Interactivity in news storytelling has introduced possibilities for the audience to be in control of the story. These complex animations come from a convergence of skills and have managed to somewhat displace the boundaries of what journalism is, how it is produced, and how it can be consumed. In this chapter, a historical account of successful and failed media-rich news features will help us understand the hybrid role of interactivity in journalism and how it affects journalistic decision-making, starting with the forgotten technology of electronic paper (e-paper), originally designed for transmission over the digital audio broadcasting network (DAB), and the early development of news apps (news applications) such as ProPublica's Dollars for Docs to the animation used in the long-read format of The New York Times' “Snow Fall” and the development of journalistic crowdsourced data visualizations based on easy-to-use tools such as Swedish SvD's Räntekartan. Furthermore, visualizations in journalism include elements that engage and educate the audience, such as the sensor data-based German WDR animal welfare project Super Cows. While interactivity can soften hard news topics and make the audience stay longer with the content, news stories are protected by traditional norms. Therefore, interactive features are still modest, sometimes surprisingly simple, and normalized to traditional journalism practices.
Data journalism is a form of storytelling where elements of text, interactive graphics and datasets are often combined into one interactive journalistic project or service. In addition, the general public are often encouraged to submit their own data for publication within the service. Data journalism is not a new field, but due to the expensive production process and the advanced skills needed by journalists, it is still relatively uncommon in the Swedish media landscape. This study is based on a joint research project together with SVT Pejl, the data journalism department at the Sveriges television (SVT). The main aim of this paper is to explore this emerging form of interactive journalism based on public sector data, and how the general public engages with it. This paper is based on a four-month case study in 2011 and 2012 of SVT Pejl and “Brottspejl”one of its data journalism services. An action research approach has been used, and the methods were in-depth interviews and a web-based survey.
The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss selected results from a didactical higher education project where journalist students produced short news items for television and results from a test where the intention was to examine journalism students' linguistic abilities. From a cultural psychological perspective (Bruner 1996) students learn differently depending on the culture where the learning takes place. With a cultural psychological perspective it is essential to view the world, in both everyday life and research, from different perspectives. In addition theories on expectation and intellectual development (Rosenthal & Jacobson, 2003) as well as theories on skills and expertise development (Csíkszentmihályi, 1999; Dreyfus & Dreyfus, 2000; Hageskog, 2006; Kemp, 2005) were used to broaden the perspective and to reflect on the results. In the television project some 90 students from three different journalism courses in a 3-year multimedia journalist undergraduate program participated. During a two-week project in television production the students worked editorial groups and produced short news items. Students from the first semester were reporters and researchers; students from the fourth semester were editors and cameramen and editors in chief; students from the sixth semester participated as interviewees. The overall view, shared by both students and teachers, was that the project was successful. The cooperation between students from different semesters worked generally well and was appreciated by the students. The more experienced students instructed the inexperienced students in various ways. The students described this as a particularly valuable experience. Many students reported that they had learned in a different and better way compared with more traditional teaching.In the language test all 40 students from the first semester in a 3-year multimedia journalist undergraduate program participated. The test was structured in several sections and one typical task was to fill in a missing word or correct something wrong in a sentence. All students did not pass the test and some students had to redo the test many times to pass. To check to validity of the language test some staff members, lecturers and administrative personal, were asked to answer some of the questions. This was a difficult task for them and none of the participants managed to answer all the questions correctly. Surprisingly some of the students managed better the staff members in the test. The conclusion was that the language test actually measured the ability to understand a certain codes or instructions for how to answer specific types of questions. The test was less successful in measuring participant’s linguistic abilities. The over all reflection is that in projects like the television project the students learn much from working together with their peers, maybe even more than they learn from teachers or hand books and other literature. The actual project was structured similar to how journalists work professionally and consequently the project was considered as ecological valid. This in contrast with tests like the language test. The conclusion is that one way for higher education to keep up with today’s students – the Millennials – and future changes in the youth culture, international trends in education and not at least the student’s ability to reach employability – the Bologna Process – is to strive for high ecological validity.
Intervjun är en central beståndsdel av journalistiken, både som arbetsmetod och som presentationsform. Inte minst i ett journalistiskt ansvarsutkrävande i granskningen av politiker och andra makthavare. Trots intervjuns centrala roll, finns det relativt lite forskning runt den journalistiska intervjun. I denna skrift presenteras en studie av sex politiska intervjuer i Sveriges Radio, SVT och brittiska BBC. Dessa intervjuer analyseras ur fyra olika perspektiv – det normativa journalistiska perspektivet, ett samtalsanalytiskt perspektiv, ett retoriskt perspektiv samt ur ett diskursteoretiskt perspektiv.
This paper is looking into efforts made to introduce local-global connections within journalist programs at Södertörn University in Stockholm. This University was a pioneer in multimedia journalism education when founded 15 years ago. New Information Technology is a part of a globalization process and it has had wide impact on the development of mass media practices in all societies. Technical multimedia skills are today central to advanced journalism education at universities. Globalization has in that sense colored journalism programs For instance is multimedia journalism at Södertörn University one of the most popular journalism university programs in Sweden.However, very little space in journalism education is given to knowledge about and skills in covering different aspect of globalization. News coverage of processes and events outside the home country is seldom a part of the training for students in journalism, not even at advanced levels. The courses are predominantly national in scope with few exceptions. Several recent reports emphasizes that lack of international focus as a problem for journalist programs in general in Sweden although the national university authority has urged for change.
In this paper I propose a method for changing this inward-looking education. The challenge is to use local knowledge and skills that are available, mostly inexpensive and in reach by using a ‘four-step’ approach during the educational program.
Mångkunniga tidningskvinnor vimlar det av i den svenska pressens historia. Här presenteras ett urval journalister som skrivit allt från kåserier till utrikesartiklar och socialreportage. Exemplen har hämtats hos 1900-talets pennskaft, reportrar och tidningskvinnor, från det förra sekelskiftet fram till 1960-talet. Två viktiga föregångare har vi dock med: Wendela Hebbe och Fredrika Bremer, båda verksamma vid mitten av 1800-talet.