Churnalism
Churnalism denotes with negative connotation a form of journalism in which as many lines as possible (or broadcast seconds on the radio) are produced in the shortest possible time and therefore information that is already available is "foamed" again largely unchanged and unchecked. Sources such as agency reports or press releases are often hardly changed and are not identified as external sources. This creates the impression of an independent journalistic achievement, which, however, is de facto not available.
definition
The communication scientist Roman Hummel refers to the English origin of the term, according to which "to churn out" can be translated as "thoughtless assembly line production". In the English-speaking world, the term was coined by the British journalist Nick Davies, who defines it as follows: “This is journalists failing to perform the simple basic functions of their profession; quite unable to tell their readers the truth about what is happening on their patch. This is journalists who are no longer out gathering news but who are reduced instead to passive processors of whatever material comes their way, churning out stories, whether real event or PR artifice, important or trivial, true or false. "
distribution
According to a study by Davies, which he conducted with scientists from Cardiff University, churnalism is quite common. The phenomenon is usually explained by the fact that the pressure on editorial offices has increased in recent years. So fewer and fewer editors have to produce a constant amount of content - as a result of cost-cutting measures on the part of the publishers. A takeover of primary sources is therefore primarily due to time constraints. Special features: The US non-profit organization Sunlight Foundation offers a tool with which you can check whether editorial offices have taken over press releases or other sources without checking.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hummel, Roman: Churnalism, in: Deutscher Fachjournalisten-Verband: Journalistische Genres, UVK-Verlag, Konstanz 2016, pp. 133-138.
- ^ Davies, Nick (2009): Flat Earth News, London, ISBN 978-0-099-51268-4 , p. 59.
- ↑ N. Davies: Churnalism has taken the place of what we shoulderstand doing: telling the truth . In: Press Gazette - Journalism Today , February 4, 2008. Archived from the original on May 26, 2016 Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from May 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
