Explanatory Journalism Report -
From Flies to File Storage:
Policy Issues in the Life-Cycle of Explanatory Journalism
While explanatory journalism has existed for a long time, it has been transformed in new and fascinating ways online. But these transformations also pose big, unexpected challenges, many of which are related to policy.
This report proposes a life-cycle of explanatory journalism as a way to uncover policy challenges and then identify how these issues might be addressed. Implementing this report’s recommendations can improve the inclusion of diverse expert knowledge in Canadian policy debates.
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What is explanatory journalism?
Explanatory journalism describes news content that gives more context than traditional reporting. It can be found in dedicated outlets (e.g., The Conversation Canada) and in outlets that publish both traditional and explanatory journalism (e.g., op-eds in the Globe and Mail and La Presse). The authors may be journalists, but they are often academics or others outlining expert knowledge in more
accessible ways.
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What's in this report?
From Flies to File Storage provides an overview of explanatory journalism and...
Academic Authorship
In relation to a resources and disincentives
Distribution
Fair use, payment, international audiences, and discoverability
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Academic Authority
The difficulties of breaking into policy discussions
Storage of Documents
The afterlife of electronic materials
Recommendations
For academic institutions, publishing outlets, and policy makers
Explanatory journalism is a middle-ground between longer policy contributions, reports and briefs, and using social media to engage in policy issues.
Funding for this report was provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Suggested citation (APA):
Tworek, K., Wilkinson, S., Dubois, E., Ren, L., & Lee, L. (2021). From flies to file storage: Policy issues in the life-cycle of explanatory journalism. Pol Comm Tech Lab. https://bit.ly/2ZOBJFU
Tworek, K., Wilkinson, S., Dubois, E., Ren, L., & Lee, L. (2021). Des mouches aux mouvements de fichiers : Les enjeux de politiques jalonnant le cycle de vie du journalisme explicatif. Labo Pol Comm Tech. https://bit.ly/3bCBkZR