Theme 3: Research and theory

Journal: New Media & Society

The Journal I selected is New Media & Society edited by Steve Jones, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA which is a peer-reviewed, international journal that publishes key research from communication, media and cultural studies, as well as sociology, geography, anthropology, economics, the political and information sciences and the humanities. It is committed to high-quality research that explores the relationship between theory, policy and practice. The research area in the journal mainly focus on the interactive effects between a variety of medias and humans even the society. It engages in critical discussions of key issues such as digitalization and convergence, interactivity and virtuality and the cultures of the Internet. The journal is published every month.

Paper: Carey L. Higgins-Dobney and Gerald Sussman (2013). “The growth of TV news, the demise of the journalism profession”

Summary: The article mainly focus on serious transformation of local news ownership structure and related impacts through interviewing key workers from news productions. The main question in this paper is looking at the impacts of the new broadcast economy and neoliberal business culture, to what extent it is actually ‘local’ and to what degree the ideals of professional journalism are being upheld. The urban interviewees are from Portland, Oregon, characterized as one of America’s most civically active cities. After the discussions and analysis, the paper indicates that the local TV news business has followed the same trend as other technology-intensive private industries. Furthermore, more news does not mean more democracy or a better informed public. Indeed, the inverse appears closer to reality. And through research, they found with newsroom workers taking on more tasks at the same or lower pay levels than in the past, the rate of exploitation (more productivity for less pay) is increasing

Question:

1. Briefly explain to a first year university student what theory is, and what theory is not.

There is an explanation of theory described by Popper shows that scientific theories are

universal statements and theories are nets cast to catch what we call “the world”. For

instance, theory in mathematics and music means different things and knowledge is

developed, specified, and used in different ways. In addition, there is a view that “nothing is

so practical as a good theory”. That means for academic study, the practical and objective

aspect of theory is taken considered into research. Thus, developing theory is what we are

meant to do as academic researchers and theories are practical because they allow

knowledge to be accumulated in a systematic manner and this accumulated knowledge

enlightens professional practice.

Theory occasionally occurs in academic paper which has a complex structure. In case of

that, five parts of the article cannot be identified as theory included references, data, list of

variables or constructs, diagrams and hypotheses.

 2. Describe the major theory or theories that are used in your selected paper. Which theory type (see Table 2 in Gregor) can the theory or theories be characterized as?

The main theories used in my selected paper are supposed to response to the dearth of critical literature on the transformation of local news ownership structure and the impacts of technological reorganization of news production on the television profession and local communities. The theory tells that despite having union representation, once discrete news production professionals and functions have been radically integrated, resulting in a multitasked news staff forced to provide fast-turnaround for multiple platforms, while seriously weakening investigative reporting, the quality of news production, and the utility of local news for the community. In my opinion, it can be characterized as the first type-analysis.

3. Which are the benefits and limitations of using the selected theory or theories?

   While there are numerous factors that determine what information is broadcast, the limitation of the theory is obviously reflect on that the situation described in the theory cannot stand for all kinds of information. On the other hand, it supports significant mind to researchers and lead them to focus on the most important aspect of the study.