How to Identify Journalists? Developing a Theoretical International Foundation for the Operationalisation of a National Comprehensive Survey of Journalists in Austria

Autor: Andy Kaltenbrunner, Renée Lugschitz, Matthias Karmasin, Sonja Luef
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
Zdroj: Athens Journal of Mass Media and Communications, Vol 5, Iss 4, Pp 233-252 (2019)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2407-9499
DOI: 10.30958/ajmmc.5-4-1
Popis: A dozen years ago, journalists in several countries, the US, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and more, were precisely counted and socio-demographically analysed. Today there are no comparable current national surveys of journalism. For a recount of journalists - nation-wide in Austria - we now have to re-define whom we are searching for. Yet, a clear assignment of who is actually a journalist is not merely necessary for noble research purposes, but also for very pragmatic reasons: Being a legitimate journalist accords prestige and credibility, gives access to information, funding, legal rights, and more institutionalised privileges. We assume that it is the protracted discussion emphasising the boundaries of journalism which complicates the reflection about the core of journalism and the identification of journalists. Accordingly, we considered it necessary to first re-think the nature of journalism, closely linked to international research, and to formulate the research questions very generally, in order to develop a basis for a comprehensive survey 2019 in Austria: What is journalism? What defines a journalist today? How can journalists be identified- and then recorded? Answers will, ideally, not only serve as a starting point for the new survey of Austrian journalists but will also provide a basis for discussion of journalism researchers in other countries.
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