Transparency is frequently discussed as a new key norm within journalism. Going from there, the project From Novelty to Norm: Internalizing Footnote Journalism will investigate a recently emerging form of source transparency in Austria and Germany: the use of scholarly citations in the form of footnotes, e.g., beneath journalistic articles or as on-screen elements in news videos ("footnote journalism"). However, such new practices and the accompanying changing norms break with the experiences and expectations the public has of journalism. Before such innovations can strengthen the journalism-audience-relationship and build trust, they must first undergo a process of familiarization and normalization.
The project aims to analyze these processes and examines how new journalistic practices, using footnote journalism as an example, are internalized and normalized by journalists and their audiences. To answer these questions, the project teams aims to conduct several sub-studies involving journalists and audience members in Austria and Germany. To shed light on the journalistic side, journalists will be interviewed in both countries about their routines, motivations, and hopes connected to footnote journalism using semi-structured guided interviews. To analyze the normalization of novel journalistic practices by the audience over time, qualitative interviews and experimental surveys will be conducted at multiple time points. Finally, an eye-tracking approach will be used to analyze how source transparency could be designed to strengthen audience acceptance.
Overall, the project will make an important contribution by researching a novel form of source transparency.
From Novelty to Norm: Internalizing Footnote Journalism receives funding of € 239.908 by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) for a period of three years. Led by Bernadette Uth as principal investigator and supported by Johanna Beecken as predoctoral researcher, the project will be conducted in close cooperation with Lars-Ole Wehden of the University of Münster, Germany.
