Johana Kotišová
Biographic Data
| ID | 4629626 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Johana Kotišová |
| GIVEN NAMES | Johana |
| FAMILY NAME | Kotišová |
| SIGNATURE | KOTIŠOVÁ J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2148-3155 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 50 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 17 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
“It’s a jungle”
This study, based on in-depth interviews with 22 reporters, stringers, and photojournalists working in Small Conflict Reporting Ecosystems (SE) looks into the ambivalent and ambiguous work of conflict reporters who find themselves in the middle of the conflict reporting hierarchy. It seeks to diversify the understanding of global conflict reporters’ positionalities, broaden the understanding of their precarity and the overall “crisis” of global c…
The Affective Epistemology of Digital Journalism
in this paper, we seek to introduce the term "affective epistemology" into digital journalism studies. Building on twenty-seven interviews with media workers reporting on the Russo-Ukrainian War and digital documentation analysis, we address the following research questions: What is the epistemic value of media practitioners' emotions? how do emotional attachments shape how media professionals and open-source analysts navigate fact-finding and ne…
“The goal is to make you weaker”
The increased scale of cross-border journalistic investigations brings about severe challenges: online harassment, physical violence, legal threats, but also emotional challenges and mental stress that can lead to burnout. The latter has never been the focus of studies on cross-border investigative journalistic collaborations. This paper seeks to fill in this gap and contribute to the understanding of how the cross-border aspects of investigative…
On the Institutionalization of Osinv in Journalistic Practice
Open-source intelligence investigations (OSI) have slowly transformed from an ad hoc, grassroots practice relegated to internet sleuths into an increasingly formalized and well-structured technique for journalistic research. By leveraging publicly available data, such as satellite images, social media posts, or official records, to expose misinformation and create actionable insights, organizations like Bellingcat or Forensic Architecture have us…
Journalism and Embodied Knowledge
Beyond “ Fixing
This paper investigates the liminal position of “fixers” in global news reporting and critically examines the very term “fixer”. Building on existing research in the field and ongoing discussions about its inherent inequalities, we address the following questions: How do “fixers” enact their liminality in everyday work? What does the liminality inherent to the term “fixer” say about the positionalities of local media workers and the politics and …
The epistemic injustice in conflict reporting
This paper investigates the epistemic injustice in conflict reporting, where foreign parachute reporters collaborate with local producers and ‘fixers.’ Drawing from existing research on ‘fixers’ and other media professionals covering conflict zones and the philosophy of emotion and knowledge, I address the following questions: What is the role of local and foreign media professionals’ affective proximity and professional distance in the social ep…
Decolonizing Conflict Journalism Studies
This paper offers a critical review of scholarly research on fixers, the local collaborators of foreign correspondents, in conflict reporting. Based on a thematic analysis of work that addresses news fixing, we summarize what we know about fixers in conflict zones while using postcolonial lens to further develop some critical arguments that are already present in the body of research. Existing studies well describe what fixers do, who they are, a…
Crumbled autonomy
In 2013, the Czech-Slovak businessman Andrej Babiš decided to widen the scope of his activities by buying the Czech media house, Mafra. He was also pursuing a political career and in 2017 became Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. Both the purchase and the political ascent of the new owner have contributed to the departure of many journalists from the two national newspapers in the Mafra Group. The journalists left in waves that corresponded to…
I Know Which Devil I Write for
This paper examines two different understandings of professional autonomy among journalists currently and formerly working at Mafra, a Czech media house acquired in 2013 by Andrej Babiš, who in 2017 became the Czech Prime Minister. We build on existing research of local trends in media ownership and journalistic autonomy to ask the following questions: What differentiated the experience of journalists who exited the organization after the ownersh…
Toward a Theory of Atypical Media Work and Social Hope
Most media work today takes place under atypical conditions, i.e. media professionals such as journalists, musicians, filmmakers, advertising creatives and game developers generally work without open-ended contracts. In this essay, a theory of atypical media work is outlined highlighting this way of working and being at work from the current culture of capitalism. Further, it also throws light on how dualisms, dominating the discourse on media wo…
Creative Nonfiction in Social Science
The paper aims at identifying, explaining and illustrating the affordances of “creative nonfiction” as a style of writing social science. The first part introduces creative nonfiction as a method of writing which brings together empirical material and fiction. In the second part, based on illustrations from my ethnographic research of European “crisis reporters,” written in the form of a novel about a fictional journalist, but also based on a rev…
An elixir of life? Emotional labour in cultural journalism
Recent technological and institutional changes in journalism are believed to have dragged cultural journalism into a crisis. This article looks closely at one thing that makes the job of cultural journalists, in particular critics, distinct from other journalistic beats – the openly acknowledged importance of emotionality and subjectivity in these media workers’ professional practices – and explores the role of emotions in dealing with the crisis…
Crisis Reporters, Emotions, and Technology
This open access book explores the emotional labour of crisis reporters in an original style that combines fictional and factual narrative. Exploring how journalists make sense of their emotional experience and development in relation to their professional ideology, it illustrates how media professionals learn to think and act within crisis situations. Drawing on in-depth interviews with journalists reporting on wars, terror attacks and natural d…
The elephant in the newsroom
The article seeks to review current work on the obvious but complex entanglement of journalism and emotion. The field has been under‐theorized and under‐researched; however, in recent years, the body of studies that attempt to grasp the relationship between journalism, journalists, media content, and emotion is growing. The paper roughly systematizes the literature on journalism and emotion based on the Goffmanian distinction between front region…
Cynicism ex machina
The article seeks to explore crisis reporters’ emotional culture. Their emotional practices are believed to lie at the core of the paradox of the traditional commitment to objectivity/detachment and witnessing other people’s suffering, and thus to be vital for understanding crisis reporting. The article, focusing on reporting the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ and the 13 November Paris terrorist attacks by Czech Television, addresses the question on …
When the crisis comes home
On the morning of 22 March 2016, three coordinated suicide bombings planned by Daesh occurred in Brussels. Those Belgian reporters who commonly travel to conflict zones and disaster sites had to report on a ‘combat zone event’ that was happening at the place where they, their families, and friends lived. Their subjective experience of witnesses, actors, and even indirect victims merged with their professional tasks. The traditional journalistic c…
An elixir of life? Emotional labour in cultural journalism
Recent technological and institutional changes in journalism are believed to have dragged cultural journalism into a crisis. This article looks closely at one thing that makes the job of cultural journalists, in particular critics, distinct from other journalistic beats – the openly acknowledged importance of emotionality and subjectivity in these media workers’ professional practices – and explores the role of emotions in dealing with the crisis…
When the crisis comes home
On the morning of 22 March 2016, three coordinated suicide bombings planned by Daesh occurred in Brussels. Those Belgian reporters who commonly travel to conflict zones and disaster sites had to report on a ‘combat zone event’ that was happening at the place where they, their families, and friends lived. Their subjective experience of witnesses, actors, and even indirect victims merged with their professional tasks. The traditional journalistic c…
The elephant in the newsroom
The article seeks to review current work on the obvious but complex entanglement of journalism and emotion. The field has been under‐theorized and under‐researched; however, in recent years, the body of studies that attempt to grasp the relationship between journalism, journalists, media content, and emotion is growing. The paper roughly systematizes the literature on journalism and emotion based on the Goffmanian distinction between front region…
I Know Which Devil I Write for
This paper examines two different understandings of professional autonomy among journalists currently and formerly working at Mafra, a Czech media house acquired in 2013 by Andrej Babiš, who in 2017 became the Czech Prime Minister. We build on existing research of local trends in media ownership and journalistic autonomy to ask the following questions: What differentiated the experience of journalists who exited the organization after the ownersh…
Journalism and Embodied Knowledge
Crumbled autonomy
In 2013, the Czech-Slovak businessman Andrej Babiš decided to widen the scope of his activities by buying the Czech media house, Mafra. He was also pursuing a political career and in 2017 became Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. Both the purchase and the political ascent of the new owner have contributed to the departure of many journalists from the two national newspapers in the Mafra Group. The journalists left in waves that corresponded to…
Cynicism ex machina
The article seeks to explore crisis reporters’ emotional culture. Their emotional practices are believed to lie at the core of the paradox of the traditional commitment to objectivity/detachment and witnessing other people’s suffering, and thus to be vital for understanding crisis reporting. The article, focusing on reporting the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ and the 13 November Paris terrorist attacks by Czech Television, addresses the question on …
Cynicism ex machina
The article seeks to explore crisis reporters’ emotional culture. Their emotional practices are believed to lie at the core of the paradox of the traditional commitment to objectivity/detachment and witnessing other people’s suffering, and thus to be vital for understanding crisis reporting. The article, focusing on reporting the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ and the 13 November Paris terrorist attacks by Czech Television, addresses the question on …
When the crisis comes home
On the morning of 22 March 2016, three coordinated suicide bombings planned by Daesh occurred in Brussels. Those Belgian reporters who commonly travel to conflict zones and disaster sites had to report on a ‘combat zone event’ that was happening at the place where they, their families, and friends lived. Their subjective experience of witnesses, actors, and even indirect victims merged with their professional tasks. The traditional journalistic c…
Crisis Reporters, Emotions, and Technology
This open access book explores the emotional labour of crisis reporters in an original style that combines fictional and factual narrative. Exploring how journalists make sense of their emotional experience and development in relation to their professional ideology, it illustrates how media professionals learn to think and act within crisis situations. Drawing on in-depth interviews with journalists reporting on wars, terror attacks and natural d…
The elephant in the newsroom
The article seeks to review current work on the obvious but complex entanglement of journalism and emotion. The field has been under‐theorized and under‐researched; however, in recent years, the body of studies that attempt to grasp the relationship between journalism, journalists, media content, and emotion is growing. The paper roughly systematizes the literature on journalism and emotion based on the Goffmanian distinction between front region…
Toward a Theory of Atypical Media Work and Social Hope
Most media work today takes place under atypical conditions, i.e. media professionals such as journalists, musicians, filmmakers, advertising creatives and game developers generally work without open-ended contracts. In this essay, a theory of atypical media work is outlined highlighting this way of working and being at work from the current culture of capitalism. Further, it also throws light on how dualisms, dominating the discourse on media wo…
Creative Nonfiction in Social Science
The paper aims at identifying, explaining and illustrating the affordances of “creative nonfiction” as a style of writing social science. The first part introduces creative nonfiction as a method of writing which brings together empirical material and fiction. In the second part, based on illustrations from my ethnographic research of European “crisis reporters,” written in the form of a novel about a fictional journalist, but also based on a rev…
An elixir of life? Emotional labour in cultural journalism
Recent technological and institutional changes in journalism are believed to have dragged cultural journalism into a crisis. This article looks closely at one thing that makes the job of cultural journalists, in particular critics, distinct from other journalistic beats – the openly acknowledged importance of emotionality and subjectivity in these media workers’ professional practices – and explores the role of emotions in dealing with the crisis…
I Know Which Devil I Write for
This paper examines two different understandings of professional autonomy among journalists currently and formerly working at Mafra, a Czech media house acquired in 2013 by Andrej Babiš, who in 2017 became the Czech Prime Minister. We build on existing research of local trends in media ownership and journalistic autonomy to ask the following questions: What differentiated the experience of journalists who exited the organization after the ownersh…
Decolonizing Conflict Journalism Studies
This paper offers a critical review of scholarly research on fixers, the local collaborators of foreign correspondents, in conflict reporting. Based on a thematic analysis of work that addresses news fixing, we summarize what we know about fixers in conflict zones while using postcolonial lens to further develop some critical arguments that are already present in the body of research. Existing studies well describe what fixers do, who they are, a…
Crumbled autonomy
In 2013, the Czech-Slovak businessman Andrej Babiš decided to widen the scope of his activities by buying the Czech media house, Mafra. He was also pursuing a political career and in 2017 became Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. Both the purchase and the political ascent of the new owner have contributed to the departure of many journalists from the two national newspapers in the Mafra Group. The journalists left in waves that corresponded to…
The epistemic injustice in conflict reporting
This paper investigates the epistemic injustice in conflict reporting, where foreign parachute reporters collaborate with local producers and ‘fixers.’ Drawing from existing research on ‘fixers’ and other media professionals covering conflict zones and the philosophy of emotion and knowledge, I address the following questions: What is the role of local and foreign media professionals’ affective proximity and professional distance in the social ep…
The Affective Epistemology of Digital Journalism
in this paper, we seek to introduce the term "affective epistemology" into digital journalism studies. Building on twenty-seven interviews with media workers reporting on the Russo-Ukrainian War and digital documentation analysis, we address the following research questions: What is the epistemic value of media practitioners' emotions? how do emotional attachments shape how media professionals and open-source analysts navigate fact-finding and ne…
“The goal is to make you weaker”
The increased scale of cross-border journalistic investigations brings about severe challenges: online harassment, physical violence, legal threats, but also emotional challenges and mental stress that can lead to burnout. The latter has never been the focus of studies on cross-border investigative journalistic collaborations. This paper seeks to fill in this gap and contribute to the understanding of how the cross-border aspects of investigative…
On the Institutionalization of Osinv in Journalistic Practice
Open-source intelligence investigations (OSI) have slowly transformed from an ad hoc, grassroots practice relegated to internet sleuths into an increasingly formalized and well-structured technique for journalistic research. By leveraging publicly available data, such as satellite images, social media posts, or official records, to expose misinformation and create actionable insights, organizations like Bellingcat or Forensic Architecture have us…
Journalism and Embodied Knowledge
Beyond “ Fixing
This paper investigates the liminal position of “fixers” in global news reporting and critically examines the very term “fixer”. Building on existing research in the field and ongoing discussions about its inherent inequalities, we address the following questions: How do “fixers” enact their liminality in everyday work? What does the liminality inherent to the term “fixer” say about the positionalities of local media workers and the politics and …
“It’s a jungle”
This study, based on in-depth interviews with 22 reporters, stringers, and photojournalists working in Small Conflict Reporting Ecosystems (SE) looks into the ambivalent and ambiguous work of conflict reporters who find themselves in the middle of the conflict reporting hierarchy. It seeks to diversify the understanding of global conflict reporters’ positionalities, broaden the understanding of their precarity and the overall “crisis” of global c…
Sociology (16 works) · Political science (15 works) · Media Studies and Communication (12 works) · Media studies (10 works) · Law (9 works) · Epistemology (7 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Journalism (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Politics (5 works)