Advisory journalism

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Advice journalism is a journalistic format with the aim of helping the media recipient to solve specific problems. Advice journalism is closely related to utility journalism , and consumer journalism is also closely related to consumer questions .

Advice via mass media is relatively non-binding, anonymous, inexpensive and quickly available. As a result, the inhibition threshold for those seeking advice can be lower than at other advisory institutions. Advisory journalism can help raise the awareness of the problem among those affected so that they can take advantage of professional help sooner and faster.

Delimitations

The informative journalism reported problems, but will - in contrast to guide journalism - offer no solutions. Political journalism describes problems and possible solutions at the state and societal level, while advice journalism deals with individual problems that the individual can solve. In contrast to utility journalism, advice journalism only touches on one topic. Utility value journalism, on the other hand, tries to provide media recipients with enough knowledge so that they can then make specific decisions on their own. If, on the other hand, one understands utility journalism as a generic term for advice, service and consumer journalism, advice journalism focuses on its advisory function. The consulting service of journalistic offers results from a combination of various other functions such as the (problem) diagnosis function and the problem-solving function.

distribution

Online media and print media are increasingly presenting content that implicitly or explicitly advises. In the print sector, mainly magazines , women's and family magazines , special-interest magazines or guidebooks have appropriate sections and specialist editors. The subject areas can be very general (e.g. wellness , health or education ) and address large sections of the population. Other forms are very distinct and specialized.

Examples of advisory journalism on television are the series ARD-Ratgeber , WISO on ZDF and local advisors in the third programs such as Markt ( NDR ), MEX ( HR ) or Servicezeit ( WDR ). Private broadcasters in particular show programs on topics such as travel, cars and fashion, creating interesting environments for the advertising industry. The “classic” media also make their advisory services available via new media such as the Internet or SMS retrieval.

Historical development

In the Age of Enlightenment , society, power structures and the influence of religion changed, and existing patterns of interpretation became fragile. Even then, mass media such as Moral Weekly were helping to find new patterns. In a mixture of entertainment and instruction, the weekly contained whole collections of practical advice, from the correct use of economic goods to the interpersonal relationships between men and women.

Social change regularly demanded a new orientation, which led to the development of new forms of advice: the uncle of the mailbox emerged .

The sexual revolution led to the Dr. Summer team from Bravo magazine .

After the transition in the GDR and reunification , the social and economic system in the new federal states changed abruptly. Numerous magazines specialized in this situation, some with special supplements for the new federal states.

Topic selection

Advice journalism expands the journalistic subject area to include areas that were previously considered private and taboo, e.g. B. Health , Religion , Marriage , Family, and Privacy . The classic journalistic topics of news journalism, on the other hand, are limited to politics , economy , culture and sport .

Advice journalism first selects problems based on whether they are of interest to the masses. In addition, it must be possible to identify and solve the problems individually so that those affected can largely identify and cope with the problems on their own.

Journalist-recipient ratio

Walter Hömberg and Christoph Neuberger divide the advisor function into the phases of problem definition and problem solving. This results in four concepts - depending on the role that journalists or experts assume on the one hand and recipients or those affected on the other:

  1. Problem definition and problem solving by journalists / experts: The journalist selects a problem, describes it and gives advice on how to solve it, without entering into a dialogue with those seeking advice. "Experts" appearing in the media, such as scientists , psychologists , doctors , alternative practitioners , clergy or cooks , who report on professional experience, research results, cooking recipes , etc., correspond to this concept .
  2. Problem definition by those affected, problem solving by journalists / experts: the recipient asks for advice, the expert helps. Journal suggestion boxes like that of Dr. Sommer or ask Ms. Antje , but also advice programs on radio and television such as Domian ( WDR ), Ein Fall für Escher ( MDR , now Escher ) or Der Hundeprofi ( VOX ) . Even esoteric broadcasts of private television stations, the Tarot or astrology present as a problem solution, this concept can be assigned.
  3. Problem definition by journalists / experts, problem solving by those affected. The editorial team specifies a problem, those affected report how they dealt with the problem and how they have been overcome. In order to find suitable victims, research advertisements are placed - for example on teletext pages of private television stations that want to attract people with given problems to participate in talk shows.
  4. Problem definition and problem solving by those affected. The journalist brings people looking for advice and those looking for advice together. An example from the 1990s is the series Healed Help Sick in the magazine Neue Post . Today internet forums are predominantly used, in which those affected help each other.

The first two concepts are characterized by a relationship of authority between provider and recipient. In the last two concepts mentioned, however, the journalist restricts himself to the role of a mediator between the recipients.

criticism

The scope of the consultation is severely limited in terms of space and time. The experts and those affected often do not meet in person, so that only imprecise remote diagnoses are possible. Usually there is no regular consultation over a long period of time and no systematic success control takes place. For this reason, advisory journalism cannot offer definitive solutions, but suggest possible solutions that rarely do justice to complex individual cases. In the end, those seeking advice have to decide for themselves which offer to accept and which problem-solving pattern to follow.

However, for many people it is sufficient if they receive such brief information about their concern. They may not even have realized that the topic might interest them until the moment they read the headline. On the other hand, all those media recipients who, for professional reasons, for example, always want to be up to date or who pursue a hobby intensively, look for publications that offer much more utility for this target group.

On television in particular, many of the pure advice programs are not intended to provide assistance to those affected, but to entertain and encourage the public's voyeurism . Affected people are sometimes "brought before" in a degrading way when they reveal their most intimate problems. These allegations were made against Daily Talks and the call-in show Domian in particular .

Journalists, self-appointed experts and other advisors often lack the specialist knowledge to be able to advise those affected appropriately. In addition, there is a risk that the conveyed content will be misunderstood by the recipients and lead to incorrect solution models.

If certain products or services are presented as a solution, surreptitious advertising is suspected .

Self-help literature

literature

  • Jutta Gröschl: Practical guide to advice / utility journalism. This is how your texts arrive. Aachen 2013, ISBN 978-3-86858-950-4 .
  • Christoph Fasel : utility journalism . Konstanz 2004, ISBN 3-89669-455-3 .
  • Walter Hömberg, Christoph Neuberger: Experts in everyday life. Advice journalism and research ads. Eichstätt 1995, DNB 945507275 .

Web links

http://www.bpb.de/gesellschaft/medien-und-sport/deutsche-fernsehgeschichte-in-ost-und-west/245463/ratgeber-und-servicesendung

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Claudia Mast: Business Journalism. Basics and new concepts for the press. 2nd Edition. Westdeutscher Verlag, Wiesbaden 2003, p. 127.
  2. ^ Walter Hömberg, Christoph Neuberger: Experts of everyday life. Advice journalism and research ads. Eichstätt 1995, p. 14.
  3. ↑ Jutta Gröschl: Practical Guide Ratgeber- / Nutzwertjournalismus . This is how your texts arrive. Aachen 2013, p. 9.
  4. ↑ Eickelkamp, ​​Andreas: The utility value journalism. Origin, functionality and practice of a type of journalism . Cologne 2011, ISBN 978-3-86962-039-8 , pp. 322–325 ( Nutzwertjournalismus.de ).
  5. ↑ Eickelkamp, ​​Andreas: The utility value journalism. Origin, functionality and practice of a type of journalism . Cologne 2011, ISBN 978-3-86962-039-8 , pp. 317–319 ( Nutzwertjournalismus.de ).
  6. ↑ Eickelkamp, ​​Andreas: The utility value journalism. Origin, functionality and practice of a type of journalism . Cologne 2011, ISBN 978-3-86962-039-8 , pp. 319–320 ( Nutzwertjournalismus.de ).
  7. ^ Walter Hömberg, Christoph Neuberger: Experts of everyday life. Advice journalism and research ads. Eichstätt 1995. Quoted from: Anna Maria Theis-Berglmair: Internet and the future of print media. Communication science and media economics aspects. (= Contributions to media economics). LIT Verlag, 2002, p. 237.
  8. ^ Walter Hömberg, Christoph Neuberger: Experts of everyday life. Advice journalism and research ads. Eichstätt 1995, p. 11.
  9. ^ Walter Hömberg, Christoph Neuberger: Experts of everyday life. Advice journalism and research ads. Eichstätt 1995, p. 14.
  10. ^ Walter Hömberg, Christoph Neuberger: Experts of everyday life. Advice journalism and research ads. Eichstätt 1995, p. 16
    Walter Hömberg, Christoph Neuberger: Contours and concepts of advisor journalism. In: Günter Bentele, Kurt R. Hesse (Hrsg.): Journalism in society. UVK, Konstanz 1994, pp. 211-233.
  11. ↑ Jutta Gröschl: Practical Guide Ratgeber- / Nutzwertjournalismus . This is how your texts arrive. Aachen, 2013, p. 15.
  12. ^ Claudia Mast, Klaus Spachmann: Reforms in Germany. Ways to a better understanding between business and society. VS Verlag, 2000, p. 43.