The ICA Journalism Studies Division Book Award has been awarded to Henrik Örnebring and Michael Karlsson, both professors of media and communication science at Karlstad University, for their book “Journalistic Autonomy: The Genealogy of a Concept.”
Additionally, their article titled “Recoding Journalism: Establishing Normative Dimensions for a Twenty-First Century News Media” has achieved success and received The Bob Franklin Journal Article Award. The article was co-authored with Raul Ferrer-Conill, an associate professor in media and communication science at Karlstad University.
The interest in their research, which previously received the Tankard Award for this book, has garnered attention in the United States. Örnebring and Karlsson attribute this interest to the changing landscape of society and journalism. Journalistic autonomy faces challenges from various angles, particularly in the U.S., where it is under attack from political factions. Platforms like Meta and Google dominate advertising revenue, and audience trust is declining. These circumstances raise existential questions about journalism’s ideals, roles, tasks, and autonomy. The book’s historical perspective seems to resonate with those seeking a broader understanding of where journalism is headed.
Regarding their article with Ferrer-Conill, it starts from the premise that journalistic ethics are based on agreements with society. Some of these agreements are formally described in ethical guidelines, while others remain unspoken. The article argues that journalism would benefit from highlighting these implicit agreements and formalizing them to make them clear to both producers and recipients of journalism. Örnebring and Karlsson propose six areas for consideration: aesthetics, automation (AI), distribution, engagement, identity, and distance. They even provocatively formulate three ethical rules for each area.
As for the impact of their research, they hope the article contributes to discussions within and beyond academia about what journalism can and should be, as well as its societal contributions. Since the article’s publication in early 2023, they’ve noticed that many media organizations, following the launch of ChatGPT, have developed and published guidelines for handling automation and artificial intelligence. While it’s unlikely that these guidelines directly resulted from their article, it underscores the need to formulate ideas, discuss, and research these critical questions.
Unfortunately, Örnebring and Karlsson won’t be present at the award ceremony in Australia this year. However, other colleagues from Karlstad University will be there to bring the awards back home.
