, we show how through wonder we cannot only understand how journalism is becoming but also make space for “becoming with”: we show how we are complicit in journalism’s future.…
Towards an Experientialist Understanding of Journalism: Exploring Arts-based Research for Journalism Studies
In this paper, we explore the ways in which we can employ arts-based research methods to unpack and represent the diversity and complexity of journalistic experiences and (self) conceptualisations. We address the need to reconsider the ways in which we theorise and research the field of journalism. We thereby aim to complement the current methodologies, theories, and prisms through which we consider our object of study to depict more comprehensiv…
Examining innovation as process: Action research in journalism studies
In this article, we discuss how ‘action research’ as an experiential research approach allows us to address challenges encountered in researching a converged and digital media landscape. We draw on our experiences as researchers, co-developers and marketeers in the European Union-funded Innovation Action project ‘INnovative Journalism: Enhanced Creativity Tools’ (INJECT) aimed at developing a technological tool for journalism. In this media innov…
Journalism as Practice
In this chapter we propose to adopt a practice theory approach to theorize and examine journalism as an open, diverse and dynamic practice. We first highlight how the ways in which journalism is defined and how the journalistic profession is conceptualised are in flux, and journalistic norms, work routines and audience interactions are changing. We propose practice theory as it allows us to provide a bottom-up theorisation of journalism practices…
The Entrepreneurial Journalist
This chapter discusses the rise of the entrepreneur in the field of journalism, highlighting the main themes in the literature on entrepreneurial journalism. It considers the methodological implications of changes in the field and discusses methods of data collection and analysis employed for this particular research, and in the final section we detail findings. The chapter draws from interviews with 10 journalists, one designer and one web devel…
Dealing with the mess (we made): Unraveling hybridity, normativity, and complexity in journalism studies
In this article, we discuss the rise and use of the concept of hybridity in journalism studies. Hybridity afforded a meaningful intervention in a discipline that had the tendency to focus on a stabilized and homogeneous understanding of the field. Nonetheless, we now need to reconsider its deployment, as it only partially allows us to address and understand the developments in journalism. We argue that if scholarship is to move forward in a produ…
Impact as driving force of journalistic and social change
In this article, we explore how entrepreneurial journalists from a wide variety of national contexts present ‘impact’ as one of the aims in their work. By exploring the variety, incongruences, and strategic considerations in the discourse on impact of those at the forefront of journalistic innovation, we provide a much-needed empirical account of the changing conceptualisation of what journalism is and what it is for. Our data show how impact bec…
Beyond journalism: Theorizing the transformation of journalism
Journalism has enjoyed a rich and relatively stable history of professionalization. Scholars coming from a variety of disciplines have theorized this history, forming a consistent body of knowledge codified in national and international handbooks and canonical readers. However, recent work and analysis suggest that the supposed core of journalism and the assumed consistency of the inner workings of news organizations are problematic starting poin…
Ideology as Resource in Entrepreneurial Journalism: The French online news startup Mediapart
The emergence of a startup culture in the field of journalism is global: since the early years of the twenty-first century, new independent journalism companies have formed around the world. Although setting up one's own journalistic practice is not particularly novel in the news industry, the last couple of years have witnessed exponential growth in the startup space. In this context we chose to look more closely at one of the more successful re…
The Sage Handbook of Digital Journalism
The era of digital journalism represents a shift in the forms of knowing – or epistemology – of journalism. This shift, I argue, has opened up new spaces for more emotional and personalized forms of expression in public discourse. In referring to digital journalism, I am interested in tracing the consequences of a particular set of developments that have occurred as a result of the “digital disruption” (Jones and Salter, 2011) engendered by the e…
Sage Handbook of Digital Journalism
The production and consumption of news in the digital era is blurring the boundaries between professionals, citizens and activists. Actors producing information are multiplying, but still media companies hold central position. Journalism research faces important challenges to capture, examine, and understand the current news environment. The SAGE Handbook of Digital Journalism starts from the pressing need for a thorough and bold debate to redefi…
From Grand Narratives of Democracy to Small Expectations of Participation: Audiences, citizenship, and interactive tools in digital journalism
This article critically examines the invocation of democracy in the discourse of audience participation in digital journalism. Rather than simply restate the familiar grand narratives that traditionally described journalism's function for democracy (information source, watchdog, public representative, mediation for political actors), we compare and contrast conceptualisations of the audience found within these and discuss how digital technologies…
Passive Accomplice or Active Disruptor: The role of audiences in the mediatization of politics
Mediatization of politics in the institutional perspective is commonly taken to refer to the interactions between political actors and media actors, where the first become increasingly governed by media logic and the latter become increasingly independent from other institutions. Even though we could picture the relations between the different constituents as a triangle with audience, media and political actors as equally important corners, the i…
Between networks and ‘hierarchies of credibility’: Navigating journalistic practice in a sea of user-generated content
Institutional journalists are under pressure and the field of journalism is in flux. If twentieth-century journalism was characterized by ‘a trained professional delivering objectively validated content to a reader (or viewer, or listener)’, where there was room ‘for a journalism of analysis and opinion delivered by an authoritative public voice’ (McNair, 2009a: 347), and we agree that journalism is changing, we can wonder where journalism in the…
‘Comment is free, facts are sacred’: Journalistic ethics in a changing mediascape
Liberal Dreams and the Internet
Journalistic Work: A Profession Under Pressure?
This article explores how the changing nature of journalistic work and organization are affecting the profession, the way it is perceived by personnel, the roles played by journalists, and autonomy of journalists. It finds that the technical and economic changes are disrupting the established professional status, roles, and practices of journalists, removing professional control that previously existed.
Beyond journalism: Theorizing the transformation of journalism
Journalism has enjoyed a rich and relatively stable history of professionalization. Scholars coming from a variety of disciplines have theorized this history, forming a consistent body of knowledge codified in national and international handbooks and canonical readers. However, recent work and analysis suggest that the supposed core of journalism and the assumed consistency of the inner workings of news organizations are problematic starting poin…
The Sage Handbook of Digital Journalism
The era of digital journalism represents a shift in the forms of knowing – or epistemology – of journalism. This shift, I argue, has opened up new spaces for more emotional and personalized forms of expression in public discourse. In referring to digital journalism, I am interested in tracing the consequences of a particular set of developments that have occurred as a result of the “digital disruption” (Jones and Salter, 2011) engendered by the e…
Ideology as Resource in Entrepreneurial Journalism: The French online news startup Mediapart
The emergence of a startup culture in the field of journalism is global: since the early years of the twenty-first century, new independent journalism companies have formed around the world. Although setting up one's own journalistic practice is not particularly novel in the news industry, the last couple of years have witnessed exponential growth in the startup space. In this context we chose to look more closely at one of the more successful re…
Dealing with the mess (we made): Unraveling hybridity, normativity, and complexity in journalism studies
In this article, we discuss the rise and use of the concept of hybridity in journalism studies. Hybridity afforded a meaningful intervention in a discipline that had the tendency to focus on a stabilized and homogeneous understanding of the field. Nonetheless, we now need to reconsider its deployment, as it only partially allows us to address and understand the developments in journalism. We argue that if scholarship is to move forward in a produ…
Impact as driving force of journalistic and social change
In this article, we explore how entrepreneurial journalists from a wide variety of national contexts present ‘impact’ as one of the aims in their work. By exploring the variety, incongruences, and strategic considerations in the discourse on impact of those at the forefront of journalistic innovation, we provide a much-needed empirical account of the changing conceptualisation of what journalism is and what it is for. Our data show how impact bec…
From Grand Narratives of Democracy to Small Expectations of Participation: Audiences, citizenship, and interactive tools in digital journalism
This article critically examines the invocation of democracy in the discourse of audience participation in digital journalism. Rather than simply restate the familiar grand narratives that traditionally described journalism's function for democracy (information source, watchdog, public representative, mediation for political actors), we compare and contrast conceptualisations of the audience found within these and discuss how digital technologies…
Towards an Experientialist Understanding of Journalism: Exploring Arts-based Research for Journalism Studies
In this paper, we explore the ways in which we can employ arts-based research methods to unpack and represent the diversity and complexity of journalistic experiences and (self) conceptualisations. We address the need to reconsider the ways in which we theorise and research the field of journalism. We thereby aim to complement the current methodologies, theories, and prisms through which we consider our object of study to depict more comprehensiv…
Passive Accomplice or Active Disruptor: The role of audiences in the mediatization of politics
Mediatization of politics in the institutional perspective is commonly taken to refer to the interactions between political actors and media actors, where the first become increasingly governed by media logic and the latter become increasingly independent from other institutions. Even though we could picture the relations between the different constituents as a triangle with audience, media and political actors as equally important corners, the i…
Improvisation and Entrepreneurial Journalism: Reimagining Innovation
With the rise of innovation and entrepreneurship as avenues for journalists to take in their search for journalistic work, we need to critically interrogate how these terms are understood. Various journalism institutions are pushing a particular understanding of journalism, and of what constitutes meaningful and innovative journalism. In this paper, we review the literature on these themes and draw on experimental research done by one of the auth…
Re-centring Community, Care, and Curiosity in a Decentred Journalism Studies: A Response to Journalism Studies for Realists
In this response to the article by Matt Carlson and Chris Peters, we consider the challenge that the authors deem key for journalism studies and their answer to this challenge: “realist journalism studies.” We explore what the authors mean by decentring journalism studies, by “realism,” and the reason for wanting to keep journalism studies. We conclude by exploring what we consider the main challenge for journalism studies: to untangle what journ…
Journalistic Work: A Profession Under Pressure?
This article explores how the changing nature of journalistic work and organization are affecting the profession, the way it is perceived by personnel, the roles played by journalists, and autonomy of journalists. It finds that the technical and economic changes are disrupting the established professional status, roles, and practices of journalists, removing professional control that previously existed.
Liberal Dreams and the Internet
‘Comment is free, facts are sacred’: Journalistic ethics in a changing mediascape
Between networks and ‘hierarchies of credibility’: Navigating journalistic practice in a sea of user-generated content
Institutional journalists are under pressure and the field of journalism is in flux. If twentieth-century journalism was characterized by ‘a trained professional delivering objectively validated content to a reader (or viewer, or listener)’, where there was room ‘for a journalism of analysis and opinion delivered by an authoritative public voice’ (McNair, 2009a: 347), and we agree that journalism is changing, we can wonder where journalism in the…
From Grand Narratives of Democracy to Small Expectations of Participation: Audiences, citizenship, and interactive tools in digital journalism
This article critically examines the invocation of democracy in the discourse of audience participation in digital journalism. Rather than simply restate the familiar grand narratives that traditionally described journalism's function for democracy (information source, watchdog, public representative, mediation for political actors), we compare and contrast conceptualisations of the audience found within these and discuss how digital technologies…
Passive Accomplice or Active Disruptor: The role of audiences in the mediatization of politics
Mediatization of politics in the institutional perspective is commonly taken to refer to the interactions between political actors and media actors, where the first become increasingly governed by media logic and the latter become increasingly independent from other institutions. Even though we could picture the relations between the different constituents as a triangle with audience, media and political actors as equally important corners, the i…
Ideology as Resource in Entrepreneurial Journalism: The French online news startup Mediapart
The emergence of a startup culture in the field of journalism is global: since the early years of the twenty-first century, new independent journalism companies have formed around the world. Although setting up one's own journalistic practice is not particularly novel in the news industry, the last couple of years have witnessed exponential growth in the startup space. In this context we chose to look more closely at one of the more successful re…
The Sage Handbook of Digital Journalism
The era of digital journalism represents a shift in the forms of knowing – or epistemology – of journalism. This shift, I argue, has opened up new spaces for more emotional and personalized forms of expression in public discourse. In referring to digital journalism, I am interested in tracing the consequences of a particular set of developments that have occurred as a result of the “digital disruption” (Jones and Salter, 2011) engendered by the e…
Sage Handbook of Digital Journalism
The production and consumption of news in the digital era is blurring the boundaries between professionals, citizens and activists. Actors producing information are multiplying, but still media companies hold central position. Journalism research faces important challenges to capture, examine, and understand the current news environment. The SAGE Handbook of Digital Journalism starts from the pressing need for a thorough and bold debate to redefi…
Beyond journalism: Theorizing the transformation of journalism
Journalism has enjoyed a rich and relatively stable history of professionalization. Scholars coming from a variety of disciplines have theorized this history, forming a consistent body of knowledge codified in national and international handbooks and canonical readers. However, recent work and analysis suggest that the supposed core of journalism and the assumed consistency of the inner workings of news organizations are problematic starting poin…
Journalism as Practice
In this chapter we propose to adopt a practice theory approach to theorize and examine journalism as an open, diverse and dynamic practice. We first highlight how the ways in which journalism is defined and how the journalistic profession is conceptualised are in flux, and journalistic norms, work routines and audience interactions are changing. We propose practice theory as it allows us to provide a bottom-up theorisation of journalism practices…
The Entrepreneurial Journalist
This chapter discusses the rise of the entrepreneur in the field of journalism, highlighting the main themes in the literature on entrepreneurial journalism. It considers the methodological implications of changes in the field and discusses methods of data collection and analysis employed for this particular research, and in the final section we detail findings. The chapter draws from interviews with 10 journalists, one designer and one web devel…
Dealing with the mess (we made): Unraveling hybridity, normativity, and complexity in journalism studies
In this article, we discuss the rise and use of the concept of hybridity in journalism studies. Hybridity afforded a meaningful intervention in a discipline that had the tendency to focus on a stabilized and homogeneous understanding of the field. Nonetheless, we now need to reconsider its deployment, as it only partially allows us to address and understand the developments in journalism. We argue that if scholarship is to move forward in a produ…
Impact as driving force of journalistic and social change
In this article, we explore how entrepreneurial journalists from a wide variety of national contexts present ‘impact’ as one of the aims in their work. By exploring the variety, incongruences, and strategic considerations in the discourse on impact of those at the forefront of journalistic innovation, we provide a much-needed empirical account of the changing conceptualisation of what journalism is and what it is for. Our data show how impact bec…
Examining innovation as process: Action research in journalism studies
In this article, we discuss how ‘action research’ as an experiential research approach allows us to address challenges encountered in researching a converged and digital media landscape. We draw on our experiences as researchers, co-developers and marketeers in the European Union-funded Innovation Action project ‘INnovative Journalism: Enhanced Creativity Tools’ (INJECT) aimed at developing a technological tool for journalism. In this media innov…
From Suspicion to Wonder in Journalism and Communication Research
In this article, we call for a critical reflection on the lens that we adopt when researching journalism and communication. Adopting a lens of wonder can enhance our ability to consider the rich diversity that can be found in the field. Through a variety of research projects, we show how through wonder we cannot only understand how journalism is becoming but also make space for “becoming with”: we show how we are complicit in journalism’s future.…
Towards an Experientialist Understanding of Journalism: Exploring Arts-based Research for Journalism Studies
In this paper, we explore the ways in which we can employ arts-based research methods to unpack and represent the diversity and complexity of journalistic experiences and (self) conceptualisations. We address the need to reconsider the ways in which we theorise and research the field of journalism. We thereby aim to complement the current methodologies, theories, and prisms through which we consider our object of study to depict more comprehensiv…
Improvisation and Entrepreneurial Journalism: Reimagining Innovation
With the rise of innovation and entrepreneurship as avenues for journalists to take in their search for journalistic work, we need to critically interrogate how these terms are understood. Various journalism institutions are pushing a particular understanding of journalism, and of what constitutes meaningful and innovative journalism. In this paper, we review the literature on these themes and draw on experimental research done by one of the auth…
Re-centring Community, Care, and Curiosity in a Decentred Journalism Studies: A Response to Journalism Studies for Realists
In this response to the article by Matt Carlson and Chris Peters, we consider the challenge that the authors deem key for journalism studies and their answer to this challenge: “realist journalism studies.” We explore what the authors mean by decentring journalism studies, by “realism,” and the reason for wanting to keep journalism studies. We conclude by exploring what we consider the main challenge for journalism studies: to untangle what journ…
Sociology (17 works) · Political science (15 works) · Media studies (14 works) · Journalism (13 works) · Media Studies and Communication (13 works) · Computer Science (10 works) · Epistemology (9 works) · Public relations (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Law (8 works)