The normalization and maturation of research on emotion in journalism

Wahl-Jorgensen, Karin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8461-5795 2025. The normalization and maturation of research on emotion in journalism. Soto-Sanfiel, M. T. and Salojärvi, V, eds. Handbook of Journalism and Emotions: Theory, Production, Content, and Responses, Wiley-Blackwell,

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Abstract

This chapter is a foreword to the edited volume, Handbook of Journalism and Emotions: Theory, Production, Content, and Responses. The chapter makes the case that ever since the proclamation of an “emotional turn in journalism studies” (Wahl-Jorgensen, 2020), we have seen a proliferation of research on emotion in journalism. As a result of this development, scholarship on the role of emotion in journalism has matured and increased not only in quantity but also in breadth, diversity, and methodological and conceptual sophistication. As a result of the process of maturation associated with growth over time, we have also seen the normalization of the role of emotion in journalism. Normalization here means, first, “to start to consider something as normal, or to make something start to be considered as normal” (Cambridge Dictionary, n.d.). That is, it has become “normal” to study emotion in journalism. Second, “normalization” refers to the emergence or reassertion of norms of practice. The concept of normalization has been used among journalism scholars to analyze the impact of technological change on journalistic practice, allowing for an examination of how journalistic norms have responded to the emergence of technologies and platforms like blogs and Twitter (Lasorsa et al., 2012; Singer, 2005). Here, I use the term to suggest that the study of emotion and journalism has been normalized, insofar as it is taken for granted as a worthwhile area of inquiry. What this means, in turn, is that shared norms have emerged among scholars in the area, in relation to elements of inquiry including the objects of study, and conceptual, methodological, and normative frameworks. Over time, we have seen the following trends in research on journalism and emotion: (1) increasing theoretical sophistication; (2) diversification of the objects of study; and (3) growing attention to the role of emotion in coverage of conflict, disasters, and trauma.

Item Type:	Book Section
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Schools > Journalism, Media and Culture
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HM Sociology N Fine Arts > NE Print media
Publisher:	Wiley-Blackwell
ISBN:	978-1-394-16938-2
Date of Acceptance:	25 February 2025
Last Modified:	31 Jul 2025 12:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/180118

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