What propels an individual into becoming a professional observer and chronicler of society, joining a group that is often targeted for criticism by the general public? Can a journalist really have an objective view of the world and the way it operates or do journalists each operate from a specific worldview, parts of which are held in common by all journalists? Do journalists feel they can become involved in normal social and civic activities, or is the world a detached storehouse of ideas for stories? Is the journalist most effective on the sidelines of society, or in getting involved in the action, or taking to the field as a referee or field judge? If journalists are so devoted to the ideals of objectivity, detachment, truth, and providing an accurate view of the world, why do so many of them leave journalism and move into public relations, media consulting, and advertising? These are just some of the issues explored in The Mind of a Journalist: How Reporters See Themselves, Their Stories, and the World. For students and would-be journalists, this book analyzes the rational processes journalists use in defining themselves, their world, and their relation to that world. Written by veteran journalist and noted professor Jim Willis, with many observations from working and recently retired journalists from both print and broadcast, the goal of the book is to put this discussion of journalist thinking into the classroom (alongside discussion of reporting and writing techniques). Ultimately, the book provides added insights to how journalists think and why they do what they do. Features & Benefits: Included throughout the book are many observations/interviews from working journalists at such media outlets as: The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, CNN, The Memphis Commercial-Appeal, WRTV Television in Indianapolis, and The Daily Oklahoman. A running single-story example (President's Bush's decision to invade Iraq in 2003) shows how the same story was treated by several different journalist mindsets, and thereby examining how these different mindsets defined the issues of truth, ethics, and legality for this story.

Why be a journalist? It can be a difficult job with long hours, hard work and an uncertain future. Journalists face relentless criticism and an industry in transition. Aaron Chimbel has put together a collection of essays from working journalists who answer the question — why be a journalist? — with their personal stories of coming up, toiling in the field and writing important, career-defining stories. These journalists come from different platforms, beats and locations, offering varying accounts of the travails and rewards of being a working journalist across changing landscapes and timelines. The essays in Why I’m a Journalist offer encouragement and wisdom about the path to being a reporter, a broadcaster, an editor or a media professional. This is a collection for students interested in the field, early upstarts engaged with building their careers and seasoned pros looking to learn from their colleagues.

"Barbie Zelizer provides enormous service to students and scholars with this comprehensive and highly persuasive critique of the literature in and about journalism as both process and practice, as a profession and an industry. Zelizer takes a step back to look at what we know about news, and she does not pull her punches in pointing out what we do not know." -Linda Steiner, Rutgers University "Zelizer′s encyclopedic review of scholarly studies of journalism fills an important need for researchers, and comparing that scholarship across disciplines, generations and countries makes it even more valuable. . . Her analyses will be invaluable for media research and should also spur interest in journalism among the social science and other disciplines she studied. . .The book is an impressive achievement." -Herbert J. Gans, Columbia University and author of Democracy and the News "Taking Journalism Seriously is a refulgent analysis of the condition of journalism studies. Zelizer has produced a critical and lasting contribution to our understanding of the position of news, journalism and journalism practice within the disciplines of political science, sociology, psychology, philosophy, language and cultural studies. This excellent book is an engaging and sophisticated treatise on both the historical and contemporary theoretical perspectives of journalism scholarship." -Howard Tumber, City University, London How have scholars tended to conceptualize news, newsmaking, journalism, journalists, and the news media? Which explanatory frames have they used to explore journalistic practice? From which fields of inquiry have they borrowed in shaping their assumptions about how journalism works? In Taking Journalism Seriously: News and the Academy, author Barbie Zelizer discusses questions about the viability of the field of journalism scholarship and examines journalism as a discipline, a profession, a practice, and a cultural phenomenon. Taking Journalism Seriously argues that scholars have remained too entrenched within their own disciplinary areas resulting in isolated bodies of scholarship. This is the first book to critically survey journalism scholarship in one volume and organize it by disparate fields. The book reviews existing journalism research in such diverse fields as sociology, history, language studies, political science, and cultural analysis and dissects the most prevalent and understated research in each discipline. The author provides a critical mapping of the field of journalism studies and encourages academics to look at journalism from various disciplinary perspectives. Taking Journalism Seriously advocates a realignment of the ways in which journalism has traditionally been conceptualized and urges scholars to think anew about what journalism is as well as reflect on why they see it as they do. Taking Journalism Seriously is designed for undergraduate and graduate students in advanced courses on Journalism and Journalism Studies. It will also be of interest to scholars, academics, and researchers in the fields of Journalism, Communication, Media Studies, Sociology, and Cultural Studies.

The Routledge Handbook of Developments in Digital Journalism Studies offers a unique and authoritative collection of essays that report on and address the significant issues and focal debates shaping the innovative field of digital journalism studies. In the short time this field has grown, aspects of journalism have moved from the digital niche to the digital mainstay, and digital innovations have been ‘normalized’ into everyday journalistic practice. These cycles of disruption and normalization support this book’s central claim that we are witnessing the emergence of digital journalism studies as a discrete academic field. Essays bring together the research and reflections of internationally distinguished academics, journalists, teachers, and researchers to help make sense of a reconceptualized journalism and its effects on journalism’s products, processes, resources, and the relationship between journalists and their audiences. The handbook also discusses the complexities and challenges in studying digital journalism and shines light on previously unexplored areas of inquiry such as aspects of digital resistance, protest, and minority voices. The Routledge Handbook of Developments in Digital Journalism Studies is a carefully curated overview of the range of diverse but interrelated original research that is helping to define this emerging discipline. It will be of particular interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students studying digital, online, computational, and multimedia journalism.