Marcel Broersma (1973) is Professor of Journalistic Culture and Media. He studied History and Journalism in Groningen and then worked as a freelance journalist and editor for the Leeuwarder Courant. Since 1997 he has been a lecturer on the Journalism degree programme of the University of Groningen. He studied History and Journalism in Groningen and then worked as a freelance journalist and editor for the Leeuwarder Courant. Since 1997 he has been a lecturer on the Journalism degree programme of the University of Groningen. He was awarded his PhD cum laude in 2002 for a historiography of the Leeuwarder Courant. His publications include books on regional journalism, the development of journalistic forms and styles in Europe, and the sculptor Pier Pander.
DJRG Fellow, April 2020
Title and abstract
Voice in Journalism: Styles of Journalism and Transformations in the Field
It has become increasingly important for news media to be distinctive in the digital media ecology. In an attention economy in which news is abundant and competes with information from non-journalistic suppliers, articles need to stand out to attract an audience. As a result, the objectivity regime with its all-knowing narrator, aka “voice of God”, seems to lose its relevance. While its epistemological foundations of depersonalizing and objectifying news production were very successful in the Modern era, these might be less helpful in a digital playing field.
Different styles of journalism such as personal journalism, opinionated journalism and slow journalism are gaining more prominence. These have in common that they revolve around the subjective voice of the journalist, moving between mono- and polyvocality. In this lecture I will present a typology of different styles of journalism and discuss how the need to be distinctive in a digital media ecology cause a shift to more subjective and (poli-)vocal styles. I will argue that digital disruption thus challenges professional ideologies and enforces us to rethink journalism ethics: what functions journalism has in society and how these functions should be fulfilled.