Beattie Alex
Center for Science in Society, Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.
J R Soc N Z. 2022 Apr 20;53(2):193-208. doi: 10.1080/03036758.2022.2063348. eCollection 2023.
Press Gallery journalists in Aotearoa New Zealand experienced a high level of scrutiny during the March - May 2020 nationwide lockdown. This can be largely attributed to their public role in the COVID-19 daily press briefings that featured the Prime Minister and other government officials speaking to the public and answering questions from Press Gallery journalists. The daily briefings were livestreamed directly to New Zealanders via television, radio and online media, with some journalists receiving heavy criticism by the public for asking 'aggressive' or 'irresponsible' questions. This paper explores the Press Gallery's perception of their journalistic role during the March-May 2020 daily briefings. Drawing upon semi-structured interviews with fourteen Press Gallery journalists, I find they perceived their journalistic roles at the daily briefings to be: 1) holding government decisions to account; 2) disseminating public information and educating audiences on public health issues and measures; 3) producing news or undertaking newsgathering practices. I discuss how the Press Gallery's perceived role(s) placed them in tension with audiences and complicates existing scholarly understanding of journalistic roles.
2020年3月至5月新西兰全国封锁期间，国会新闻画廊的记者受到了高度审视。这在很大程度上归因于他们在新冠疫情每日新闻发布会上的公众角色，这些发布会有总理和其他政府官员向公众讲话并回答国会新闻画廊记者的提问。每日发布会通过电视、广播和网络媒体直接向新西兰人进行直播，一些记者因提出“咄咄逼人”或“不负责任”的问题而受到公众的严厉批评。本文探讨了国会新闻画廊的记者在2020年3月至5月每日新闻发布会上对自身新闻角色的认知。通过对14名国会新闻画廊记者进行半结构化访谈，我发现他们认为自己在每日新闻发布会上的新闻角色是：1）追究政府决策的责任；2）传播公共信息并就公共卫生问题及措施对受众进行教育；3）制作新闻或开展新闻采集工作。我讨论了国会新闻画廊记者所认知的角色如何使他们与受众产生矛盾，并使现有的新闻学学术理解变得复杂。
