667873

research-article2016

JOU0010.1177/1464884916667873JournalismTenenboim-Weinblatt and Baden

Article

Journalistic transformation:
How source texts are turned
into news stories

Journalism
119
The Author(s) 2016
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DOI: 10.1177/1464884916667873
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Keren Tenenboim-Weinblatt
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

Christian Baden

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

Abstract
In the scholarly debate, ideals of original reporting are commonly contrasted against
the churnalistic reproduction of source content. However, most news making
lies between these poles: Journalists rely on but transform the available source
material, renegotiating its original meaning. In this article, we define journalistic
transformation as those interventions journalists make in their use of third-party
textual material in the pursuit of crafting a news story. Journalists (1) select
contents from available source texts, (2) position these contents, (3) augment them
with further information, and (4) arrange all to craft characteristic news narratives.
To investigate journalistic transformation practices, we compare source materials
used in the news (e.g. press releases, speeches) to the resulting Israeli, Palestinian,
and international coverage of the abduction and murder of four youths in summer
2014. We identify five kinds of journalistic transformation evaluative, political,
cultural, emotive, and professional each of which actualizes a different journalistic
function and contributes to rendering the news relevant to the respective audiences
in distinct ways.
Keywords
Intertextual, journalistic transformation, news making, sources

Corresponding author:
Keren Tenenboim-Weinblatt, Department of Communication and Journalism, The Hebrew University of
Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, 91905 Jerusalem, Israel.
Email: keren.tw@mail.huji.ac.il

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2 Journalism

Introduction
Writing the news, journalists rely heavily on available textual inputs. This already common practice has become even more prevalent in the digital era: Given intensifying
financial and time pressures, as well as a growing abundance of readily accessible texts,
journalists increasingly construct parts of their coverage from textual material provided
by various sources, among them public relations (PR) spokespeople, political actors, and
other media outlets (e.g. Boczkowski, 2010; Phillips, 2010). A growing body of literature
has addressed the perils of uncritical journalistic reproduction of press releases, news
agency copy, and other texts (e.g. Davies, 2008; Jackson and Moloney, 2015; Lewis
etal., 2008). Such churnalism (Zakir, in Harcup, 2004) has been contrasted against an
ideal of original, independent news reporting, based on direct observations and one-onone journalistsource interactions (e.g. Downie and Schudson, 2009; McChesney and
Nichols, 2011; Starkman, 2014). However, between these two poles there exists a wide
continuum of journalistic practices: Applying a variety of transformations to source
texts, journalists select specific contents to be quoted, amplified, summarized, elaborated, reformulated, or downplayed, and thereby turn them into news texts. Other materials are brought in to corroborate or criticize, amend or explain the selected claims; and
the different pieces are (re)arranged to form a relevant, coherent news story (Baden and
Tenenboim-Weinblatt, 2016). These various practices, which can be captured by the
notion of intertextual journalistic transformation, constitute the focus of this article.
We define journalistic transformation as journalists interventions in their use of thirdparty textual material in the pursuit of crafting a news story. These interventions consist
of (1) selecting key information and quotes from available source texts; (2) presenting
selected contents as more or less important, certain, controversial, and so on; (3) augmenting these with further information from other sources, background, and commentary; and
(4) arranging all to craft characteristic news narratives. Through these interventions, journalists renegotiate the meaning of the used source material to create news texts that are
co-productions of the journalist and the original sources. In proposing the notion of journalistic transformation, we depart from two important assumptions: First, we posit that
not only do journalists regularly transform source texts, but that these transformations, for
better and worse, are a significant part of journalists unique contribution to public discourse (see Phillips, 2014). Second, we argue that the different ways in which source texts
are transformed actualize specific social roles assumed by journalists.
While rich scholarly work has investigated journalists sourcing and selection strategies (see reviews in Berkowitz, 2009; Carlson, 2009; Reich, 2009; Shoemaker and
Reese, 2013), the further processing of selected sources within the journalistic newsmaking process has not yet been systematically conceptualized. In order to begin developing a general framework of journalistic transformation, we use an instrumental case
study (Stake, 1995), comparing source inputs to the final journalistic products, against
the background of an integrative appraisal of the existing scholarship. We identify five
types of transformations evaluative, political, cultural, emotive, and professional
which actualize different journalistic functions and ways of rendering the news relevant
to the respective news audiences. Moreover, we identify recurrent combinations of these
transformations, which constitute different journalistic styles.

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Tenenboim-Weinblatt and Baden

Site of inquiry
As a site of inquiry, we focus on the news coverage of three Israeli and one Palestinian
teenagers abducted and murdered in summer 2014: On 12 June, three Yeshiva students
were abducted by activists linked to Hamas near a West Bank settlement. The ensuing
massive search operation and military crackdown lasted 18days, until the boys dead
bodies were discovered on 30 June. Amid rising tensions, on 2 July, Israeli radicals
abducted and murdered a Palestinian teenager from East Jerusalem in retribution. These
events lend themselves to this study in several ways: First, both events deeply involved
the Israeli and Palestinian communities, triggering rich press coverage on both sides as
well as internationally, thus enabling varied comparison. At the same time, journalists
had to rely on scarce sources to obtain information. Evaluations of events and policies,
as well as their initially uncertain yet increasing escalation potential culminating in the
2014 Gaza war remained contentious both between and within Israel and Palestine:
Maneuvering between clashing identities, journalists had ample and diverse incentives
for transforming the available material and craft professional, balanced or politically
biased, ethnocentric coverage.
To sample material, we departed from the coverage in three leading Israeli and
Palestinian newspapers: For Israel, we included the leftist elite broadsheet Haaretz, the
leading popular paper Yedioth Ahronot, and the free, right-leaning outlet Israel Hayom.
For the Palestinian territories, we included East Jerusalems Al-Quds, Al-Hayat al-Jadida
the paper of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Hamas-affiliated Felesteen.
Accessing all front-page stories related to the abductions, murders, and ensuing escalations for a month after the kidnapping (14 June14 July 2014), we first identified all
textual1 sources that were literally quoted or expressly referenced on the front pages. Of
these, we selected those 11 Israeli sources that were picked up by at least three front
pages and another 11 Palestinian sources which were mentioned on at least two front
pages.2 Due to the nature of events and journalists general reliance on official sources
(e.g. Bennett, 1990; Gans, 2003), the selection is heavy on official sources, but also covers a range of other source texts. Israeli sources include seven statements by the Prime
Minister (PM), one statement by the Israeli Defense Force, one interview with Member
of Parliament (MP) Hanin Zoabi, speeches at one public rally, and one telephone recording of the first three victims emergency call. Palestinian sources include four statements/
speeches by President Abbas, two Hamas statements/interviews, three statements by PA
government officials, and two reports by Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency.3 All
original source texts including press releases, news agency reports, and audiovisual
materials were retrieved from available archives. Subsequently, we identified all references to these 22 selected sources throughout the entire coverage of these six papers (i.e.
beyond the front pages) and included all relevant articles in our sample. In addition, we
identified references to the same sources in the international press: Selecting one elite
broadsheet and one popular/tabloid paper each from the United States, United Kingdom,
and Germany, we included all relevant coverage from the New York Times (NYT) and
USA Today, The Guardian and Daily Mail, Sddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) and Bild. The
entire analysis thus comprises 159 dyadic comparisons between the 22 selected source
texts and 150 news articles using these (nine news articles use two of the selected

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4 Journalism

Figure 1. Sample composition.

sources). For the distribution of sampled news texts, sources, and resulting comparisons,
see Figure 1.
In order to identify the transformations that journalists apply to selected, newsworthy
material, we conducted an in-depth qualitative analysis of those changes applied in the
process of turning it into news stories. Comparing each pair of source and resulting news
text, we identified which specific contents of source texts were reproduced, paraphrased,
or omitted in the news. Inversely, we identified and categorized additions that derive
from other sources (e.g. archival material, journalistic commentary), and examined how
these elaborate, contextualize, qualify, or challenge the reported contents. We then analyzed how these specific transformations shape the qualities of the news report carving
out newsworthy information, qualifying its relevance, and renegotiating the interpretation advanced by the original source and what is thereby achieved, both for actualizing
journalistic norms and functions, and for increasing the utility of texts for the audience.
Finally, we searched for characteristic, recurrent patterns in their application across different media in different cultural contexts, close to and far from the reported events.
The analysis was guided by an abductive approach (Reichertz, 2007; Strbing,
2007), where existing conceptual and theoretical frameworks provide sensitizing concepts (Blumer, 1954) as departure points for the analysis but do not determine the
outcome. Rather, the process is that of discovery, reengagement, and making new connections, based on the interplay between existing interpretive frameworks (deduction)
and the patterns emerging from the data (induction). We approached the comparison
between the source texts and news stories with a broad arsenal of concepts taken from
cultural and narrative approaches to analyzing news content (e.g. Bird and Dardenne,
2009; Carey, 1989; Zelizer and Tenenboim-Weinblatt, 2014), political and framing
analysis (e.g. Entman, 1993; Hallin and Mancini, 2004; McCombs, 2005), linguistic
and discourse analysis approaches (e.g. Bell, 1991; Dor, 2003; Van Dijk, 2013), emotive

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Tenenboim-Weinblatt and Baden

analysis (e.g. Bas and Grabe, 2015; Peters, 2011; Wahl-Jorgensen, 2013), news-values
research (Galtung and Ruge, 1965; Harcup and ONeill, 2001), conceptualizations of
journalistic professionalism (e.g. Schudson and Anderson, 2009; Waisbord, 2013), and
role-conception studies (e.g. Hanitzsch, 2011; Van Dalen etal., 2012). Refining and
organizing the existing categories based on the empirical findings and the conceptual
lens of transformation, we developed the typologies of transformation practices and
patterns introduced below.

Types of transformations
Our analysis reveals a wealth of transformative practices applied to the selected source
texts. Only six articles (~4%) were fully churnalistic, limited to the four keystrokes of
ACVP-Journalism needed to copy, paste, and print the entire source statement (Ctrl-A,
Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V, and Ctrl-P in most word processing software packages). For another
11percent of the analyzed texts, the amount of transformation was quite limited (e.g.
essentially reprinted text with few changed expressions and an added headline summarizing the main news). Many of the largely or entirely untransformed cases can be
accounted for by reasons external to the news: For instance, the Palestinian Al-Hayat
al-Jadida reprinted a few press statements by the PA, its owner, and a speech by PA
President Abbas verbatim reflecting the papers second identity as the official publication of the PA.
Among the rich and varied transformative practices detected in the vast majority of
texts, we distinguish five main kinds of transformations, each serving a different function of journalism and representing a specific way of bringing the news into the audiences life worlds. While each comes with a range of specific devices and common
techniques, many transformative practices can serve more than one purpose. In the following, we present each type of transformation and connect it to the existing scholarship.
Four types evaluative, political, cultural, and emotive transformations are located on
a generally similar level, while the fifth the professional transformation is somewhat
apart as a meta-transformation that qualifies the trustworthiness of the entire news
piece (see Figure 2).

Evaluative transformations
A first group of transformations serves to inform news audiences about which information most deserve societys attention and why. Rendering society observable to itself, the
news reduces the complexity of available information, and signals which information,
and what about it, is most noteworthy and suitable to shape the public agenda (McCombs,
2005). Beyond the crucial, widely investigated selection of specific source texts as newsworthy, based on a set of news values (Galtung and Ruge, 1965; Harcup and ONeill,
2001), also the selection and presentation of specific contents within a selected text contributes to establishing the significance of the story.
To endow news texts with social relevance and thereby justify claiming the audiences attention (Bell, 1991: 151), the most powerful instrument in the journalistic arsenal is placement: Selecting specific claims within the newsworthy material as headlines

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6 Journalism

Figure 2. Types of journalistic transformation.

and positioning these headlines within the paper, journalists signal which text, and what
about it, is most noteworthy. In our case study, most sources were covered cross-nationally but were endowed with different salience: Entire front and inner pages dedicated to
many of the stories signaled highest relevance in Israel. In the Palestinian media, placement was still regularly above the fold, while in foreign media, stories rarely made page
1, never as main headline. The text selected for main headlines was occasionally quoted
directly from prominent sources, but most (outside Israel almost all) headlines presented
a journalistic summary of either the source text or the covered events. Journalistic headlines acted as relevance optimizers (Dor, 2003) even in most texts left otherwise
untransformed, rendering the selection of information for the headline the most consistently achieved transformation.
While stylistic evaluative transformations (logos, colors, font sizes, and shapes used
to highlight key information) were primarily the domain of the non-highbrow newspapers, verbal markers of importance and novelty were found across all news outlets. For
instance, reports in the Israeli media on PA President Abbas condemnation of the kidnapping of the three Israelis (in a speech released in full by Wafa news agency) were
filled with various evaluative markers such as exceptional (Haaretz) and surprising
(Israel Hayom), justifying the front-page placement.
Besides explicit evaluations, two central ways to underline the relevance of news are
references to scale (e.g. 50,000 mourners) and the historical/temporal positioning of
events: Qualifications such as rare, historic, or first time since were used to
establish the remarkability of the reported information within a historical context and
collective memory (see Schudson, 2014), locating the present as a pivotal moment on a
continuum extending from the past into the future (Tenenboim-Weinblatt, 2013).
Journalists tended to select markers of historical significance from the source texts and
procure suitable qualifications from additional sources, thus positioning selected context
through others words rather than appearing as authors themselves. Inversely, forwardlooking evaluations were almost always journalistic constructions or summaries, ranging

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Tenenboim-Weinblatt and Baden

from mere allusions (at the crossroads) to specific projections and warnings of fierce
reactions or a new intifada.
Finally, evaluative transformations include an appraisal of the certainty and epistemic
status of reported claims and events. By use of distancing (claim, say), corroborating
(confirm), or doubtful (allege) reporting verbs, or by putting expressions into quotation marks (common in the Palestinian media: e.g. Netanyahu threatens to do justice), journalists communicate how much they trust or doubt the available information
(Bonyadi, 2011; White, 2012). Applying evaluative transformations, journalists thus provide audiences with an understanding of what is the key information and how it should
be appraised, shaping expectations for ensuing events.

Political transformations
A second class of transformative practices provides political orientation: Reinforcing,
criticizing, or marginalizing specific positions advanced by sources, these journalistic
transformations orient news audiences to what they should think and do about the
reported information. They encompass a wide range of journalistic practices, from
advocacy (Waisbord, 2009) and interventionist (Hanitzsch, 2007) variants of journalism, where advancing specific political perspectives is part of journalists role conception; through practices characteristic of media systems marked by political parallelism
(Hallin and Mancini, 2004); to general tendencies of the news media to index (Bennett,
1990) and critically appraise specific views, shaping the public debate (Benson, 2012;
Curran, 2011).
In the simplest form, journalists endorsed and reinforced the positions presented in
source texts by taking over terminology and arguments, or appropriating selected quotes.
Especially Israel Hayom frequently used de-attributed quotes in its headlines, usually by
PM Netanyahu (e.g. quoting without attribution from a press release of the PMs office
after the kidnapping of the three Israelis: Hamas is responsible, and there will be repercussions). In other cases, the article used terminology taken from Netanyahus public
statements as unmarked quotation, for instance, calling the kidnappers human animals.
In heated situations, such loss of distance to political statements occasionally also
occurred in other newspapers.
Most commonly, however, journalists privilege or denounce political statements by
embedding them between supportive comments or criticism obtained from other sources.
For instance, PM Netanyahus far-reaching claims were recurrently rendered seemingly
centrist in the Israeli and Western media by contrasting them against even more radical
demands by the far-right cabinet members Lieberman and Bennett. Also fact checking
was used to selectively present snippets supporting or challenging the source texts
claims for example, NYT implicitly criticized Netanyahus agenda of tightened military
crackdown by contradicting his claims about increased terrorism in the West Bank said
to be in fact not the case. Most political evaluations advanced in the coverage were
achieved thus by simple, instrumental arrangement of selected facts, background, and
third-party quotes on the evaluated claims.
In addition, journalists endowed speakers with high or low authority by means of
connoted references, for example, referring to Abbas as the President, the PA, or

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8 Journalism
Abu Mazen and, as above, by using distancing or endorsing reporting verbs. Other
implicit political commentary included word substitutions in quoted source texts, for
example, Felesteen replaced kidnapping with operation, kidnapped with missing, or even (incorrectly) teenagers with soldiers. Only in rare cases did journalists
overtly comment upon quoted content within a news report: For instance, when
Netanyahu attacked the unity government between Hamas and Fatah, Al-Hayat alJadida described his statement as fake charges and a racist campaign aimed to
excuse further entrenching the occupation. Also irony and sarcasm were used infrequently to express endorsement or criticism: Reporting on President Abbas statement
that the kidnappers are harming the PA, Israel Hayom added a yellow circle next to the
headline, asking, finally, he gets it?.
However, most overt exercises of providing political orientation were limited to the
commentary and op-ed columns. Particularly in Israel, commentary columns were often
adjacent to the main news reports, contextualizing, challenging (notably, Haaretz), or
reinforcing (common in Israel Hayom) the quoted authorities. In the coverage of events,
political slant was mostly either naturalized as self-evident, or the preferred position was
subtly backed by instrumentally selected facts and quotes. While media across the board
commonly transformed and recontextualized political statements, privileging or marginalizing specific views, this was rarely done in a transparent fashion.

Cultural transformations
As a third type of transformation, the news media also mediate a shared experience of
society as a whole and create a sense of community (Carey, 1989). Linking the reported
events to audiences collective identities, this type of transformation thus renders the
news relevant to us (Bird and Dardenne, 2009; Nossek and Berkowitz, 2006). By drawing upon a rich toolkit (Swidler, 1986) of cultural symbols and collective memories
(Edy, 1999; Zelizer and Tenenboim-Weinblatt, 2014), journalists select and emphasize
cultural references provided by the source texts, or add their own references to create
cultural resonance (Ettema, 2005).
Where popular, national, or religious cultural symbols were already present in the
source texts, they were usually selected and often highlighted by those news media
embedded within the relevant cultural community (in particular, the popular newspapers). For instance, following the discovery of the three bodies, Netanyahus quotation
from a poem by the Israeli national poet Bialik Vengeance for the blood of a small
child Satan has not yet created was picked up by all Israeli news outlets, prominently
placed in a red banner atop the page in both Yedioth and Israel Hayom.
Occasionally, the news media also reinforced sources cultural references by inserting additional cultural-national symbolism. This was particularly pronounced in
moments of crisis, when the news media attempted to create a heightened sense of solidarity (Zandberg and Neiger, 2005). In the example above, Israel Hayom further augmented Netanyahus Bialik quotation by another intertextual reference to Israeli
Nobel-prize-winning author Agnon in the main headline; an adjacent column (titled
remember Munich) added an analogy between current events and collective memories of the Munich 1972 terrorist attack. Yedioth Ahronoth added Israeli flags to

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Tenenboim-Weinblatt and Baden

Netanjahus quote and constructed an analogy to the mythic case of Israeli MIA Ron
Arad (see Tenenboim-Weinblatt, 2008) through an accompanying column authored by
his wife Tami Arad.
Throughout the coverage, news photography abounded with flags and other symbolic
group references (e.g. clothing, architecture, prayer scenes, iconic visuals). In the texts,
sources and journalists alike referred to collective practices (notably, prayer, in the popular media) and foregrounded culture-specific expressions (e.g. martyrdom, sacrifice). To
signal cultural relevance, both also invoked historic events enshrined in collective memory, used religious analogies (e.g. the binding of Isaac), and imported from high as well
as popular culture (e.g. puns and TV references).
Slightly more explicit variants of cultural transformation include naming in- and outgroups (Arabs, the occupation as common Palestinian reference to Israel, the nation)
and evoking standing stereotypes. Also sources addresses and references to collectives
(Sisters, brothers, our steadfast and patient people; I believe I speak for all Israelis)
were commonly transported. Overt journalistic identification with the collective (our
troops, we) was largely reserved to scandals (e.g. a statement by MP Zoabi, see below)
and tragedies (e.g. the discovery of the bodies). Using symbolic (in exalted collective
moments also explicit) ingroup-specific cultural references, news reports are embedded
into a context of collective identity without the need for explanation or justification,
inspiring solidarity and a collective experience of events.
Foreign media, by contrast, face the opposite challenge, since cultural or collective
references to outgroups (from the point of view of foreign audiences) mostly distance
events as about others. In order to domesticate foreign news and relate it to the life
worlds of distant audiences, journalists only infrequently referred to domestic commentators or drew linkages to national policy, cultural themes, and specific narratives familiar to the audience (e.g. Clausen, 2004; Nossek, 2004). Rather, they typically dropped all
culture-specific references (e.g. omitting that the victims were Yeshiva students) and
emphasized aspects that could have happened anywhere (e.g. presenting them as hitchhikers). For instance, Bilds story about the discovery of the three bodies, which relied
almost exclusively on the statement released by Netanyahu, avoided Israeli-Jewish symbols, emphasizing universal cultural appeal: It illustrated Netanyahus statement that all
Israel griefs with a photograph of grieving women, a global cultural symbol, cutting off
all but one Hebrew letter (while the word police in English is centrally visible).
Furthermore, it selected two pictures of the Israeli victims where their yarmulkes are not
visible and apparently photoedited the last hints of a cap out of the third (in the reproduction of this picture in other media outlets, the cap had still been visible).

Emotive transformations
The fourth type of transformation often occurs in close conjunction with cultural transformation but focuses on involving audience in a personal rather than a cultural sense: It
renders events relatable, if not directly experienceable by conveying their emotional contents (e.g. Peters, 2011; Wahl-Jorgensen, 2013), emphasizing the emotive elements in
source texts (e.g. evocative language) or embedding the sources within an emotive setting (e.g. by adding evocative illustrations, colors, and descriptions). Conveying or

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10 Journalism
constructing anxiety and grief, anger and frustration, relief and satisfaction, they inform
the audience How we should feel about the news.
In our study, the most common emotional responses invoked in the news were outrage, grief, and related negative emotions. For instance, in a front-page story about a
statement by the Palestinian government, Al-Hayat al-Jadida wrapped the source text
with evocative images of Palestinian victims and mourners under the headline Bloody
morning in the West Bank and the leadership turns to the Security Council to stop the
aggression (our emphasis). In a rare attempt to elicit positive emotions, Yedioth
Ahronoths large red headline Its a rally of love quotes from a speech by one of the
mothers in the covered mass rally in support of the kidnapped and their families.
To convey emotional charges, all kinds of coverage commonly used signal colors
(notably, black) and evocative illustrations (crying relations, guns pointed at civilians,
during the Gaza war also scared or dead children). Emotive language was employed
widely but mostly derived from quotes rarely the journalist herself. Also the most
elaborate version relied on presenting the emotions of other people: Several longer features took their audiences along to empathize with the protagonists, most commonly
raising politically relevant feelings such as outrage or compassion.
Emotional appeals were most salient in tabloids and media close to the reported events
but were also occasionally found in highbrow coverage especially in features and in
the international media. However, their uses differed: Inside Israel and Palestine, emotive transformation commonly served to reinforce political and cultural transformations:
Emotions were ascribed to entire collectives (e.g. hurting the souls of the prisoners,
country with a broken heart, Israel in shock), and situations were presented as outrageous and unjust. Abroad, emotive transformations mostly served to engage audiences
and occurred especially on the feature pages.

Professional transformations
The last transformative practice negotiates not the relevance of presented news events
but the credibility of the news report: Professional transformations signal that the coverage adheres to journalistic norms and accurately represents events according to the journalists informed, unbiased best judgment. Notably, professionalism in the news has
been defined controversially from very different angles in journalism studies and remains
a highly ambiguous construct (see Schudson and Anderson, 2009). Most professional
transformations identified below align with Waisbords (2013) understanding of professionalism as established practices and processes distinguishing journalism from other
actors and fields. Alluding to the process of obtaining the presented information and
demonstratively documenting accuracy, circumspection, and balance, news texts reflect
upon the journalistic practices underlying the coverage and enable the audience to trust
the advanced information.
As the most common professional transformation, only few articles failed to cite
some second viewpoint in addition to a selected source text even though that second
view was neither necessarily opposing (Baden and Springer, 2015; e.g. when Netanyahus
views were contrasted against those of far-right ministers), nor always very relevant or
on the same subject (e.g. Guardian and NYT recurrently strung together contributions

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Tenenboim-Weinblatt and Baden

11

from correspondents in Israel and Palestine, contrasting views on rather distinct issues).
Often, adherence to balance and diversity norms was limited to half a sentence noting
that someone disagreed, or a dismissive quote by a political opponent. While most uses
of second viewpoint did little to achieve a balanced presentation, only few were deliberately distorting: For instance, Yedioth Ahronot justified its scandalizing of claims made
by Israeli Arab MP Hanin Zoabi (which could be construed to express understanding for
the kidnappers) with alleged outrage across the political landscape but cited denouncing
commentary all from within the government coalition. Where genuinely contradictory
views were presented, these were normally not resolved but arranged in ostensible neutrality for the audience to judge often amid instrumentally selected context favoring
one side (see above).
Specifically within conflict coverage, the inclusion of views from the opposing side
has been an ongoing scholarly concern (e.g. Galtung, 2006; Kampf and Liebes, 2013). In
our study, source texts from the respective other side (Israeli or Palestinian) were consistently balanced by domestic voices, while the reverse (balancing domestic voices) was
common only in Haaretz and Al-Quds (see Daviess (2008) discussion of the uneven
application of the balance norm). Foreign media usually represented both sides, even if
only in a cursory manner.
Additional professional transformations include fact checking, adding background, a
distanced reporting style, and a marked separation of reports and commentary all of
which were more common in the broadsheet papers. Texts conveyed a sense of expertise
by alluding to background information, cited unnamed sources to signal the information
networks underlying the report, and occasionally engaged in fact checking to document
quality control. However, these practices mostly remained limited in the service of the
articles overall tendency. Also references to external expertise, reinforcing the impartial
authority of the news, were rare (Albk, 2011). Instead, journalists often emphasized
their authority as eyewitnesses, conveying the impression that they were on site and
spoke with everyone eye to eye.
In general, most techniques perform professionalism to signal rather than demonstrate
the observance of journalistic norms (as a strategic ritual, to use Tuchmans (1978)
phrase): They present second views, background facts, and other plain tokens of professional journalism, but do little to obtain an actual representation of political diversity, or
a survey of relevant facts. Few articles weighed available information in an open-ended
fashion, and texts that built professional credibility through explicit argument and transparency were found almost exclusively in Haaretz, SZ, and NYT. While direct norm
violations such as omitted salient counterclaims or inaccurate quotes were rare, many
cases suggest more professionalism than the report itself redeems. Still, even the superficial and performative adherence to professional norms endows the news with a sense of
transparency and credibility, distinguishing it from other information and inspiring trust
whether that trust is justified or not.

Patterns of journalistic transformation

Each of the above transformative practices can be found across all investigated media and
topics. However, they are not independent of one another: One kind of transformation

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12 Journalism
Table 1. Patterns of journalistic transformation.
Evaluative
Political
Cultural
Emotive
Professional
transformation transformation transformation transformation transformation
Measured
journalism
Accentuated
journalism
Analytic
journalism
Directed
journalism
Immersed
journalism

Medium

Medium

Medium

Medium

Medium

High

Any

Any

Medium-high

Medium

Medium-low

Medium-low

High

Medium-high Medium-high
Medium-high

High

Medium-low

Medium-low

Medium

Medium-high

Low

High

High

Low

Note: Defining characteristics in bold face.

often comes at the expense of another. Major political transformations tend to conflict
with the balance norms of professional transformation, while the loss of distance achieved
by cultural transformations collides with notions of journalistic objectivity. Combining
the above transformation strategies, journalists weight and prioritize them in characteristic ways that reflect different conceptions of what constitutes valuable journalism.
Specifically, we found five recurrent patterns of transformative practices, constituting different journalistic styles, which are summarized in Table 1 (defining characteristics in
boldface).

Measured journalism
A first pattern of journalistic transformation is defined by its balanced attention to all five
functions, none of which is allowed to dominate at the expense of others. For example,
Haaretz initial report on the kidnapping of three Israelis (on June 15s front page) is
divided into one main news report and six separate commentary columns underneath,
contextualizing specific aspects of the news. The news is marked as important by its
placement, the wealth of linked commentary, and the announcement of extensive coverage on pp. 36 (in red print). Illustrations add cultural linkages (e.g. pictures of the
kidnapped teenagers wearing yarmulkes) and inspire grave concern for the life of the
victims. Netanyahu whose statement was the starting point for the analysis is cited in
the subhead blaming Abbas and the PA, while the commentary headlines (The propaganda battle, Netanyahu and Bennett are responsible) challenge his political views.
The facts are reported neutrally and separated from analysis and commentary. While all
functions are addressed, the news avoid overwhelming the audience with emotion or the
significance of the moment, and highlight cultural and political perspectives without
naturalizing any of these. Most commonly, this style is practiced in the highbrow papers,
notably Haaretz and Al-Quds. Measured journalism positions the journalist as an
involved but open-minded (not dispassionate) interpreter of events, resisting the heat of
the debate to gain a multifaceted understanding and informed citizenry.

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13

Accentuated journalism
A second pattern of transformations banks on the evaluation of events as possible turning
points: It embeds current events and source texts into rich situational context, explaining
how and why they promise to durably affect society or have already done so. For
instance, PA President Abbas condemnation of the kidnappings was covered as turning
point. In addition to the evaluative measures described above (e.g. expressly characterizing Abbas statements as exceptional and surprising), the dramatic quality is underlined by emotive transformation. Most cases advance some political tendency of
responding to the situation (e.g. Haaretz advocated reinforcing Abbas constructive stance
by cooperating with the PA). Coverage leaves no doubt that far-reaching consequences
loom possibly, should Abbas commitment hold, or certainly in case of the escalation
triggered by the discovery of the bodies, which was presented as another turning point
(following Netanyahus oft-quoted threat: Hamas will pay). Characteristically, such
coverage presents major events outside the society where a medium is located (inside
these societies, the same events are normally covered by combining immersed and
directed journalism, see below). Forcefully focusing audiences attention on specific
moments, issues, and choices, journalists shape the public agenda and involve their readers in the making of history even if on a small scale. Accentuated journalism thus
relies on the monitoring of events beyond everyday coverage, alerting audiences to important occurrences and illuminating them much like Lippmans proverbial search light.

Analytic journalism
A third pattern focuses on providing succinct and trustworthy analysis. It emphasizes the
evaluative and political functions of journalism, and invests heavily into professional
transformations. For instance, NYT responds to PM Netanyahu blaming Hamas for the
kidnappings by discussing the credibility of this claim. Surveying rich background information and critically examining numerous statements (e.g. Netanyahu said he knew for
a fact ), it scrutinizes likely motivations and interprets the allegation as part of a
strategy aimed at disrupting the Palestinian unity government. The PMs reflex to blame
Hamas is presented as a symptom of growing distrust and hostility, resulting in further
escalation. The analysis does not endorse any specific policy but cautions against continuing the current blame game, while criticizing those egging on the current escalation.
Cultural transformations are limited, and emotive appeals are absent. Such analytic
journalism is found exclusively in the broadsheet papers, applied mostly to foreign
events, and provides audiences with an informed, well-argued understanding of complex
issues in the tradition of critical but dispassionate political journalism.

Directed journalism
The fourth pattern is defined by its commitment to providing political orientation: Focusing
on specific political claims, such news present these as clearly preferable or misguided
sometimes in a more argumentative, and sometimes in a more propagandistic manner. A
rather radical case is Israel Hayoms appropriation and unambiguous endorsement of

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14 Journalism
Netanyahus statements. Using unattributed statements by Netanyahu as headlines (see
examples above), it equates Netanyahus view with those of the journalist and society as a
whole (e.g. our boys, the whole nation is following with anxiety). The perspective is
naturalized and further reinforced by evocative wording (e.g. nightmare) and supportive
commentary (e.g. following the discovery of the bodies, Israel Hayoms front page features
six commentary columns, all reinforcing Netanyahus statements). Professional norms are
paid lip service at most, arranging supportive sources and background factoids, while deviant views are absent. This style of full-hearted amplification and eclipsing dissent often
characterizes the coverage of Israel Hayom and other partisan media (notably, Felesteen).
Also in the broadsheets and the popular papers, political advocacy is achieved by
essentially following the argumentation of one source, arranging corroborative background information and supportive quotes. However, some professional distance
remains, avoiding naturalization, and dissenting views are indexed or even presented
substantially (notably, in Al-Quds) even if they are discredited. Less commonly, journalists appear as primary advocates of political positions, citing sources in support of
their agendas. Such directed journalism reflects an understanding of journalism as partisan and engaged in the advocacy of appropriate policies, based on an informed appraisal
of available information, or in a more propagandistic fashion. In neither case, however,
transparency is a major concern.

Immersed journalism
The final pattern emphasizes journalisms role as a venue of cultural affirmation, enabling
the society to partake in the mediated experience of current events. Professional norms are
marginalized, and also political rifts are de-emphasized to foreground a common identity.
For instance, Yedioth Ahronot covers a mass rally in support of the kidnapped and their
families as a moment of societal self-affirmation: Filling more than half of its front page
with a picture of the attending crowd, an Israeli flag, and a photograph of the victims
families, the article suggests the unity of victims, relatives, demonstrators, and the nation
as a whole. Transforming the victims into everybodys boys, a large headline (A rally
of love, see above) conveys emotion and emphasizes solidarity. Jewish references and
symbols are also highlighted in the quoted speeches (e.g. analogy to the binding of Isaac),
while the coverage renounces overtly political content (quoting one speech that This is
not a rally that demands for the government ) and foregrounds consensus (e.g. hopes
that the kidnapped be returned). Such coverage amplifies symbolic events staged by the
sources or constructs its own collective narrative. This style is mostly found in Yedioth
Ahronot and other popular papers, and used to cover moments of domestic tragedy and
grief: Suspending all distance, it amplifies individual emotions to become part of the
shared fate and identity of the nation. Such immersed journalism assumes a distinctive
role in enabling a community to practice shared identity and update cultural narratives but
comes at the expense of journalisms political and professional functions.

Conclusion
The process of turning textual material obtained from sources into news texts lies at the
heart of the journalistic news production process: Even as the collection and selection of

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15

newsworthy material is increasingly outsourced to news agencies, search algorithms,

and social media, their active role in writing the news enables journalists to retain considerable control over the resulting product. Mobilizing the resources and routines of the
newsroom, and bringing their professional experience and role conceptions to bear on
the selected material, journalists interventions transform the available texts in highly
consequential ways. Not only can the same selected input result in radically different
news, but its arrangement amid background material, commentary, and contextualizing
quotes also enriches the material to create tangible added value for the news audience.
Evaluative, political, cultural, and emotive transformations thus serve to bring the news
into the life worlds of news audiences directing attention to shape the public agenda,
giving political direction, and involving readers both as members of a social collective
and as sentient individuals.
However, the observed patterns of transformation document that journalists cannot
simultaneously enrich the relevance of news along all five dimensions: Added emphasis
on one kind of transformation usually incurs costs for other kinds. While it has often
been noted that strong partisan evaluation, cultural closeness, or emotional charging of
the news compromises journalistic professionalism, also strong emphasis on professionalism or evaluative transformation comes at a cost. Journalists need to strike a balance
between the different functions addressed, prioritizing transformations in characteristic
ways. The five patterns turned up in our analysis reflect solutions to this trade-off that are
familiar from the literature under a variety of labels (interpretative, partisan, cultural,
tabloid journalism, etc.). Only measured journalism, which balances the five transformative practices and is thus distinguished by none, has not yet been described as a
specific journalistic style; it might be understood as the default style of journalism
implied if no specific label is applied. Highlighting not only what journalists achieve but
also what they sideline or forego, the study of journalistic transformations thus provides
a more systematic and encompassing view of news production, which reflects the multiple, often contradicting impulses that shape journalistic practices (Zelizer, 2004).
While our analysis notes different outlets characteristic preferences for particular
transformative patterns, also the interaction between event, medium, and audience influences the preferred style of journalism: Media within the societies in conflict emphasized
immersed and directed journalism whenever dramatic events unfolded, while foreign
media used accentuated or analytic styles in such cases. Measured journalism appears to
be as much a mark of quality broadsheets as it is an active attempt to withstand the politicization and foregrounding of exclusive identities. A fusion of analytic and directed journalism is most commonly associated with the Palestinian media system, while the
propagandistic merger of directed and immersed journalism clearly reflects editorial
policies (at Israel Hayom and Felesteen). The framework of transformation can thus
further illuminate how journalistic role conceptions and working contexts, as well as the
qualities of the available source materials influence their everyday practices and routines, and result in characteristic qualities of their coverage. As mediatized sources
materials offer varying amounts of evaluative, political, cultural, and emotional references for journalists to pick up (Esser and Strmbck, 2014); and as journalists operate
within different sets of constraints and resources, pursuing different ideals (Hanitzsch,
2011); the amounts and combinations of transformations applied should offer valuable
insights into the genesis of specific patterns, achievements, and deficits in the news.

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16 Journalism
Our present study has, of course, merely glimpsed at a tiny fragment of the highly
diverse practices of intertextual journalistic transformation. Focusing on conflict-related
news, we have singled out a context where active journalistic interventions were likely
to be stark and plenty. Possibly, a look at other news beats and topics will reveal different
or additional transformative practices, and recast the distinctive patterns described above.
Also, the selected Western and (in many ways distinctive) Palestinian news cultures, as
well as our focus on highbrow and popular print media, hardly exhaust the spectrum of
journalistic news-making practices (Hanitzsch etal., 2011). Finally, our focus on textual
sources may shroud some transformative practices used in relation to less structured
source input, such as on-site observations and phone conversations. Yet, already in this
limited, purposive sample, the recurrence of distinctive practices and patterns documents
the relevance of our inquiry into journalistic transformations. The suggested framework
can be easily expanded to treat also information obtained in other formats, and serve as
a starting point for broader investigations of how information is tuned into news. Located
at the nexus between information gathering and news dissemination, and shaped by the
various resources, values, and constraints of journalistic institutions, we believe that a
focus on transformations is well suited to connect various research traditions in journalism studies and to pin down journalists unique contribution to the public debate. In the
end, the journalistic transformation of source texts into news stories may be the stable
thing in the world of journalism that is itself rapidly transforming.
Acknowledgements
We are indebted to Yonatan Gonen for his contribution.

Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/
or publication of this article: This research has been supported by the European Seventh Framework
Programme for Research and Development, Grant Nos. 613308 (INFOCORE; www.infocore.eu)
and 627682 (RECORD; www.frame-resonance.eu).

Notes
1. Published written text and audio recordings of spoken text, which equally allow literal
quotation.
2. For Palestinian sources, we also included those quoted only in two papers, owing to the Fatahand Hamas-papers consistent tendency to ignore statements by the respective other camp.
3. WAFA, the main Palestinian news agency, is also the source that publishes the Palestinian
Authoritys (PAs) official press releases. Where WAFA published summaries of the PA presidents and officials statements, we treat the PA as the source. When WAFA generated its own
content as conventional news agency stories, it appears as a source in its own right.

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Author biographies
Keren Tenenboim-Weinblatt is a senior lecturer at the Department of Communication and
Journalism at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her work focuses on cultural and political
dimensions of journalism from a comparative perspective, media and conflict, and the various
intersections of media and time.
Christian Baden is a senior lecturer at the Department of Communication and Journalism at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His work focuses on the collaborative construction, resonance
and over-time evolution of societally shared meaning in political controversy, crisis, and violent
conflict.

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