Ragnar Waldahl, Michael Bruun Andersen og Helge Rønning Nyheter først og fremst. Norske tv-nyhete... more Ragnar Waldahl, Michael Bruun Andersen og Helge Rønning Nyheter først og fremst. Norske tv-nyheter: myter og realiteter. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 2002
Context, News Values and Relationship with Sources: three Factors determining Professional Practices of Media Reporting on European Matters
Context, news values and relationships with sources : Three factors determening professional prac... more Context, news values and relationships with sources : Three factors determening professional practices and media reporting on European matters
Mediated descriptions of reality are tremendously important to the way the public-and policymaker... more Mediated descriptions of reality are tremendously important to the way the public-and policymakers-perceive the police. The present article analyses how leading news outlets reported and commented on complaints against the Norwegian police during the period 2005-2008. The study is based on content analyses of press and television coverage, with special emphasis on a publicly debated police action in which a student of African origins lost his life. In most cases, news coverage of the police and the investigators of the police is event-driven, and the picture of the police seldom points to institutional or organizational problems. The story is too often one about individual wrongdoings alone. Unfortunately, such media pictures matter and influence policy decisions, especially when they become the point of departure for political debate.
How does television cover foreign news? What is covered and how? The present article reports on a... more How does television cover foreign news? What is covered and how? The present article reports on a comparative study of a license-financed public broadcaster and an advertisingfinanced channel in Norway-the NRK and TV2, respectively. Both channels give priority to international news. While the NRK devotes more time to foreign news (both in absolute and relative numbers) than TV2 does, other aspects of the coverage are strikingly similar: The news is event oriented, there is heavy use of eyewitness footage, and certain regions are hardly visible. At least three explanations can be used to understand these findings: the technological platform (what footage is available, etc.) and the existence of a common news culture that is based on ratings and similar views on what is considered "good television". A third factor is that both channels still have public service obligations.
Transparency International's yearly Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Scandinavia as one of the ... more Transparency International's yearly Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Scandinavia as one of the least corrupt regions in the world. However, during the past decades, large Scandinavian corporations in the telecommunications, oil and defence industries have-in their struggle for business contracts in other countries-been involved in several large-scale bribery scandals. There has also been a growing range of corruption cases in the Swedish and Norwegian public sectors. In many of these cases, investigative journalists have played a crucial role in the disclosure of corruption, sometimes cooperating across media organisations and countries, demonstrating the importance of journalism as a public good for democracy. In this article, we explore, discuss and analyse the work of and methods used by investigative journalists in revealing large-scale corruption related to the expansion of Nordic telecom companies in Uzbekistan.
The focus of this article is the changing roles of the 'pundits of the press' during national ele... more The focus of this article is the changing roles of the 'pundits of the press' during national election campaigns and the consequences for the political role of television news and newspapers. Three election campaigns-1965, 1989 and 2009-are compared, mainly through content analyses. In 1965 most political commentators in the national and regional newspapers were leading party members, the members of the press lobby even meeting regularly in the party's groups in Stortinget (the Norwegian parliament). Their role as interpreters and agitators was on behalf of their party and its ideology. In 1989 the party press was nearly abolished and the National Broadcasting Company had for long exercised full control over their election debates. The 'questioning programmes' had been developed into tough interrogations, nicknamed as 'grilling' of the politicians.
Why do some events fill the columns and air time of news media, while others are ignored? Why do ... more Why do some events fill the columns and air time of news media, while others are ignored? Why do some stories make banner headlines whereas others merit no more than a few lines? What factors decide what news professionals consider newsworthy? Such questions are often answered-by journalists and media researchers alike-with references to journalistic news values or 'news criteria'. Some answers are normatively founded; others are pragmatic and descriptive. In the present article, I submit that editorial priorities should not be analyzed in purely journalistic terms. Instead, they should be seen as efforts to combine journalistic norms and editorial ambitions, on the one hand, with commercial norms and market objectives, on the other. Commercial Enterprise and Patron of an Institution News media have a dual nature. On the one hand they represent a societal institution that is ascribed a vital role in relation to such core political values as freedom of expression and democracy. On the other hand, they are businesses that produce commodities-information and entertainment-for a market. At the same time, because their products are descriptions of reality that influence our perceptions of the world around us, news media wield influence that extends far beyond the marketplace. Who controls the media is of significance to every member of society. As figures like Rupert Murdoch, Silvio Berlusconi and the new Russian media barons remind us, control of the media is a key to political power. And while many venerable industries wither and die (or undergo profound metamorphoses) the consciousness industry-as writer Hans Magnus Enzensberger (1974) dubbed the media and other actors in the communication sector-is rapidly expanding. Newspapers, radio programs and television transmissions differ with respect to how consumption of them affects our perception and understanding of reality. As Graham Murdoch observes: By providing accounts of the contemporary world and images of the 'good life', they play a pivotal role in shaping social consciousness, and it is this 'special relationship' between economic and cultural power that has made the issue of
For 36 år siden publiserte Johan Galtung og Mari Holmboe Ruge en artikkel om utenriksnyhetenes st... more For 36 år siden publiserte Johan Galtung og Mari Holmboe Ruge en artikkel om utenriksnyhetenes struktur som raskt fikk internasjonal oppmerksomhet Noen av de faktorene som de to fredsforskerne pekte på der, kan kanskje også forklare at mye av det Galtung sier og skriver, stadig blir «news».
On the basis of Scandinavian journalism research this article discusses the changing political ro... more On the basis of Scandinavian journalism research this article discusses the changing political roles of news organizations and journalists after the fall of the party press and the dissolution of broadcasting as a state-controlled monopoly. Given these institutional changes, we ask the following: what new roles, if any, are news organizations and journalists playing in the political system? What are the characteristics of these new roles, and how do news organizations use their newfound political power? We address these questions in the context of an institutional approach to the news coupled with Hallin and Mancini's analysis of media systems.
Public relations consultants perform a range of roles. One of these roles is to be an advisor in ... more Public relations consultants perform a range of roles. One of these roles is to be an advisor in lobbying – or ‘public affairs’ as it is called in the branch lingo. In the Nordic countries consultancies mainly see their role as advisors, in some contrast to professional lobbying firms in the US. However, this does not exclude more direct back stage lobbying on behalf of clients. The business idea is to sell their staffs knowledge of how political decisions best can be influenced. The clients, the principals who pay the bills, are most typically corporations and branch organisations, but also include interest groups and even municipalities who want to influence government decisions. In this political marketplace, former politicians, journalists and officials have found new career opportunities as well-paid lobbying consultants. Based on experiences from Norway and Sweden this paper investigates, analysis and discusses the relations and interactions between influential actors engaged in lobbying and mediated agenda setting.
Ragnar Waldahl, Michael Bruun Andersen og Helge Rønning Nyheter først og fremst. Norske tv-nyhete... more Ragnar Waldahl, Michael Bruun Andersen og Helge Rønning Nyheter først og fremst. Norske tv-nyheter: myter og realiteter. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 2002
Context, News Values and Relationship with Sources: three Factors determining Professional Practices of Media Reporting on European Matters
Context, news values and relationships with sources : Three factors determening professional prac... more Context, news values and relationships with sources : Three factors determening professional practices and media reporting on European matters
Mediated descriptions of reality are tremendously important to the way the public-and policymaker... more Mediated descriptions of reality are tremendously important to the way the public-and policymakers-perceive the police. The present article analyses how leading news outlets reported and commented on complaints against the Norwegian police during the period 2005-2008. The study is based on content analyses of press and television coverage, with special emphasis on a publicly debated police action in which a student of African origins lost his life. In most cases, news coverage of the police and the investigators of the police is event-driven, and the picture of the police seldom points to institutional or organizational problems. The story is too often one about individual wrongdoings alone. Unfortunately, such media pictures matter and influence policy decisions, especially when they become the point of departure for political debate.
How does television cover foreign news? What is covered and how? The present article reports on a... more How does television cover foreign news? What is covered and how? The present article reports on a comparative study of a license-financed public broadcaster and an advertisingfinanced channel in Norway-the NRK and TV2, respectively. Both channels give priority to international news. While the NRK devotes more time to foreign news (both in absolute and relative numbers) than TV2 does, other aspects of the coverage are strikingly similar: The news is event oriented, there is heavy use of eyewitness footage, and certain regions are hardly visible. At least three explanations can be used to understand these findings: the technological platform (what footage is available, etc.) and the existence of a common news culture that is based on ratings and similar views on what is considered "good television". A third factor is that both channels still have public service obligations.
Transparency International's yearly Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Scandinavia as one of the ... more Transparency International's yearly Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Scandinavia as one of the least corrupt regions in the world. However, during the past decades, large Scandinavian corporations in the telecommunications, oil and defence industries have-in their struggle for business contracts in other countries-been involved in several large-scale bribery scandals. There has also been a growing range of corruption cases in the Swedish and Norwegian public sectors. In many of these cases, investigative journalists have played a crucial role in the disclosure of corruption, sometimes cooperating across media organisations and countries, demonstrating the importance of journalism as a public good for democracy. In this article, we explore, discuss and analyse the work of and methods used by investigative journalists in revealing large-scale corruption related to the expansion of Nordic telecom companies in Uzbekistan.
The focus of this article is the changing roles of the 'pundits of the press' during national ele... more The focus of this article is the changing roles of the 'pundits of the press' during national election campaigns and the consequences for the political role of television news and newspapers. Three election campaigns-1965, 1989 and 2009-are compared, mainly through content analyses. In 1965 most political commentators in the national and regional newspapers were leading party members, the members of the press lobby even meeting regularly in the party's groups in Stortinget (the Norwegian parliament). Their role as interpreters and agitators was on behalf of their party and its ideology. In 1989 the party press was nearly abolished and the National Broadcasting Company had for long exercised full control over their election debates. The 'questioning programmes' had been developed into tough interrogations, nicknamed as 'grilling' of the politicians.
Why do some events fill the columns and air time of news media, while others are ignored? Why do ... more Why do some events fill the columns and air time of news media, while others are ignored? Why do some stories make banner headlines whereas others merit no more than a few lines? What factors decide what news professionals consider newsworthy? Such questions are often answered-by journalists and media researchers alike-with references to journalistic news values or 'news criteria'. Some answers are normatively founded; others are pragmatic and descriptive. In the present article, I submit that editorial priorities should not be analyzed in purely journalistic terms. Instead, they should be seen as efforts to combine journalistic norms and editorial ambitions, on the one hand, with commercial norms and market objectives, on the other. Commercial Enterprise and Patron of an Institution News media have a dual nature. On the one hand they represent a societal institution that is ascribed a vital role in relation to such core political values as freedom of expression and democracy. On the other hand, they are businesses that produce commodities-information and entertainment-for a market. At the same time, because their products are descriptions of reality that influence our perceptions of the world around us, news media wield influence that extends far beyond the marketplace. Who controls the media is of significance to every member of society. As figures like Rupert Murdoch, Silvio Berlusconi and the new Russian media barons remind us, control of the media is a key to political power. And while many venerable industries wither and die (or undergo profound metamorphoses) the consciousness industry-as writer Hans Magnus Enzensberger (1974) dubbed the media and other actors in the communication sector-is rapidly expanding. Newspapers, radio programs and television transmissions differ with respect to how consumption of them affects our perception and understanding of reality. As Graham Murdoch observes: By providing accounts of the contemporary world and images of the 'good life', they play a pivotal role in shaping social consciousness, and it is this 'special relationship' between economic and cultural power that has made the issue of
For 36 år siden publiserte Johan Galtung og Mari Holmboe Ruge en artikkel om utenriksnyhetenes st... more For 36 år siden publiserte Johan Galtung og Mari Holmboe Ruge en artikkel om utenriksnyhetenes struktur som raskt fikk internasjonal oppmerksomhet Noen av de faktorene som de to fredsforskerne pekte på der, kan kanskje også forklare at mye av det Galtung sier og skriver, stadig blir «news».
On the basis of Scandinavian journalism research this article discusses the changing political ro... more On the basis of Scandinavian journalism research this article discusses the changing political roles of news organizations and journalists after the fall of the party press and the dissolution of broadcasting as a state-controlled monopoly. Given these institutional changes, we ask the following: what new roles, if any, are news organizations and journalists playing in the political system? What are the characteristics of these new roles, and how do news organizations use their newfound political power? We address these questions in the context of an institutional approach to the news coupled with Hallin and Mancini's analysis of media systems.
Public relations consultants perform a range of roles. One of these roles is to be an advisor in ... more Public relations consultants perform a range of roles. One of these roles is to be an advisor in lobbying – or ‘public affairs’ as it is called in the branch lingo. In the Nordic countries consultancies mainly see their role as advisors, in some contrast to professional lobbying firms in the US. However, this does not exclude more direct back stage lobbying on behalf of clients. The business idea is to sell their staffs knowledge of how political decisions best can be influenced. The clients, the principals who pay the bills, are most typically corporations and branch organisations, but also include interest groups and even municipalities who want to influence government decisions. In this political marketplace, former politicians, journalists and officials have found new career opportunities as well-paid lobbying consultants. Based on experiences from Norway and Sweden this paper investigates, analysis and discusses the relations and interactions between influential actors engaged in lobbying and mediated agenda setting.
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Papers by Sigurd Allern