Aesthetic Experience, News Content, and Critique in Live Journalism Events. (2nd January 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Vodanovic, Lucia
• Is Part Of: Journalism practice. Volume 16:Number 1(2022)
• Page Start: 161
• Page End: 177
• Publication Date: 2022-01-02
• Subjects: Aesthetics -- experience -- critique -- live journalism -- sources -- slow journalism; Journalism -- Periodicals; 070.405
• DOI: 10.1080/17512786.2020.1796763
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1751-2786

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Live Journalism events, not often explored within academia, bring together journalistic values, stories, and professionals with elements of theater and spoken word performances to engage audiences in a physical gathering. This article discusses two case studies from the UK, the festival Sunday Papers Live and the monologue No Direction Home: Refuge Woman, analyzing how their format and set-up shape the content being delivered, and asking if they constitute a realignment of traditional journalistic forms in aspects such as news genres and use of sources. It establishes that live events could potentially foster a slower engagement with news, provide the audience with an opportunity to understand aspects of the production and funding of journalism and, in the case of the monologue studied, present a novel way of working with sources. It also addresses the idea and practice of critique to argue that, despite their significant differences, these live events unpack how stories are constructed and therefore suggest, explicitly or not, that news can be formed in a variety of ways.