Matthew Powers

• Professor (Assistant) at University of Washington

Building on literatures that emphasize (1) the standardizing effects of markets and technology, and (2) the historical patterns and social functions of the press, this article theorizes the simultaneous co-presence of cross-national similarities and differences in journalistic judgment. Drawing from Max Weber's early twentieth century writings on j...

This paper explores journalists’ reactions to economic constraints and technological transformations in two cities: Toulouse, France, and Seattle, United States. Through semi-structured interviews, we show that journalists in both places either endure these conditions, invest in them as professional opportunities, or ignore them altogether. Drawing...

Current discussions about the state of comparative research in journalism studies and political communication suggests the field is characterized by a methodological imbalance (i.e., many quantitative studies, few qualitative ones). This paper suggests the problem is better understood as an epistemological imbalance. We suggest that one epistemolog...

Compared to many of their Western European counterparts, public service media play a small role in the commercially driven American media system. This derives in large part from weak funding commitments. In the United States the main issues for public service media are about funding and independence, rather than transparency. For this reason, the c...

As pesquisas comparativas sobre a mídia são bastante numerosas atualmente. Contudo, poucas abordam as dificuldades precisas da comparação como estratégia metodológica ou ainda as condições de produção da pesquisa comparativa. Com o objetivo de trazer pistas de reflexão sobre este último aspecto, o artigo propõe um exercício de objetificação partici...

This article examines journalists’ use of social media in France and the United States. Through in-depth interviews, we show that shared practical sensibilities lead journalists in both countries to use social media to accomplish routine tasks (e.g. gather information, monitor sources, and develop story ideas). At the same time, we argue that the i...

Public media's contributions to democracy are well established. Less widely known are the specific policies that make these contributions possible. This study finds that professional autonomy and civic accountability in public media are supported by (1) funding established for multiyear periods; (2) legal charters that restrict partisan government...

This article examines the differential formation of online news startups in Toulouse, France, and Seattle, United States. While Seattle is home to many startups, in Toulouse there have been just 4—and only 1 continues publishing. Drawing on Bourdieu's field theory, we argue that amount and types of capital held by journalists in the 2 cities varied...

Previous research finds that nongovernmental organization (NGO) publicity strategies—despite digital technologies—continue to focus heavily on garnering coverage in the mainstream news media. Drawing on theories of path dependence and interviews with NGO professionals, this paper identifies three factors that explain why this should be so. First, d...

Past research suggests that news coverage of human rights is shaped primarily by interactions between journalists, political elites, and leading NGOs. To what degree do contemporary transformations in media, politics, and civil society alter this established wisdom? In this article, I sketch out the possibility that we are witnessing a new era of h...

In recent years, scholars have debated whether the growing presence of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in news production constitutes a “boon” or “bane” for journalism. This article seeks to move beyond this dualism by grounding these debates in normative theories of public communication. Drawing on four major normative traditions, it identif...

This study examines whether changes in the media, political, and civic landscapes give leading non-governmental organizations (NGOs) increased news access. Using longitudinal content analysis (1990–2010) of a purposive sample of US news outlets, it compares the prevalence, prominence, and story location of news articles citing leading human rights...

Long recognized as key players in international politics, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) increasingly assume important roles in the provision of news. By hiring photographers, staffing online departments and funding reporting trips, NGOs act in ways that overlap with the actions of professional journalists. This article reviews and evaluates...

This article explores the role that nongovernmental organizations play in the changing landscape of international news. Drawing on archival analysis and 65 interviews with nongovernmental organization professionals, it examines the resource commitments and values guiding research at leading humanitarian and human rights nongovernmental organization...

This article makes the case for a new era of qualitative research to contribute to the study of political communication at a time of rapid media change. We detail the history of a tradition of mixed-methods research in the United States from the 1920s to the 1960s, and chart the rise of the currently dominant quantitative methodological consensus f...

This chapter presents a cross-national study of two local news ecosystems: Toulouse, France and Seattle, Washington. We ask how and in what ways the news media of these two interestingly similar cities have been impacted by the economic and technological transformations of the past decade, and examine how news organizations have responded to these...

The rise of sophisticated tools for tracking audiences online has begun to change the way media producers think about media audiences. This study examines this phenomenon in journalism, building on a revised theoretical model that accounts for greater audience engagement in the gatekeeping process. Research suggests that news editors, after long re...

This study examines whether news is more or less homogeneous online than in print across agenda-setting news outlets in the United States, Denmark, and France. Examining similarities and differences in the genres, topics, and authors of news in each country’s leading newspapers, it finds little evidence of greater online homogeneity in any country....

This article examines the role of humanitarian and human rights nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in producing global news content in light of legacy news media's shrinking international footprint. Using original interviews, NGO documents, and content analysis, it finds that different types of funding, government relationships, organizational dy...

This study examines how media system differences in the form of news change or stay the same as newspapers in the United States (liberal), Denmark (democratic corporatist), and France (polarized pluralist) move from print to online. Internet technological affordances are posited to move online news toward more advertising and information (liberal m...

Changes in the technologies of news production do not simply modify journalistic practices; they also introduce what might be considered technologically specific forms of work. These work forms are rooted in the affordances of novel technical capacities while also making claims about the journalistic nature of such work. How do journalists discuss...

Jhistory, the international listserv that is a forum for journalism historians, has sponsored an annual panel at the AEJMC since 1995. At last summer's Chicago convention, the panel topic was “Things People Older/Younger Than Me Don't Understand About the Internet.” The following essays emerged from this panel.