Journal Synopsis #1

Tim Bendt

Wilson Lowrey. “Word People vs. Picture People: Normative Differences and Strategies for Control Over Work Among Newsroom Subgroups.” MASS COMMUNICATION & SOCIETY, 2002, 5(4), 411–432

Problem.

Journalists work as part of an organization and each journalist’s individual characteristics can alter the way that news is played out in the media by affecting the direction of the overall organization. Visual journalists and word journalists are often at odds in professional news reporting.

Theory.

AMILY: TimesNewRomanPS; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPS"">Visual journalists and word journalists follow different norms in the work place. Visual people, are less likely to openly challenge the positions of the organizational authorities, but are more likely to seize control of the organization for their own benefit.< ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = ""urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"" />>

Method.

This study was based on in depth interviews conducted with 17 visual journalists at fairly large dailies across the < ?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = ""urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"" />US. These interviews were conducted with the purpose of discovering the answers to the following questions. >

• Which norms do members of occupational subgroups involved with news

presentation observe and to what degree?

• How do different occupational groups of news presentation workers seek legitimacy

and control within the newsroom?

• How do competition among occupational subgroups and the observance of

different sets of norms affect daily decision making about presentation in

newspaper newsrooms?

There was also a component of the study that involved the observation of planning meetings for newspaper news departments for two large newspapers.

Findings.

In news paper organizations where the page designers and visual communicators in general had greater say then content was adapted to follow the form that was determined to have the greatest appeal to their audience in general. While in the newspapers that relegated the visual journalists to secondary positions the content dictated the form and made the direction of visual communication inconsistent and in some cases ineffective.

Evaluation.

The research done for this article seems to be largely based on one persons interpretation of the comments of many journalists. As a visual journalist himself it seems likely that his own opinions and prejudices shaped the direction of this study. Other than that, the reasoning and conclusions of this article seem sound and insightful to how different journalists work together in a professional environment.