Study Examines Coverage of Tennis Star Naomi Osaka’s Withdrawal from Press Conferences at 2021 French Open
A new study explored how journalists discuss and explain what they do. Using press coverage around tennis star Naomi Osaka’s decision to withdraw from press conferences at the 2021 French Open Open – a pivotal moment for her and journalists, the authors found that journalists used both manifest (direct) and latent (indirect) journalistic discourse when reporting on or commenting on themselves. In other words, how journalists talk about themselves involves more than a surface reading of news sources, but a deeper reading into how journalists select voices and perspectives from among their own.
The findings by Roxane Coche, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Media Production, Management, and Technology associate professor and department chair, Florida Atlantic University Professor Robert E. Gutsche, Jr., University of Colorado Boulder Associate Professor Patrick Ferrucci and College of New Jersey Professor Paul D’Angelo were featured in “’Part of the Gig:’ Negotiating the Press Conference Rite Surrounding Naomi Osaka’s ‘Bombshell’ Decision” published in Journalism on Sept. 23.
The authors examined news coverage of Osaka’s decision in the United Kingdom and France, focusing on the articles’ focus, their narratives, and their style. While some articles were pure news stories, others were editorials or included segments of journalists interviewing each other about or commenting on Osaka’s decision.
“Specifically,” the authors write, “we argue that journalists use both recognizable journalistic forms of texts, such as first-person, bylined articles and quotes (what we refer to as a manifest form of metajournalistic discourse), and paraphrasing, description, sources, and other reporting (what we refer to as a latent form of metajournalistic discourse) when reporting on themselves and others.”
Exploring how these different types of discourse appear in news can help us better understand how news is produced.
Posted: October 2, 2024
Category: College News, Sports
Tagged as: French Open, MPMT, Naomi Osaka, Roxane Coche
