Steen Steensen
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View article: Dealing With Politicians in Casual Democracies
Dealing With Politicians in Casual Democracies Open
This chapter examines how political accountability and representation function in casual democracies through two contrasting cases: the Frederiksberg mayor scandal in 2020 and the 2021 local elections in Ringwood. In Frederiksberg, a prope…
View article: Ringwood as Place and Public Sphere
Ringwood as Place and Public Sphere Open
This chapter portrays Ringwood, a small English market town, as both a physical community and a fragmented public sphere. It examines how limited local governance, scarce journalistic coverage, and the dominance of social media shape publi…
View article: The Deliberative Capacity of Casual Democracies
The Deliberative Capacity of Casual Democracies Open
This chapter revisits the five affordances of casual democracy to assess the deliberative capacity of local public spheres in Frederiksberg and Ringwood, and to draw broader lessons about democracy in the platform age. It analyses how algo…
View article: The Affordances of Casual Democracy
The Affordances of Casual Democracy Open
This chapter outlines the five core affordances that define casual democracy: algorithmic logic, epistemological and ethical relativism, informal power structures, hidden agendas, and civic disengagement. Tracing Ringwood’s transformation …
View article: Give Way to the Future of Casual Democracy
Give Way to the Future of Casual Democracy Open
This concluding chapter reflects on how local democracies can evolve in a platformised world, offering five recommendations for strengthening democratic life beyond the revival of traditional journalism. Drawing on insights from Frederiksb…
View article: What Is the Problem with Misinformation? Fact-checking as a Sociotechnical and Problem-Solving Practice
What Is the Problem with Misinformation? Fact-checking as a Sociotechnical and Problem-Solving Practice Open
Misinformation is a complex and global problem of social and technical dimensions. It is a problem that is exacerbated and sought to be solved by using diverse technologies. It is also a problem that flourishes on platforms and can lead to…
View article: The Relevance of Technology to Information Verification: Insights from Norwegian Journalism During a National Election
The Relevance of Technology to Information Verification: Insights from Norwegian Journalism During a National Election Open
Growing concerns about disinformation have led to the development of new digital tools and systems designed for journalists’ verification and fact-checking needs. Despite these technological developments, research has demonstrated that eme…
View article: Dealing With Covid-19 in Casual Democracies
Dealing With Covid-19 in Casual Democracies Open
This article reports findings from an in-depth, autoethnographic study of local communities in Denmark and England left behind by local journalism. The study was conducted during—and is thematically framed by—the Covid-19 pandemic, and it …
View article: Playing the Mainstream Game. A Language-Game Analysis of “Mainstream” as a Possible Boundary Object in Journalism Studies
Playing the Mainstream Game. A Language-Game Analysis of “Mainstream” as a Possible Boundary Object in Journalism Studies Open
“Mainstream media” and “mainstream journalism” have become significant concepts in political, popular, and academic discourse in recent years. They are key in how media, communication, and journalism scholars have been, and continue to be,…
View article: The limits of live fact-checking: Epistemological consequences of introducing a breaking news logic to political fact-checking
The limits of live fact-checking: Epistemological consequences of introducing a breaking news logic to political fact-checking Open
This article analyses the novel form of live political fact-checking, as performed by the Norwegian fact-checking organisation Faktisk.no during the Norwegian parliamentary election campaign in 2021. The aim of the study was to investigate…
View article: Journalism and Source Criticism. Revised Approaches to Assessing Truth-Claims
Journalism and Source Criticism. Revised Approaches to Assessing Truth-Claims Open
This article presents a hermeneutical epistemology for the assessment and production of truth-claims in journalism. This epistemology is based on Gadamer's functional hermeneutics, and it advances the concept of source criticism as an alte…
View article: Considering Interinstitutional Visibilities in Combating Misinformation
Considering Interinstitutional Visibilities in Combating Misinformation Open
This introduction to the special issue "Fighting Fakes: News publishers, fact-checkers, platform companies, and policymaking" argues that the institutionalization of interactions related to misinformation is central to scholarly understand…
View article: What is Digital Journalism Studies?
What is Digital Journalism Studies? Open
What is Digital Journalism Studies? delves into the technologies, platforms, and audience relations that constitute digital journalism studies’ central objects of study, outlining its principal theories, the research methods being develope…
View article: (Against a) Theory of Audience Engagement with News
(Against a) Theory of Audience Engagement with News Open
Audience engagement has become a key concept in contemporary discussions on how news companies relate to the public and create sustainable business models. These discussions are irrevocably tied to practices of monitoring, harvesting and a…
View article: What Does Digital Journalism Studies Look Like?
What Does Digital Journalism Studies Look Like? Open
This article analyses the characteristics of digital journalism studies through an empirical investigation of all articles published in the journal Digital Journalism, from its launch in 2013 to issue 6, 2018. The aim of the analysis is to…
View article: Journalism’s epistemic crisis and its solution: Disinformation, datafication and source criticism
Journalism’s epistemic crisis and its solution: Disinformation, datafication and source criticism Open
Journalism in many cultures is today in an epistemic crisis. The mains drivers of this crisis are discourses of disinformation and the general datafication of society, which combined render dubious the ways in which journalism assesses sou…
View article: News Flows, Inter-Media Connectivity and Societal Resilience in Times of Crisis
News Flows, Inter-Media Connectivity and Societal Resilience in Times of Crisis Open
This article analyzes how inter-media connections and news flows can establish societal resilience in times of crisis. The article is framed by understandings of the discursive practice of news as polyvocal and networked, and that social m…
View article: Tweeting Terror: An Analysis of the Norwegian Twitter-sphere during and in the Aftermath of the 22 July 2011 Terrorist Attack
Tweeting Terror: An Analysis of the Norwegian Twitter-sphere during and in the Aftermath of the 22 July 2011 Terrorist Attack Open
This chapter analyses the Norwegian Twitter-sphere during and in the aftermath of the terrorist attack in Norway on 22 July 2011. Based on a collection of 2.2 million tweets representing the Twitter-sphere during the period 20 July–28 Augu…
View article: Blood and Security during the Norway Attacks: Authorities’ Twitter Activity and Silence
Blood and Security during the Norway Attacks: Authorities’ Twitter Activity and Silence Open
This chapter analyses the Norwegian authorities’ presence on Twitter during the 22 July 2011 terrorist attacks. Twitter activity by two official institutions is analysed in particular, namely, the blood bank at Oslo University Hospital and…
View article: Social Media and Situation Awareness during Terrorist Attacks: Recommendations for Crisis Communication
Social Media and Situation Awareness during Terrorist Attacks: Recommendations for Crisis Communication Open
This chapter summarises the findings of a case study on social media activity during the 22 July 2011 terrorist attacks in Norway. Based on these findings and on theories and previous research on the role of social media in situation aware…
View article: Putting a Face on It
Putting a Face on It Open
"Putting a Face on It analyses and discusses how subjectivity and exposure of individuals now affect most journalistic topics and genres: from politics to sports journalism, from science journalism to journalism about terrorism. Individual…
View article: Subjectivity as a Journalistic Ideal
Subjectivity as a Journalistic Ideal Open
This chapter discusses different notions of subjectivity as an ideal in journalism and relates them to epistemological philosophy from Descartes to Foucault. The chapter argues that subjectivity – once a dominant ideal in journalism – agai…
View article: Deconstructing Digital Journalism Studies
Deconstructing Digital Journalism Studies Open
This chapter will discuss the formation and state of digital journalism studies as a field of research. Our point of departure is that journalism studies is an interdisciplinary field that draws inspiration and conceptual tools from many r…
View article: What is the matter with newsroom culture? A sociomaterial analysis of professional knowledge creation in the newsroom
What is the matter with newsroom culture? A sociomaterial analysis of professional knowledge creation in the newsroom Open
This article presents a study of what affects professional knowledge creation when journalism students have their periods of internship in legacy, yet highly digitized newsrooms. A total of 16 Norwegian j-students are interviewed and 30 in…