Professors Stephanie Craft and Tim Vos Will Collaborate with International Colleagues on a ‘Worlds of Journalism’ Study
By Nathan Allen
Master’s Student
Columbia, Mo. (April 12, 2012) — Missouri School of Journalism professors Tim Vos and Stephanie Craft will collaborate with colleagues from more than 80 other countries on a two-year “Worlds of Journalism” study.
Journalism researchers and policy makers will use the data collected in the study to better understand journalists’ worldviews and the changes that are taking place in the professional orientations of journalists. These changes include funding models, the duties and responsibilities of journalists as well as what journalists might do moving forward.
“This study will give a sense of the changing face of journalism and what is at stake,” Vos said. “We are hoping to get a sense of what news organizations are giving up as they tighten belts and layoff journalists.”
Vos and Craft will serve as the primary investigators for the United States and will involve journalism graduate students in the study. They are working with the researchers from other countries to develop a collective survey instrument and module for qualitative research.
This is the second phase of the study. A 2007-2011 pilot included interviews with 2,100 journalists from more than 400 news organizations in 21 countries. Among the findings was that journalists around the world fit into four categories: the populist disseminator, detached watchdog, critical change agent and the opportunist facilitator.
“We want to examine how journalists perceive themselves within democracy, how the industry is structured and how to restructure it moving forward,” Vos said.
Updated: June 5, 2020