ABSTRACT
Previous chapters have indicated how Journalism Studies is a combination of research into journalism and a reflection on how journalism can best be taught within a university setting. Having looked at a general overview of the development of this combination, we will now concentrate on a particular approach within Journalism Studies, namely, the exploration of the processes of journalism. For our purposes, the processes can be summarized as the gathering, structuring and dissemination of information about the contemporary world and the ways in which these processes are affected by regulation, professionalization, political and commercial pressures, as well as by technological and cultural changes. Before the emergence of Journalism Studies as a sustained area of critical discussion, the processes of journalism had had little exposure to the outside world, beyond accounts which emerged at the level of individual newspapers or magazines or famous editors or owners, and even these tended to be unsystematic and developed in isolation. One benefit of more attention being paid to the mechanics of the processes is that changes in journalism over time can be illuminated and consequently this can enable us better to assess changes in the contemporary news environment.
