Is journalism responsible for social cohesion? Verena Albert talks about a project of the HBI that looks into this question.
A research group of the HBI discussed the role of journalism in social cohesion with experts from journalism, science, integration work and NGOs.
In four online group discussions, the participants exchanged views on the relationship between journalism and social cohesion and developed ideas on what "cohesion-sensitive" journalism could look like. Verena Albert and her colleagues compiled the results of these discussions in a working paper.
"The majority of the participants consider a strong social cohesion to be a desirable state to which journalism can contribute," says Verena Albert. However, some experts were of the opinion that promoting social cohesion is not a fundamental goal of journalism, but rather a by-product of "good" journalism that follows professional rules.
But how exactly can this be achieved? Three core questions emerged in the group discussions. (1) To what extent does journalism reach society? (2) How does it reflect society? And (3) how does it promote dialogue within society?
Links
Research Project
"What Journalists Want and What They Ought to Do“
Research Institute Social Cohesion (RISC)
Literature
Verena Albert
Johanna Sebauer
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