Vox pops in the news: The journalists’ perspective
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Kathleen Beckers
Abstract
Vox pops are a frequent and growing practice in the news. However, there seems to be a general tendency in journalistic practice to be quite critical about these interviews with the ordinary (wo)man on the street. Yet, hardly any research exists about journalists’ evaluation of vox pops or that has gone further than speculating about why they are used. This study tackles these research gaps using a survey involving 253 Belgian journalists. We conclude that vox pops are used mostly by audiovisual journalists, and that journalists seem to use them mostly because vox pops increase audience involvement with a news item. Generally, the journalists are quite negative about vox pops, but journalists who perceive them as involving and good public opinion tools are more positive. Against our expectations, the experience of journalists does not influence the evaluation nor the use of vox pops.
©2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Editorial 2018
- Articles
- The consequences of being on the agenda: The effect of media and public attention on firms’ stock market performance
- Issue ownership as a determinant of political parties’ media coverage
- The effect of interaction topic and social ties on media choice and the role of four underlying mechanisms
- Bias wanted! Examining people’s information exposure, quality expectations and bias perceptions in the context of the refugees debate among different segments of the German population
- Research in brief
- Vox pops in the news: The journalists’ perspective
- The way Syrian refugees in Turkey use media: Understanding “connected refugees” through a non-media-centric and local approach
- Book Reviews
- McQuire, S.: Geomedia: Networked cities and the future of public space
- Coleman, R., & Wu, D.: Image and emotion in voter decisions. The affect agenda
- Gruner, O.: Screening the Sixties. Hollywood cinema and the politics of memory
