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Power and Agency in the News Industry

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What’s the Point of News?

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Abstract

This chapter considers the extent to which ethical journalism for the public good can be realised within the prevailing political-economic system and corporate media structures. It broadens the focus from practices on the alternative periphery of journalism to consider whether journalists within more mainstream and commercial news media have sufficient agency to be similarly guided by ethical values. Arguments about limitations on the autonomy of journalists are considered in relation to decisions about news values, news selection and news framing. The potential for established industry norms to be contested and resisted are explored, and the chapter suggests a series of practical measures for media reform that might help open up more space for alternative approaches to news.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Journalism Studies, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Tony Harcup

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  1. Tony Harcup
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Correspondence to Tony Harcup .

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Harcup, T. (2020). Power and Agency in the News Industry. In: What’s the Point of News?. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39947-4_5

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