The strategic ritual of emotionality: A case study of Pulitzer Prize-winning articles

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
Beteiligte: Wahl-Jorgensen, Karin
In: Journalism, 14, 2013, 1, S. 129-145
veröffentlicht:
SAGE Publications
Medientyp: Artikel, E-Artikel

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Umfang: 129-145
ISSN: 1464-8849
1741-3001
DOI: 10.1177/1464884912448918
veröffentlicht in: Journalism
Sprache: Englisch
Schlagwörter:
Kollektion: SAGE Publications (CrossRef)
Inhaltsangabe

<jats:p> Taking as its vantage point Gaye Tuchman’s (1972) notion of the strategic ritual of objectivity, this article argues that there is also a strategic ritual of emotionality in journalism – an institutionalized and systematic practice of journalists infusing their reporting with emotion. To examine the strategic ritual of emotionality, the article considers Pulitzer Prize-winning articles between 1995 and 2011, taking the prize as a marker of cultural capital in the journalistic field. A coding scheme for a basic content analysis was developed on the basis of scholarly insights into journalistic narratives, as well as discourse analytic approaches associated with appraisal theory. The analysis indicates that the analyzed stories rely heavily on emotional story-telling. The strategic ritual of emotionality manifests itself in the overwhelming use of anecdotal leads, personalized story-telling and expressions of affect. Journalists ‘outsource’ emotional labor by describing the emotions of others, and drawing on sources to discuss their emotions. </jats:p>