Frontiers in Journalism Studies – serie

Journalism in a Fractured World addresses the fractured nature of journalism as it has developed online. Engaging with theories from journalism studies and politics, it bases its findings on the study of peripheral journalistic media from the US, UK, and Netherlands. It addresses the pronounced animosity that has become a feature of peripheral, political, digital news. Focusing on the metajournalistic discourses produced by peripheral actors, it develops a framework to distinguish between peripheral antagonists and agonists. Antagonists blur lines between news and politics and foment societal divisions through narratives of backlash, fragmentation, and grievance. Journalistic agonists, on the other hand, are also political and critical, but offer a constructive vision of what journalism and society can become. Journalism in a Fractured World presents theories and frameworks for engaging with these actors with a clear-eyed message about the challenges journalism faces and how we might find our way forward, even in our fractured societies. "This timely work is essential reading for anyone trying to make sense of where society – and journalism – is heading." Matt Carlson, Professor of Journalism, University of Minnesota "Eldridge provides an analytical framework that I am convinced will be of use to everybody concerned with the plurality of news actors and what they mean in our fractured societies." Karoline Andrea Ihlebæk, Professor in Journalism, OsloMet University

Journalism in a Fractured World addresses the fractured nature of journalism as it has developed online. Engaging with theories from journalism studies and politics, it bases its findings on the study of peripheral journalistic media from the US, UK, and Netherlands. It addresses the pronounced animosity that has become a feature of peripheral, political, digital news. Focusing on the metajournalistic discourses produced by peripheral actors, it develops a framework to distinguish between peripheral antagonists and agonists. Antagonists blur lines between news and politics and foment societal divisions through narratives of backlash, fragmentation, and grievance. Journalistic agonists, on the other hand, are also political and critical, but offer a constructive vision of what journalism and society can become. Journalism in a Fractured World presents theories and frameworks for engaging with these actors with a clear-eyed message about the challenges journalism faces and how we might find our way forward, even in our fractured societies. "This timely work is essential reading for anyone trying to make sense of where society – and journalism – is heading." Matt Carlson, Professor of Journalism, University of Minnesota "Eldridge provides an analytical framework that I am convinced will be of use to everybody concerned with the plurality of news actors and what they mean in our fractured societies." Karoline Andrea Ihlebæk, Professor in Journalism, OsloMet University

This book explores the margins of journalism: the peripheral journalists and media organisations who have been overlooked in our efforts to understand a changing journalistic field. Seeing local journalists as unmapped agents of the journalistic field, this book provides a comprehensive study of local journalism in the post-socialist, post-transitional Czech media system, and conceptualises these actors as unique agents within the journalistic field. Informed by Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory, it adopts an inductive approach, presenting the stories of specific journalists derived from interviews and participant observation in the places where they work, alongside surveys of local newspapers. From these studies, this book systematically maps these peripheral, journalistic actors and their positions in the journalistic field, accounting for their relationships and the trends shaping Czech journalism to give voice to those who are not usually heard – journalists on the margins. "… a fine-grained examination into the struggles and successes of local newspaper journalists adjusting to a digital era. It demonstrates how shining a light on their unique - often underexplored - practices can provide broader learnings for the future of journalism." Professor Kristy Hess, Deakin University, Australia. "This rich and insightful contribution directs our attention to the important but often under researched margins of journalism, and as such it contributes to a wider understanding of what it means to be a journalist." Professor Agnes Gulyas, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK.