Year: 2012
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The aim of the present masters’ thesis „The analysis of meeting talk at Eesti Päevaleht in \ncomparison with The Irish Times” is to investigate how newsworthiness is given to news \nitems in the editorial meeting setting, and whether the distinctive meeting talk enables the \nproduction of newsworthy journalistic material or not. The focus of the study is on the \neditorial meetings of the Estonian national daily Eesti Päevaleht, with reference to the \nmeetings of the Irish national quality daily The Irish Times. \nThe research questions were as follows: what are the characteristics of and how effective is \nthe meeting talk at Eesti Päevaleht, how is newsworthiness attributed to news items at \neditorial meetings, what degree of individual autonomy of journalists does the meeting talk \nrefer to, how has the meeting talk changed after the uniting of the newsrooms of Eesti \nPäevaleht and the online news site Delfi, and what are the characteristics of meeting talk that \ndifferentiate Eesti Päevaleht from The Irish Times. \nThe empirical base of the thesis was accumulated by observation of the newsrooms, recording \nthe meetings and transcribing the verbal interaction, and interviewing the journalists. A \ncombination of observation and conversation analysis was used to answer the research \nquestions. \nThe findings indicate that the meeting talk at Eesti Päevaleht is rather informal – the editorial \nmeeting were loosely moderated, the allocation of turn-taking was often unstructured and \nsimultaneous, topic changes occurred often, and the emotional tone of the meetings was \nusually quite humorous. After the joining of the two newsrooms the meetings appeared to be \nmore formal and structured. \nAlthough a thorough discussion was expected at meetings on a daily basis, as it was believed \nthat it would enhance the quality of work of the individual journalists, that goal was seldom \nreached in the actual setting of a meeting. There was little evidence of active listening during \neditorial meetings, and journalists were not motivated to participate in discussions. \nThe aim of editorial meetings at The Irish Times was not to have thorough discussions on a \ndaily basis, but to share information and to make editorial decisions as quickly and effectively \nas possible in a formal setting. Compared to the practice of The Irish Times, the meetings at \nEesti Päevaleht were more about the socialisation of journalists rather than an effective way \nof communicating in the newsroom. \nMany instructions were given at editorial meetings at Eesti Päevaleht, especially after the \njoining of the two newsrooms. Journalists were instructed to use certain sources for their \narticles or to present the news item in a particular way. The instructions were voiced as direct \ncommands rather than by following the principles of couching. \nInstructing was rather limited at the meetings of The Irish Times newsroom; if instructions \nwere indeed given, they were about adding extra material to news items (e.g. location maps). \nAlthough journalists in both newsrooms believed to be autonomous in their work, the practice \nof giving detailed instructions indicated that the autonomy of individual journalists at Eesti \nPäevaleht was actually more limited. \nJudging by meeting talk, classical hard news was most valued at Eesti Päevaleht. On the other \nhand, attributing value to certain news items was not always a conscious action or \ncomprehensibly phrased. For instance, instead of news factors, there would be talk of \npublishing something because of a certain “need” to do it. After the joining of newsrooms \nthere were more visible signs of entertainment media discourse and a so-called news-you-canuse \napproach. \nThere was little discussion about the newsworthiness of certain news items at meetings at The \nIrish Times, which indicates the common understanding of news values for the publication. At \nEesti Päevaleht, on the other hand, if a discussion about newsworthiness did arise, the position \nwas not unanimous. Therefore – compared to The Irish Times the journalists at Eesti \nPäevaleht are still debating the identity and role of themselves and the publication on a daily \nbasis.
Author: Teele Tammeorg
Language: Estonian
Subfield: Communication
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2119966410