The outsiders looking in!: EU and diaspora journalists’ refl ections on journalistic roles in British press coverage of the EU Referendum
Olatunji Ogunyemi
University of Lincoln, UK
ABSTRACT: Scholarly research into journalists as a subject of study is increasing. Th rough this, scholars found there is no consensus among journalists about journalistic practice. Th is is because journalistic roles are discursively recreated, reinterpreted, appropriated, and contested. Th e coverage
of the EU referendum in the UK provides an opportunity to further explore journalistic roles
through a focus group of EU and diaspora journalists and academics. Th e study reveals that participants were critical of the roles played by the British press in the coverage of the referendum and that they were concerned about its eff ects on their physical and emotional well-being. Hence, they urge
media organisations to off er support and training to redress these concerns. In conclusion, the study provides an in-depth and intense probing of journalistic roles and their eff ects in relation to the coverage of the EU referendum.
DOI: 10.19195/1899-5101.11.1(20).3
KEYWORDS: professional ideology, role conceptions, production practice, EU referendum, framing.