prof. dr. M.J. (Marcel) Broersma

 This research project aims to study (a) the transformation of European journalism through the categories of form and style, and (b) transformations in the public sphere which accompanied this development. It will result in (1) two PhD theses on forms of reporting, the interview and the reportage, which contested the boundaries of the public sphere, and (2) a synthesizing study on the development of European journalistic styles and their contribution to the enlargement of the public sphere.

The study of the transformation of journalistic forms and styles is a new field of study. It uses a comparative approach to examine the development of journalistic practices, routines and conventions in their cultural, political and economic context. By doing so it tries to reveal the ideological framework of journalism at a certain time and place, i.e. the underlying processes which determine which issues are public and which are not.

Journalism is a performative discourse which by the choice of forms and stylistic devices aims to impose and legitimise valid representations of the social world. Journalistic texts should be understood as strategic interpretations of reality which create meaning. Both the interview and the reportage were ‘invented’ in a process of professionalisation since the 1880s to gain (a) professional authority and (b) autonomy towards politicians and other public figures. As both genres and discursive practices they embody the ideological framework of the ‘new’, non-partisan journalism.

Newspapers will be studied from countries which are representative for the three European media systems distinguished by Hallin and Mancini (2004), i.e. Great Britain, the Netherlands and France. This comparison can elucidate institutional and cultural differences which influence the pace and character of journalistic change. This project benefits from history, literary sciences and communication studies by combining content analysis and stylistic analysis of journalistic texts with historical research into their contexts.

Detailed Project Description