Journalism in a Fractured World

Abstract

Journalism in a Fractured World addresses the fractured nature of journalism as it has developed online. Engaging with theories from journalism studies and politics, it bases its findings on the study of peripheral journalistic media from the US, UK, and Netherlands. It addresses the pronounced animosity that has become a feature of peripheral, political, digital news. Focusing on the metajournalistic discourses produced by peripheral actors, it develops a framework to distinguish between peripheral antagonists and agonists. Antagonists blur lines between news and politics and foment societal divisions through narratives of backlash, fragmentation, and grievance. Journalistic agonists, on the other hand, are also political and critical, but offer a constructive vision of what journalism and society can become. Journalism in a Fractured World presents theories and frameworks for engaging with these actors with a clear-eyed message about the challenges journalism faces and how we might find our way forward, even in our fractured societies. "This timely work is essential reading for anyone trying to make sense of where society – and journalism – is heading." Matt Carlson, Professor of Journalism, University of Minnesota "Eldridge provides an analytical framework that I am convinced will be of use to everybody concerned with the plurality of news actors and what they mean in our fractured societies." Karoline Andrea Ihlebæk, Professor in Journalism, OsloMet University