Journalist-source relations and the deliberative system: A network performance approach to investigating journalism’s contribution to facilitating public deliberation in a globalized world
Lück, J; Wessler, H; Maia, R; et al.Wozniak, A
Date: 24 January 2018
Article
Journal
International Communication Gazette
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Publisher DOI
Abstract
Journalist-source relationships and interactions are interpreted in this study as crucial
mechanisms for linking different arenas in a deliberative system. To unravel these
source networks, 106 semi-standardized interviews with journalists as well as PR
professionals from government delegations and NGOs were conducted on-site three ...
Journalist-source relationships and interactions are interpreted in this study as crucial
mechanisms for linking different arenas in a deliberative system. To unravel these
source networks, 106 semi-standardized interviews with journalists as well as PR
professionals from government delegations and NGOs were conducted on-site three UN
climate change conferences between 2010 and 2013, and an online survey was
administered during the conference in 2015. The analysis shows that most journalists
maintain close relationships with their home country delegation. However, journalists
experienced in climate conference coverage also maintain more direct and informal
relations to delegations from other countries and to NGOs while less experienced
journalists exhibit loose and more formally mediated relationship to these actors.
Moreover, journalists focusing on commentary rather than on event-related reporting
have the most variegated and informal networks, thus opening the deliberative system to
diverse perspectives and unknown voices more than others. Government delegations
vary strongly in their tendency to approach journalists while environmental NGOs
interact with journalists primarily to attract media attention in order to indirectly
influence decision makers in national delegations.
Social and Political Sciences, Philosophy, and Anthropology
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
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