Localization as negotiation: Practicing solutions journalism in Hong Kong

Yining Fan*, Yunya Song

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to conferenceConference paperpeer-review

Abstract

While traditional mainstream news reporting tends to spotlight problems and conflict in society, solutions journalism—an alternative journalistic approach that specially reports on solutions to social problems—is gaining momentum in many of the world’s newsrooms including Hong Kong. This study employed participant observation and semi-structured interviews to examine the emerging forms and practices of solutions journalism in Hong Kong, exemplifying how localization process is driven by market forces and professional ideologies, and shaped by significant changes in relation to the larger social and political reconfigurations the media have undergone amid a series of severe sociopolitical crises. Specifically, this study investigated the strategies used by journalists to negotiate their roles as watchdogs, facilitators, and constructors and day-to-day news production routines to reconstruct the media’s contribution to civil and civic society. Despite seven years of journalistic efforts both at the organization and individual levels, our findings point toward an increasingly marginal status of solutions journalism in Hong Kong’s media landscape. Rationale and implications were also discussed.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - May 2021
Event71st Annual International Communication Association Conference, ICA 2021 - Virtual
Duration: 27 May 202131 May 2021
https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.icahdq.org/resource/resmgr/conference/2021/2021-printprogram.pdf (Conference program)

Conference

Conference71st Annual International Communication Association Conference, ICA 2021
Period27/05/2131/05/21
OtherEngaging the Essential Work of Care: Communication, Connectedness, and Social Justice
Internet address

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