Rethinking news media and local government: journalism, politics and symbolic power Hess, Kristy and Waller, Lisa 2016, Rethinking news media and local government: journalism, politics and symbolic power, Australian journalism review, vol. 38, Article number : 1, pp. 5-17. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads Title Rethinking news media and local government: journalism, politics and symbolic power Author(s) Hess, Kristy orcid.org/0000-0003-3027-7492 Waller, Lisa orcid.org/0000-0002-2689-8010 Journal name Australian journalism review Volume number 38 Season Article number : 1 Start page 5 End page 17 Total pages 13 Publisher Journalism Education & Research Association of Australia Place of publication Bathurst, N.S.W. Publication date 2016-12-10 ISSN 0810-2686 Summary This essay explores why the relationship between news media and local government has been of little interest in journalism studies, especially in the Australian context. We argue that the reasons are complex but can be traced to issues of symbolic recognition and legitimacy. An overview of local government and news media in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand grounds the discussion in journalism and democratic theory. We draw on Bourdieu’s tradition of field-based research and theories of media power to highlight the important role 19th-century newspapers played in the establishment of municipalities. We then argue that local government’s omission from the Australian Constitution relates to issues of legitimacy and recognition that are reflected in the wider field of power and perpetuated within journalism practice and scholarship. Finally, practitioner perspectives and contemporary research underline the need for critical engagement and inquiry that recognise the fundamental importance of news and politics closest to the people. Language eng Field of Research 190301 Journalism Studies 1903 Journalism And Professional Writing 2001 Communication And Media Studies Socio Economic Objective 970119 Expanding Knowledge through Studies of the Creative Arts and Writing HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal ERA Research output type C Journal article Copyright notice ©2016, Journalism Education & Research Association of Australia Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30086323 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Faculty of Arts and Education School of Communication and Creative Arts Related Links Link Description   Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Versions Version Filter Type Tue, 27 Sep 2016, 11:13:01 EST Wed, 28 Sep 2016, 05:00:59 EST Wed, 28 Sep 2016, 10:34:58 EST Sat, 22 Oct 2016, 05:11:14 EST Tue, 01 Nov 2016, 15:01:44 EST Tue, 01 Nov 2016, 15:24:01 EST Wed, 09 Nov 2016, 12:17:54 EST Wed, 09 Nov 2016, 12:20:22 EST Wed, 09 Nov 2016, 12:21:17 EST Wed, 26 Jul 2017, 11:28:53 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 0 times in TR Web of Science Cited 0 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 288 Abstract Views, 5 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Tue, 27 Sep 2016, 11:13:01 EST

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