Recent studies argue that the contemporary working class has largely disappeared from the news media. Another strand of literature demonstrates that the traditional labour beat has lost newsroom prestige due to changes in the established news media and crisis in the labour movement. Analysing how traditional working-class sectors are covered in mainstream newspapers and trade union magazines over time, we conduct a systematic, quantitative content analysis of 18 months of coverage from 1996-2017. We find a steady decline in media coverage throughout the period, indicating that the labour beat as an established specialisation is disappearing. Studying topical emphasis and source practices demonstrates marked differences between the newspapers and the trade union magazines: The mainstream newspapers are elite- and conflict-oriented (although not hostile in their coverage), while the trade union magazines largely reflect power structures and the interests of the labour movement. In the discussion, the main findings from the content analysis are explained by practitioners, to contextualise and provide insider perspectives on the findings.

In this article, we look at the most recent high tide of the climate crisis attention from the perspective of the school strikers’ movement. It is based on interviews with 31 young climate activists from 23 countries around the world, made possible by the work of several colleagues in MediaClimate –network (mediaclimate.net), a group of researchers who have studied global climate media coverage/debates since 2008. The interviews followed a semi-structured guideline, prompting respondents to discuss how their activism started, their role in the local movement, the nature of movement organization and their relations to other institutions and actors (NGOs, media, politicians). This diverse sample of dialogues with activists in a wide variety of global political and cultural contexts cultures, languages and local conditions collectively produced a vast discursive material. In our analysis, we first look at the specific way science and interaction with scientists is part of the youths’ action horizon, combining this to the ways in which they relate their life experiences to climate science. Second, we will situate this specific science-activism analysis to a brief overview of the nature (or inner logic) of the school movement and the identity of the activists. Through these two empirical excursions, we harvest some lessons about communicating climate science suggested by the youth movement.

Media play an important role in representing people with minority background, migrants and refugees. This chapter addresses how this representation may affect their lives and well-being in Europe, and more particularly in Norway. Currently, the multitude of media platforms seems to open up for increasing polarization in a fragmented public sphere. Simultaneously we witness an increased diversity of media actors, partially reflecting societal diversity. The levels of negative media representation of migrants, as well as serious threats and harassment, may contribute to individual withdrawals from the public sphere, and thus from democratic participation. Such representation may also enhance negative self-images and feelings of non-belonging and exclusion. Furthermore, a lack of media contextualization of the current migrant/refugee situation and the drivers behind it may encourage narratives where those suffering the consequences of war, conflict, and global inequality may be regarded as the ones to blame.

Drawing from interviews with 31 young leading climate activists from 23 countries across the world this article aims to capture the contribution of the recent youth climate movement to communicating climate science and politics. We show that from the point of view of the youth activists, the movement powerfully connects personal and local experiences and emotions with climate science. This has enabled the activists to construct an authentic, generational and temporal identity that has helped them to carve out an autonomous position and voice with considerable moral authority among existing climate policy actors. Claiming to represent the future generation, we conclude that activists have offered an important added value to climate science as new ambassadors for scientific consensus and climate mitigation. The youth movement and the added value it brings communicating climate science is an example of the dynamics of the formation of "relational publics" and emphasizes the need to understand better the networked communication landscape where climate politics is debated.

While journalism is under immense pressure, climate change poses several and severe challenges for the profession. The climate crisis points to traditional tensions, such as reporting the complexity of science, negotiating (false) balance on views, protecting accuracy of the news and recognizing long-term processes while reporting the dramatic, short term news events. Research on climate also reporting confirms the well-known structural dependency of journalism to the national political fields and networks of sources and elite power. In an era of permanent climate crisis, transnational networks of scientists or activists challenge journalists to move from their neutral professional roles towards more cooperative practices and towards advocacy. Such challenges also suggest a critical and reflexive analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of inherited professional values (and practices) of journalism. An autonomous profession needs stronger climate literary in order not by manipulated by vested interests. It also will benefit from a more relational understanding of journalistic professional authority that can take advantage of the dense and potential networks to produce good climate journalism relating to other social stakeholders (science, activism, politics and citizens).

This article discusses experiences harvested when communicating migration research from an academic position as media researcher, partly influenced by other positions. It discusses transnational literacy illustrated by the case of Afghanistan and Afghan refugee experiences, arguing for a more holistic contextual approach to the phenomenon of flight and all its processes. A critical human rights perspective in media research proves useful guidance to approaching marginalisation and the 'silenced other'. This also entails a critical approach to methodological nationalism and media domestication, and 'unlearning privilege as loss'. Furthermore, it discusses how researchers within certain fields (such as migration) may be associated with (or accused of) political correctness.

As a global, systemic problem, the climate crisis poses constitutive challenges to all social institutions. For journalism it represents perhaps the most important challenge ever. In order to contribute to rapid mitigation and adaptation in a diversity of societies across the world, journalist institutions as well as working professionals have to take stock of their inherited routines, practices and role perceptions and recognize strengths and weaknesses. This section elaborates future problems and opportunities by developing three perspectives: 1) the specific nature of journalism as a practice of reporting; 2) the nature of climate change as exceptionally complex topic of knowledge, exemplified by the case of extreme weather events; and 3) the nature of the climate crisis as a dilemma of climate justice, particularly emphasized by leaders and people in the Global South.

This article presents results from in-depth interviews with 18 newly arrived refugees in 2016, focusing on their usage of cell phones underway to Europe. The (anonymous) informants are from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. Relating to previous findings and theories of globalisation and media ecology, the research concludes that the phone is used for a wide range of purposes, such as connectivity (with family, friends and potential helpers), en route companionship (not least when travelling alone), solidarity (helping each other, finding better routes and lending phones and chargers), governability (ways in which to tackle authorities) and finally, that refugees, during their weeks underway, acquire important skills contributing to their transnational media literacy. Furthermore, the interviews show the relevance of modern cell phone technology as an important part of media ecology for people on the move in precarious situations.

Afghan journalists have been experiencing a deteriorating situation, due to a multitude of threats. They operate in a situation of low popular literacy, as well as low media literacy. Threats from Taliban and other insurgents cause many journalists to live in constant fear. This article is based on interviews with 28 Afghan journalists. They report that they are less willing to take risks than before, their editors even less so. Routines are far from always in place in media institutions, and quite a few journalists have not received necessary security equipment. Almost all report experiencing post-traumatic stress syndrome, some have even experienced physical harm. We conclude by stating that Afghan journalists are caught in a balancing act, facing powerful violent insurgents, oppressive authorities and media owners.

Sammendrag Et fåtall journalister jobber dedikert med klima- og miljøspørsmål i norske medier, og klimajournalistikk er et relativt nytt felt innen vitenskapsjournalistikken. Denne studien baserer seg på et kvalitativt intervjumateriale som består av semistrukturerte intervjuer med tilsammen seks journalister og fem klimaforskere. Analysen av intervjudataene fokuserer på kommunikasjonsforholdet mellom forskere og journalister, med utgangspunkt i klimapanelets rapporter i 2013−2014. Vi finner at klimaforskere er ganske fornøyde med klimarapporteringen, og at journalistene på sin side ønsker å formidle mer, men at formidlingen blir truet av nedskjæringer som kan føre til svake prioriteringer i redaksjonene.

Abstract This article focuses on meta-coverage – what was said about journalism – in the debates evoked by the revelations about mass surveillance of Edward Snowden in 2013. Drawing on close readings of a wide sample of commentaries and other such writings we argue that this discussion of the performance and role of journalism points to key issues in the contemporary journalistic field. This meta-discourse sees journalism as a central arena for the exercise of political power, particularly investigative journalism, and the notion of the whistleblower, revealing a set of different field relations. The debates highlight source protection, which is under increased threat in many countries. Moreover, in the aftermath of the revelations, we also witness a strained relationship between editors and reporters, both in the UK and US press. The article analyses how the Snowden debate ignited the issue of the professional roles between advocacy and objectivity, inherently contradictory within the field, between ideals of defending the marginalized and of ‘mirroring society’. Finally, the article demonstrates how professionals and other public actors are triggered to reflect more on the state of the art of journalism itself.

Artikkelen analyserer debatten i et utvalg norske riksaviser, etter lanseringen av Brochmann II-rapporten (1. februar 2017). Brochmann II-utvalgets mandat var å utrede virkningen av høy innvandring for samfunnsøkonomien og for videreutvikling av tillit og samhold i samfunnet. Hovedspørsmålet i analysen er Hvilke diskurser om norskhet og tilhørighet kan identifiseres i pressedebatten som fulgte offentliggjøringen av Brochmann II-rapporten? Innvevd i denne problemstillingen er drøfting av begreper som etnisitet og norsk kultur, om kriterier for tilhørighet til det norske/nasjonen. Disse kommer åpent eller mer subtilt til uttrykk i 37 presseartikler som handler om norskhet og tilhørighet, idet debattantene dels ser på kultur som en ‘tykk’, stabil størrelse, dels som en ’tynn’ mer dynamisk størrelse. Artikkelen gir en kort oversikt over debatten og hvem som deltar, og viser at når norskheten settes under lupen, er det i overveiende grad i opinionsartikler. De viktigste diskursene i materialet er en anti-essensialistisk dynamisk kulturdiskurs – i kontrast til en problematisk innvandring-diskurs. Begge trekker på eldre, tidligere kartlagte diskurser, men i det analyserte materialet er det få spor av ‘bindestreks-identiteter’ (jf. norsk-somalisk o.l.); i stedet handler det her om å være (eller ikke være) norsk. En rekke personer med minoritetsbakgrunn deltar i debatten og understreker sin norske identitet. Under de ulike diskursene skimter vi en diagnosekollisjon – en uenighet, knyttet til verdistandpunkt, om tilstanden i det norske samfunnet.

This book is a broad and detailed case study of how journalists in more than 20 countries worldwide covered the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment (AR5) reports on the s

Cet essai discute les expériences issues d’une étude transnationale de la controverse autour des caricatures de Mahomet et leurs répercussions. L’approche proposée s’inspire du concept de « lecture en contrepoint » d’Edward Said. Un aspect important des lectures en contrepoint, à notre époque, tient au fait que le développement de l’environnement médiatique pendant les vingt dernières années a accentué la porosité des sphères publiques nationales. Ainsi, les images qui visaient à l’origine un public local au sein duquel les lecteurs comprennent et commentent certaines expressions sur la base d’un contexte social et culturel particulier se trouvent prises dans des lieux dépourvus de ce type de savoirs contextuels. Ces « décontextualisations » peuvent inspirer des lectures et des actions très différentes. Ce développement de l’environnement médiatique génère et demande aux intellectuels une littératie transnationale : la capacité de lire également des textes et des images à distance avec le regard d’autrui, et ce afin de comprendre les raisons qui expliquent toute une variété de lectures.

Abstract The NSA/Snowden revelations represent a case for studying the degree of journalistic autonomy versus the political field, in a situation where national and international security is at stake. In an era of rapid digital transition the revelations constitute a unique moment for studying field relations. This article examines the coverage of the NSA/Snowden revelations of massive transnational surveillance in six national Norwegian newspapers, with a main emphasis on opinionated articles. By way of content analysis we find that a clear majority of the editorials demonstrate a supportive attitude to Edward Snowden and treat him as a whistleblower, while treating the publishing journalists in The Guardian as situated within a proud tradition of investigative journalism, albeit with some diversity of opinion. In external opinionated contributions, a majority of the items reveal a critical attitude towards this surveillance and a supportive attitude towards Snowden. With a few exceptions, politicians do not take part in these exchanges, and are challenged for their low degree of engagement by several editorials. The article demonstrates a strong field autonomy vis-à-vis a political field where only a few parliamentarians came out in support of Snowden.

This chapter focuses on the IPCC, its structure and its efforts to communicate the AR5 reports. It discusses challenges to IPCC science communication such as the balance between being policy relevant and policy prescriptive, and how to communicate to a larger public. It draws on science communication theories as well as interviews with several IPCC scientists mainly conducted during the UNESCO scientific conference “Our Common Future” in Paris, July 2015.