Mark Pesce was talking about his work as a producer of information in the digital space. Pesce could be considered a media professional that is engaged in, as Margaret Simons says, “the dissemination of news and views about our world” (2013, p. 13), but he is engaged in newer forms of media to provide those news and views. The quote from Pesce, however, sums up quite succinctly the division between those that call themselves journalists and those that seem to do the same type of work but are wary about labels and their connotations. This paper will report on a finding from a research project that is examining alternative paths for media producers. The researcher has interviewed media producers in the digital space, including bloggers, online magazine producers, broadcasters and website producers, to discover what skills are required to work in a digital space, what business models are successful and what technologies are being employed. One of the questions asked of each of the respondents was ‘Do you consider what you are doing journalism?’ Responses have shown is that there is often a particular view of journalism and what it is and who can be called a journalist: those who have worked as journalists in traditional media still call themselves journalists while others who have come into the space via other professions are cautious about using the term. This paper will draw on the respondents’ comments from the research in an attempt to further understand how such definitions around journalism and journalist are informing media producers and their understanding of these terms in a splintering media epoch.

1. “I have done some things that
would quite be qualified as
journalism, but I don’t identify as a
journalist”: who is a journalist in
the digital space?
Dr Janet Fulton
PhD (Media and Communication) (UoN)
Lecturer in Communication
Faculty of Science and IT
School of Design, Communication and IT
10 April 2015

2. A presentation to What is Journalism? Conference 2015 | www.newcastle.edu.au
2
Introduction
• Australian Attorney General George Brandis recently stated in a
radio interview that bloggers aren’t journalists
• Interviewer: “How do you define a journalist? Because I mean that
definition is pretty wide now. Are bloggers covered for instance?”
(Brissenden, 2015).
• Senator Brandis: “For the purposes of this discussion a journalist is
a person engaged in the profession of journalism” (ibid.).
• What is a journalist?
10 April 2015

3. 3
Introduction
• Research project: Media entrepreneurship: alternative paths for
media producers
• Funded by: University of Newcastle New Staff Grant
• Interviewing new media entrepreneurs
• Aims: their key skills, what business models are successful,
what platforms and technologies they are using, and what is
the extent of their success
• Ethnographic methodology (interviews, thematic analysis of sites)
• 28 interviews up to this point: bloggers (including lifestyle and
news blogs), online magazine producers, web publishers and
broadcasters
A presentation to What is Journalism? Conference 2015 | www.newcastle.edu.au
10 April 2015

4. 4
Who is a journalist … according to official
sources (Australia)
• Evidence Amendment (Journalists Privilege) Act 2011
• “journalist means a person who in the normal course of that person’s work
may be given information by an informant in the expectation that the
information may be published in a news medium” (Parliament of Australia,
2010).
• Australian Bureau of Statistics
• journalists “research and compile news stories, write and edit news reports,
commentaries and feature stories for presentation in print and electronic
media, and compose written material to advertise goods and services”
(Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2015).
• Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance
• “describes society to itself” (MEAA, 2008).
A presentation to What is Journalism? Conference 2015 | www.newcastle.edu.au
10 April 2015

5. Introduction
• participants who identify themselves as journalists, and these are
typically those who have worked in either traditional journalism or
recognized online publications, clearly define what they do as
journalism, while others are more wary to own that occupational term
• 14 out of the 28 interviewed said they were journalists and doing
journalism and all had done journalism in either a print or online form,
working for recognized news publications
5
A presentation to What is Journalism? Conference 2015 | www.newcastle.edu.au
10 April 2015

6. 6
Discussion – are you a journalist?
Steve Molk (TV commentator – blogger):
I guess because I still have this semi-antiquated [idea] of journalism as the
people who have done the hard work and got the piece of paper that says
that they've got the degree and then have gone and done cadetships or done
that sort of stuff. And also in part because I look at the content of what I do,
what I cover, I'm not going to change the world talking about television. And I
see journalists as people who are your Sarah Ferguson [award winning
Australian journalist] kind of people or investigative journalist people that
uncover the big thing or reveal to us all of the facts on the other thing. So not
really but I get lumped into it. It's better being called a journalist than being
called a blogger because I just think that … it's said quite often with derision
(i/v 27.3.14).
A presentation to What is Journalism? Conference 2015 | www.newcastle.edu.au
10 April 2015

7. 7
Discussion: blogger as journalist?
• Blood: “the vast majority of Weblogs do not provide original reporting – for
me, the heart of all journalism” (2003, p. 62).
• Pew Research Centre (2010) showed that more than 99% of content on
US blog sites linked to mainstream media outlets
• Claims that blogging consists of commentary only (Macnamara 2014;
Pavlik 2013)
• Bloggers dismissed as not doing “real journalism” (Flew & Wilson 2012, p.
170)
Paula Matthewson (Political commentator – blogger)
I don’t report news, which I believe is the distinction between
bloggers/opinion writers and journalists (i/v 17.9.14).
A presentation to What is Journalism? Conference 2015 | www.newcastle.edu.au
10 April 2015

8. 8
Discussion: journalist? reporter?
Greg Jericho (political blogger)
I mean it's such a broad occupation nowadays. I mean I'm okay with
journalist. I don't think of myself as a reporter. That's sort of because I don't
do press conferences, I don't report on what somebody said (i/v 18.7.14).
Sholto McPherson (accounting blogger/website producer)
I think there’s an aspect of what I do that makes it journalism. So, for
example, if I was just writing reviews and case studies and how-tos I would
still consider that journalism, but I think why a blogger who does that but
refrains from doing hard news, that’s where the real test of what a journalist
is. So I still consider other forms of writing journalism. That’s, but it’s kind of
like a triangle; the pointy head of the triangle is writing hard news and that is
how people think of journalism (i/v 2.7.14)
A presentation to What is Journalism? Conference 2015 | www.newcastle.edu.au
10 April 2015

9. 9
Discussion: objectivity norm?
• Broersma and Peters (2013): the ‘objectivity norm’ i.e. the claim of objectivity
established a difference between journalists and other professions
competing in the information market.
Kayte Murphy (Mummy Blogger)
I’m a Blogger … even though I think that the lines are becoming very blurred
now between a lot of traditional journalists who are becoming opinion writers.
But, you know I see journalists as you know hunting down the facts for a story
and presenting it without bias (i/v 21.7.14).
• Broersma and Peters: newer players in the media space lay no claim to
objectivity and, in fact, “have to demonstrate and display their convictions”
(2013, p. 7) for differentiation.
A presentation to What is Journalism? Conference 2015 | www.newcastle.edu.au
10 April 2015

10. 10
Discussion: is it really different?
• Deuze (2005): journalism is an ideology with five main traits
• to provide a public service
• to practise neutral, objective and fair reporting
• the need for freedom and uncensored reporting
• the necessity of speed in reporting
• an ethical obligation and need for legitimacy
Melissa Sweet (health blogger, trained journalist)
Absolutely, yeah. I’m providing, except you know in a different way, I’m providing a
service to the community and it’s news, and it’s analysis and it’s investigative projects.
It’s just very different from, you know, traditional journalism. If you look at Croakey, I
put up a post last night and it’s on Peter Dutton’s talk at the National Press Club
yesterday. It’s not a traditional news report; it’s more of an analysis type. It’s a
narrative which embeds Tweets, you know it provides context. It provides, so you know
it’s a work of journalism to me. It’s just not what journalism used to look like (i/v
29.5.14, my emphasis).
A presentation to What is Journalism? Conference 2015 | www.newcastle.edu.au
10 April 2015

11. 11
Discussion: is it really different?
Nikki Parkinson (ex-journalist and fashion/beauty blogger)
You might do a website, you might do a daily e-mail, you might do a directory.
You might, as I say, you might do awards, you might do a conference, you
might do training. But, you know, you’re hanging all of these kinds of baubles
off the Christmas tree. And actually the only difference we’re really doing is
we don’t happen to have a print product (i/v 9.5.14).
Nikki Parkinson (as above)
So it’s, you know, it’s new tools obviously and making the most of them. But
the original principles, I think, are much the same” (i/v, 9.5.14).
• Are ethical codes one of those original principles that separates journalists
from other online publishing ventures?
A presentation to What is Journalism? Conference 2015 | www.newcastle.edu.au
10 April 2015

12. 12
Discussion
Tim Burrowes (online publication)
Most of what we do, we would apply the rules of journalism as we see it to
them. So for instance, you know, we’ll, when we do anything, whether it’s an
event, whether it’s a news story, we’ll try and be very transparent with the
readers, write for the readers, not for the advertisers. Declare interest. So all
of those things, I think, you know, if you come to look at the journalistic ethics
that we were taught along the way, you know, an awful lot of it is about
respect for your, let’s use the word audience, respect for your readers. So I,
in the end I suspect that that’s one of the definitions of journalism (i/v, 7.8.14).
A presentation to What is Journalism? Conference 2015 | www.newcastle.edu.au
10 April 2015

13. 13
Conclusion
• Preliminary stages of research at the moment
– Wanting more interviews
– Analysis to continue
• Preliminary results
– there is a division in this cohort between those that call
themselves journalists and those that seem to do the same
type of work but are wary about labeling themselves
– those who have worked as journalists in traditional media still
call themselves journalists while others who have come into the
space via other professions are cautious about using the term
A presentation to What is Journalism? Conference 2015 | www.newcastle.edu.au
10 April 2015

14. 14
In a nutshell …
In a similar way to legacy journalism, there is ongoing debate and discussion
about what journalism is in the online space, and, also in a similar way to
legacy journalism, online publishing ventures include a wide range of
interests, writing styles, topics, and audiences.
The question continues …
A presentation to What is Journalism? Conference 2015 | www.newcastle.edu.au
10 April 2015

15. 15
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Australian Bureau of Statistics 2015, 1220.0 - ANZSCO - Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of
Occupations, First Edition, Revision 1: Unit Group 2124 Journalists and other writers, Australian Bureau of
Statistics, http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/C666E43095234F29CA2575DF002DA6FE?opendocument -
accessed 28.3.15.
• Blood, R. 2003, 'Weblogs and journalism: do they connect?', Nieman Reports, vol. 57, no. 3, pp. 61-3.
• Brissenden, M. 2015. 'New metadata retention laws 'about criminals, paedophiles and terrorists,' not journalists: A-G
Brandis'. AM. M. Brissenden, ABC, http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2015/s4198994.htm
• Broersma, M. & Peters, C. 2013, 'Rethinking journalism: the structural transformation of a public good', in C. Peters
& M. Broersma (eds), Rethinking journalism: trust and participation in a transformed news landscape, Routledge,
London.
• DeMasi, M. 2013, ''Entrepreneurial journalism': A new practice consistent with historical norms', Master of Arts
thesis, State University of New York Empire State College.
• Deuze, M. 2005, 'What is journalism?: Professional identity and ideology of journalists reconsidered', Journalism,
6(4), pp. 442-464.
• Flew, T. & Wilson, J. 2012, 'WikiLeaks and the challenge of the 'Fifth Estate'', in M. Ricketson (ed.), Australian
Journalism Today, Palgrave Macmillan, South Yarra, pp. 168-81.
• Fulton, J. 2014, Media entrepreneurship: alternative paths for media producers, paper presented at Australian and
New Zealand Communication Association Conference 2014, Swinburne University, Melbourne, Australia, 9-11 July.
A presentation to What is Journalism? Conference 2015 | www.newcastle.edu.au
10 April 2015

16. 16
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Hobbs, M. & McKnight, D. 2014, ''Kick this mob out': the Murdoch media and the Australian Labor Government
(2007-2013)', Global Media Journal, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 1-13.
• Knight, A. 2008, 'Who is a journalist? :Journalism in the age of blogging', Journalism Studies, 9(1), pp. 117-124.
• Macnamara, J. 2014, The 21st centure media [r]evolution: emergent communication practices, Peter Lang, New
York.
• MEAA 2008, AJA Code of Ethics, http://www.alliance.org.au/code-of-ethics.html - accessed 11.3.08.
• Parliament of Australia. 2010, Evidence Amendment (Journalists’ Privilege) Bill 2010: Schedule 1 — Amendments
relating to journalists’ privilege,
http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:legislation/billhome/display.w3p;query=Id%3A
%22legislation%2Fbills%2Fr4468_first%2F0001%22;rec=0
• Pavlik, J.V. 2013, Media in the digital age, 2nd edn, Columbia University Press, New York.
• Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism 2010, How blogs and social media agendas relate and differ from the
traditional press, viewed 24.4.14 http://www.journalism.org/2010/05/23/new-media-old-media/%3E
• Sheridan Burns, L. 2013, Understanding journalism, 2nd ed., Sage Publications, London.
A presentation to What is Journalism? Conference 2015 | www.newcastle.edu.au
10 April 2015

17. A presentation to What is Journalism? Conference 2015
10 April, 2015
CRICOS Provider 00109J | www.newcastle.edu.au
DISCUSSION
17
10 April 2015