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Dr Karin Wahl-Jorgensen

Overview

Dr Karin Wahl-Jorgensen Position: Reader and Director MA Journalism, Media and Communications and MA Political Communications Email: Wahl-JorgensenK@cardiff.ac.uk
 Telephone: +44 (0)29 208 79414
Fax: N/A
Extension: 79414
Location: Room 1.32, Bute Building

She is the author of two books, Journalists and the Public (Hampton Press, 2007) and Citizens or Consumers? (Open University Press, 2005; co-authored with Justin Lewis and Sanna Inthorn), and is currently writing about Disasters and the Media (Peter Lang, forthcoming; co-authored with Mervi Pantti and Simon Cottle).

She is editor of the Handbook of Journalism Studies (Routledge 2009, with Thomas Hanitzsch) and Mediated Citizenship (Routledge, 2007). Her work has also appeared in more than 20 different international, peer-reviewed journals.

Her research has been funded by the ESRC, the European Commission, the AHRC and the British Academy, among other organisations. Most recently, she has been Principal UK Investigator on a €4 million European Commission funded project on the European Public Sphere (EUROSPHERE) and has carried out research for the charity Public Concern at Work on the media representation of whistleblowers

Research Interests

Dr Karin Wahl-Jorgensen is interested in the relationship between citizenship, democracy and the media. Her work focuses on how citizens are represented in and participate through news forms and genres, including vox pop interviews, letters to the editor, disaster coverage and user-generated content.

Teaching, Service and other Information

Dr Karin Wahl-Jorgensen teaches the undergraduate modules "Journalism Cultures" and "Politics and Media" and the MA modules "Political Communication" (MA Political Communication) and "Introduction to Journalism Cultures" (MA Journalism, Media and Communications)

Other Roles

Director MA Journalism, Media and Communications

Director MA Political Communication

Publications

Books:

Wahl-Jorgensen, K., and Pantti, M. (in preparation). Disasters and the media. London and New York: Peter Lang.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K., and Hanitzsch, T. (Eds.) (2009). Handbook of journalism studies. New York and London: Routledge (International Communication Association Handbook Series).
Handbook of journalism studies

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (Ed.) (2007). Mediated citizenship. London and New York: Routledge (special issue published as book).

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2007).
Journalists and the public: Newsroom culture, letters to the editor, and democracy. Creskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

Lewis, J., Inthorn, S., and Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2005).
Citizens or consumers? What the media tell us about political participation. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Journal articles:

Published: Williams, A., Wardle, C., and Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2011). “Have they got news for us?” Audience revolution or business as usual at the BBC? Journalism Practice 5(1), 85-99

Published: Pantti, M., and Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2011). “Not an Act of God”: Anger and citizenship in press coverage of British man-made disasters. Media, Culture & Society 33(1), 105-122

Wahl-Jorgensen, K, Williams, A and Wardle, C (2010) Audience Views on User-Generated Content: Exploring the value of news from the bottom up. Northern Lights, 8.

Garcia-Blanco, I. and Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2009). Migrant women and the representation of immigration. Feminist Media Studies, 256-259.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2008). On the public sphere, deliberation, journalism and dignity: An interview with Seyla Benhabib. Journalism Studies, 9(6), 962-970.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2008). Disgust, pleasure and the failure of the liberal democratic model: Tabloid talk, media capital and emotional citizenship. International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics 4(2), 145-161.

Housley, W., and Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2008). Theorising the democratic gaze: Visitors’ experiences of the new Welsh Assembly. Sociology 42(4), 731-749.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K., and Cole, B. (2008). Newspapers in Sierra Leone: A case study of conditions for print journalism in a post-conflict society. Ecquid Novi, 29(1), 1-20 (lead article).

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2007). Deliberative democracy and difference: On loudmouths and the silent majority. Vectors, 3(1) (http://www.vectorsjournal.org/forums/?viewId=365)..

Harries, G., and Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2007). The culture of arts journalists: Elitists, saviors or manic depressives? Journalism, 8(6), 619-639.

Pantti, M., and Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2007). On the political possibilities of therapy news:

Media responsibility and the limits of objectivity in disaster coverage. Studies in Communication (Estudos em Comunicação) 1(1) (lead article).

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2007). Media, citizenship and risk: Towards a critique. International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics, 3(2), 175-179.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K., and Temple, P. G. H. (2006). Journalism in Sierra Leone: Covering the 2007 elections. IPI/Global Journalist, 2006 issue 4, 32-33.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K., and Cole, B. (2006). Communication rights and journalism in Sierra Leone. Media Development 2006 issue 4, 29-33.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K., and Housley W. (2006). The spectacle of the Senedd. Planet 177,48-56.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2006). Mediated citizenship(s): An introduction. Social Semiotics 16(2), 197-203.

Deuze, M., Quandt, T., and Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2006). Journalism studies: Theory Review. Journalism Studies 7(2), 333-334.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2005). The market vs. the right to communicate: The anti-political local press in Britain and the journalism of consensus. Javnost/The Public 12(3), 79-94.

Brookes, R. A., Lewis. J., & Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2004). The media representation of public opinion: British television news coverage of the 2001 general election. Media, Culture & Society 26(2), 63-80.

Lewis, J., Wahl-Jorgensen, K., & Inthorn, S. (2004). Images of citizenship on television news: Constructing a passive public. Journalism Studies 5(2), 153-164 (reprinted in M. Ryan (Ed.) (forthcoming), Cultural studies: An anthology. Oxford: Blackwell.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2004). A "legitimate beef" or "raw meat"? Civility, multiculturalism and letters to the editor. Communication Review 7(2), 89-105.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K (2004). Different strokes, different folks: Comparing Danish and British op-ed pages. Grassroots Editor 44(4), 9-13.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2004). How not to found a field: New evidence on the origins of mass communication research. Journal of Communication 54(3), 547-564.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2004). Playground of the pundits or voice of the people? Comparing British and Danish opinion pages. Journalism Studies 5(1), 59-70.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2004). Wanted: A critical journalism studies. Ecquid Novi, 25(2), 350-353.

McDevitt, M., Kiousis, S., & Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2003). Spiral of moderation: Opinion expression in computer-mediated discussion. International Journal of Public Opinion Research 15 (4), 454-470.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2002). Coping with the meaninglessness of politics: Citizenspeak in the 2001 British general elections, Javnost/The Public 9(3), 65-82.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2002). The construction of the public in letters to the editor: Deliberative democracy and the idiom of insanity. Journalism 3(2), 171-293.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2002). The normative-economic justification for public discourse: Letters to the editor as a "wide open" forum. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 79(1), 121-133.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2002). Understanding the conditions for public discourse: Four rules for selecting letters-to-the-editor, Journalism Studies 3(1), 69-82.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2001). Letters to the editor as a forum for public deliberation: Modes of publicity and democratic debate. Critical Studies In Media Communication (formerly Critical Studies In Mass Communication) 18(3), 303-320.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2000). Rebellion and ritual in disciplinary histories of U. S. mass communication study: Looking for "the reflexive turn," Mass Communication & Society 3(1), 87-115.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K., & Galperin, H. (2000). Discourse ethics and the regulation of media: The case of the U.S. newspaper. Journal of Communication Inquiry 24(1), 19-40.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (1999). Ensuring richness and diversity of representation in the public sphere: Mass media as forums for democratic debate. Journal of the Northwest Communication Association, 27, 24-52.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (1999). Letters to the editor. Peace Review 11(1), 53-59.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (1995). Internalisering af internationalisering: Informationssamfundets retorik og prioriteter (Internalization of internationalization: The rhetoric and priorities of the information society.) In O. Keller and E. Houghs (Eds.) 50 år med Naturvidenskabeligt Selskab på Fyn (special issue). Odense, Erhversskolernes Forlag og Servicecenter.

Book chapters:

Wahl-Jorgensen, K (forthcoming) The Chicago School and the Pre-History of Communication Studies. In J. Nerone (Ed.), Media History and the Foundations of Media Studies. Blackwell.

Williams, A, Wardle, C, and Wahl-Jorgensen, K (forthcoming). Audience revolution or business as usual at the BBC. In B. Franklin and M. Carlsson  (Eds). Journalism, Sources and Credibility. London and New York: Routledge.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2009). On the newsroom-centricity of journalism ethnography. In L. Bird (Ed.), Journalism and Anthropology (pp. 21-35). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K., & Hanitzsch, T. (2009). Preface. In K. Wahl-Jorgensen & T. Hanitzsch (Eds.), Handbook of journalism studies (pp. xi-xii). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K., & Hanitzsch, T. (2009). Introduction. In K. Wahl-Jorgensen & T. Hanitzsch (Eds.), Handbook of journalism studies (pp. 3-16). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2008). Op-ed pages. In B. Franklin (Ed.), Pulling newspapers apart (pp. 70-79). London: Routledge.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K., and Franklin, B. (2007). Journalism Research in the UK: From Isolated Efforts to an Established Discipline. In M. Loffelholz and D. Weaver (Eds.), Global journalism research (pp. 172-184). New York and London: Blackwell Press.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2006). Letters to the editor in local and regional newspapers: Giving voice to the reader. In B. Franklin (Ed.),
Local journalism and local media: Making the local news(pp. 231-241). London: Routledge.

Lewis, J., & Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2005). Journalism and public opinion. In S. Allan (Ed.), Journalism: Critical issues (pp. 98-108). Buckingham: Open University Press.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2003). Speaking out against the incitement to silence: The British press and the 2001 May Day protests. In A. Opel & D. Pompper (Eds.),
Representing resistance: Media, civil disobedience & the global justice movement (pp. 130-148). NY: Greenwood.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2000). Constructed masculinities in presidential campaigns: The case of 1992. In A. Sreberny & L. v. Zoonen (Eds.), Gender, politics & communication (pp. 53-78). New Jersey, Hampton Press.

Lee, E., McDevitt, M., & Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (1999). Annotated bibliography:
The idea of public journalism. In T. Glasser (Ed.), The idea of public journalism (pp. 210-222). New York, Guilford Press.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (1996). The mythical West in presidential campaign films: Cowboys, frontiers, and wilderness. In W. Wright & S. Kaplan (Eds.), Selected papers -- 1996 conference (pp. 77-85). University of Southern Colorado, Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Social Imagery.

Reports and reviews: replace both sections with:

Reports

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. and Hunt, J. (2009). The Media Representation of Whistleblowers. Report on £2000 research project to Public Concern at Work.

Barenreuter, C., Brull, C., Mokre, M., and Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2007). Overview of research on the European public sphere. Report written for the Eurosphere FP6 integrated project, Work Package 1.

Messenger-Davies, M, Carter, C., Wahl-Jorgensen, K, and Allan, S. (2005) Children’s responses to television news: documenting the relationship between children and a children’s news programme, Channel 4’s First Edition. Report on £4955 research project to the British Academy.

Lewis, J., Wahl-Jorgensen, K., and Inthorn, S. (2003). Representing Public Opinion. Report on £40,000 research project to the Economic and Social Research Council.

Reviews, encyclopedia entries  and other publications

Wahl-Jorgensen, K (forthcoming) Internationalizing media studies (book review). Discourse and Communication.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K (forthcoming) The European public sphere and the media: Europe in crisis (book review) Journalism Studies.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K (forthcoming) Media and their publics (book review). Social Semiotics.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2009). History of election and media (updated version/2nd edition). 2000-word entry for ICA Encyclopedia of Communication . New York: Blackwell.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2008) Cultural citizenship: Cosmopolitanism, consumerism and television in a neoliberal age (Book review). Journal of Communication.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2008). Media and citizenship. 2000-word entry for the Media Battlegrounds encyclopedia, edited by Jonathan Gray and Robin Andersen (Praeger) (pp. 221-226).

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2008). History of election and media (1494-1497). 2000-word entry for ICA Encyclopedia of Communication . New York: Blackwell.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2008). Truth in media content. 2000-word entry for ICA Encyclopedia of Communication (pp. 5185-5188). New York: Blackwell.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2006). Democratizing global media (Book review). Asian Journal of Communication 16(3), 334-336.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2004). Talking about politics (Book review). Public Opinion Quarterly 68(3), 430-432.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2004). Trash talk (Book review). Feminist Media Studies 4(1), 95-96.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2004). The press and popular culture (Book review). International Journal of Cultural Studies 7(3), 367-369.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2001). New media and politics (Book review). Inter/Sections 1(2), 83-84.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2001). Constructing the public: Letters to the editor as a forum for deliberation (Dissertation abstract). Javnost/The Public 8(2), 126-128.

Postgraduate Students

Supervisions

Recent or current supervision includes research on:

  • Political communications, spin doctors and the professionalisation of politics (projects on Sri Lanka, Norway, Ghana, Saudi Arabia and Britain)
  • Online political discussion in Taiwan and China
  • Letters to the editor in Arab News
  • Children, news and citizenship
  • Editorial autonomy in South Korean newspapers
  • Radio talk shows in Ghana
  • The media's role in the MMR vaccination debate
  • Tabloid newspapers' representations of women in Tanzania
  • The representation of female politicians in the Welsh Assembly
  • Coverage of the Iranian pro-democracy protests
  • The self-understanding of arts journalists
  • “Black envelope” journalism in Nigeria

Biography

Dr Karin Wahl-Jorgensen has taught at Cardiff University since 2000. She holds a PhD from Stanford University and has also worked as a journalist for newspapers and magazines in Denmark and the United States.