Details
Role
Key Researcher
Key Researcher
Connected to
WP2: User Modeling, Personalisation & Engagement
WP2: User Modeling, Personalisation & Engagement
Affiliation
University of Stavanger
University of Stavanger
Contact
/ Biography
Helle Sjøvaag is Professor of Journalism at the University of Stavanger, Norway. She has published extensively on journalism, media industries, media diversity and media systems and regulation. Sjøvaag has led several interdisciplinary research projects, has served as policy expert at the Nordic level, and has developed methods to study the digital media environment within media pluralism contexts. Her most recent book is Journalism Between the State and the Market (2019), published by Routledge.
/ Publications
Publications from 2020 and before are not direct results of the SFI MediaFutures, but are key results from our team members working on related topics in MediaFutures.
2021
Elahi, Mehdi; Jannach, Dietmar; Skjærven, Lars; Knudsen, Erik; Sjøvaag, Helle; Tolonen, Kristian; Holmstad, Øyvind; Pipkin, Igor; Throndsen, Eivind; Stenbom, Agnes; Fiskerud, Eivind; Oesch, Adrian; Vredenberg, Loek; Trattner, Christoph
Towards Responsible Media Recommendation Journal Article
In: AI and Ethics, 2021.
@article{cristin1953352,
title = {Towards Responsible Media Recommendation},
author = {Mehdi Elahi and Dietmar Jannach and Lars Skjærven and Erik Knudsen and Helle Sjøvaag and Kristian Tolonen and Øyvind Holmstad and Igor Pipkin and Eivind Throndsen and Agnes Stenbom and Eivind Fiskerud and Adrian Oesch and Loek Vredenberg and Christoph Trattner},
url = {https://app.cristin.no/results/show.jsf?id=1953352, Cristin
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs43681-021-00107-7},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-021-00107-7},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-11-02},
journal = {AI and Ethics},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
2020
Sjøvaag, Helle; Owren, Thomas; Borgen, Turid
Strategic and Organisational fit in Corporate News Markets: A Principal-agent Approach to Studying Newspaper Mergers Journal Article
In: Journalism Practice, pp. 1-18, 2020, (Pre SFI).
@article{Sjøvaag2020,
title = {Strategic and Organisational fit in Corporate News Markets: A Principal-agent Approach to Studying Newspaper Mergers},
author = {Helle Sjøvaag and Thomas Owren and Turid Borgen},
url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epub/10.1080/17512786.2020.1772097?needAccess=true},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2020.1772097},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-05-20},
journal = {Journalism Practice},
pages = {1-18},
abstract = {This article analyses strategic and organisational fit in corporate newspaper mergers in the context of the digitalisation of local newspaper markets. Using the 2019 acquisition of Nordsjø Media by Amedia in Norway as case, we analyse how eight editors-in-chief perceive the process of incorporating small, low-frequency, print-oriented monopolistic newspapers into one of Scandinavia’s largest newspaper chains. The semi-structured interviews were analysed in light of perceived strategic and organisational fit in a principal-agent theoretical framework, the aim of which is to shed light on corporate ownership effects in consolidated newspaper markets. The analysis reveals the precarity of independent ownership in digitising news markets, to which corporatisation emerges as a necessary and welcomed solution. We find the strategic fit as perceived by editors to be tied to technological resources and scale economics, while organisational fit is hampered by the speed and pressure of corporatisation processes. While these results largely support findings from previous acquisition studies in the news industries, the contribution of this analysis lies primarily with the necessity of scale required by the technological transformation that forces independent newspapers to submit to larger chain operations and how it influences considerations of fit in disruptive digital news markets.},
note = {Pre SFI},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
This article analyses strategic and organisational fit in corporate newspaper mergers in the context of the digitalisation of local newspaper markets. Using the 2019 acquisition of Nordsjø Media by Amedia in Norway as case, we analyse how eight editors-in-chief perceive the process of incorporating small, low-frequency, print-oriented monopolistic newspapers into one of Scandinavia’s largest newspaper chains. The semi-structured interviews were analysed in light of perceived strategic and organisational fit in a principal-agent theoretical framework, the aim of which is to shed light on corporate ownership effects in consolidated newspaper markets. The analysis reveals the precarity of independent ownership in digitising news markets, to which corporatisation emerges as a necessary and welcomed solution. We find the strategic fit as perceived by editors to be tied to technological resources and scale economics, while organisational fit is hampered by the speed and pressure of corporatisation processes. While these results largely support findings from previous acquisition studies in the news industries, the contribution of this analysis lies primarily with the necessity of scale required by the technological transformation that forces independent newspapers to submit to larger chain operations and how it influences considerations of fit in disruptive digital news markets.
2019
Sjøvaag, Helle
Journalism between the state and the market Book
Routledge, New York, 2019, ISBN: 9781138543348, (Pre SFI).
@book{Sjøvaag2019,
title = {Journalism between the state and the market},
author = {Helle Sjøvaag},
url = {https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332449932_Journalism_Between_the_State_and_the_Market},
isbn = {9781138543348},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-04-24},
publisher = {Routledge},
address = {New York},
abstract = {Using the Nordic media model as an empirical backdrop, Journalism Between the State and the Market defines and analyzes journalism’s fundamental problem: its shifting location between the state and the market.
This book examines how this distance is decreasing as journalism steps closer to both the market (algorithmically monetizing audiences) and the state (lobbying governments for subsidies and attacking public service broadcasting). The book analyzes journalism’s negotiated position between the market and the state in the age of disruptions, offering a theoretical foundation that seeks to account for the structural conditions of journalism in the digital age.
For scholars, graduates and students in journalism, news sociology and media and communication studies, Journalism Between the State and the Market provides a theoretical perspective that can be used as a valuable tool when studying and observing the current developments in journalism.},
note = {Pre SFI},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {book}
}
Using the Nordic media model as an empirical backdrop, Journalism Between the State and the Market defines and analyzes journalism’s fundamental problem: its shifting location between the state and the market.
This book examines how this distance is decreasing as journalism steps closer to both the market (algorithmically monetizing audiences) and the state (lobbying governments for subsidies and attacking public service broadcasting). The book analyzes journalism’s negotiated position between the market and the state in the age of disruptions, offering a theoretical foundation that seeks to account for the structural conditions of journalism in the digital age.
For scholars, graduates and students in journalism, news sociology and media and communication studies, Journalism Between the State and the Market provides a theoretical perspective that can be used as a valuable tool when studying and observing the current developments in journalism.
This book examines how this distance is decreasing as journalism steps closer to both the market (algorithmically monetizing audiences) and the state (lobbying governments for subsidies and attacking public service broadcasting). The book analyzes journalism’s negotiated position between the market and the state in the age of disruptions, offering a theoretical foundation that seeks to account for the structural conditions of journalism in the digital age.
For scholars, graduates and students in journalism, news sociology and media and communication studies, Journalism Between the State and the Market provides a theoretical perspective that can be used as a valuable tool when studying and observing the current developments in journalism.
2018
Sjøvaag, Helle; Pedersen, Truls André; Owren, Thomas
Is public service broadcasting a threat to commercial media? Journal Article
In: Media, Culture & Society, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 808-827, 2018, (Pre SFI).
@article{Sjøvaag2018c,
title = {Is public service broadcasting a threat to commercial media?},
author = {Helle Sjøvaag and Truls André Pedersen and Thomas Owren},
url = {https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0163443718818354},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443718818354},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-12-20},
journal = {Media, Culture & Society},
volume = {46},
number = {1},
pages = {808-827},
abstract = {This article asks to what extent public service broadcasting’s online news service resembles that of commercial media. The context of this inquiry is claims of ‘out-crowding’ facing public service broadcasters across Europe. In Norway, commercial players in this debate accuse the public service broadcaster, NRK, of being too similar to competitors in the private sector for commercial operators to attain sustainable revenues in the online realm. To ascertain the extent to what these claims are warranted, this article compares NRK’s online content with that of nine commercial competitors in national and local markets, using a hybrid methodological approach combining quantitative content analysis with Latent Dirichlet allocation, analysing in excess of 115,000 documents. Findings show that commercial operators resemble each other more than they do NRK, indicating closer competition in the commercial segment than between the public service broadcaster and market players.},
note = {Pre SFI},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
This article asks to what extent public service broadcasting’s online news service resembles that of commercial media. The context of this inquiry is claims of ‘out-crowding’ facing public service broadcasters across Europe. In Norway, commercial players in this debate accuse the public service broadcaster, NRK, of being too similar to competitors in the private sector for commercial operators to attain sustainable revenues in the online realm. To ascertain the extent to what these claims are warranted, this article compares NRK’s online content with that of nine commercial competitors in national and local markets, using a hybrid methodological approach combining quantitative content analysis with Latent Dirichlet allocation, analysing in excess of 115,000 documents. Findings show that commercial operators resemble each other more than they do NRK, indicating closer competition in the commercial segment than between the public service broadcaster and market players.
Sjøvaag, Helle; Pedersen, Truls André
Female voices in the news: Structural conditions of gender representations in Norwegian newspapers Journal Article
In: Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, vol. 96, no. 1, pp. 215-238, 2018, (Pre SFI).
@article{Sjøvaag2018b,
title = {Female voices in the news: Structural conditions of gender representations in Norwegian newspapers},
author = {Helle Sjøvaag and Truls André Pedersen},
url = {https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1077699018789885},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699018789885},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-08-21},
journal = {Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly},
volume = {96},
number = {1},
pages = {215-238},
abstract = {The article presents a hybrid analysis combining manual content analysis of 9,131 sources in 5,544 news stories across 75 publications, with computational gender recognition producing 551,102 names from 320,228 articles across 125 newspapers. The article investigates the significance of structural features for the presence of women in the news. Results show female sources are only equal to men as ordinary citizens and children, and only in lifestyle content. Among the structural features examined, only local distribution and a circulation less than 5,000 exhibit improvements in female representation. Ownership, distribution frequency, market position, and direct press support had little or no effect.},
note = {Pre SFI},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The article presents a hybrid analysis combining manual content analysis of 9,131 sources in 5,544 news stories across 75 publications, with computational gender recognition producing 551,102 names from 320,228 articles across 125 newspapers. The article investigates the significance of structural features for the presence of women in the news. Results show female sources are only equal to men as ordinary citizens and children, and only in lifestyle content. Among the structural features examined, only local distribution and a circulation less than 5,000 exhibit improvements in female representation. Ownership, distribution frequency, market position, and direct press support had little or no effect.
Sjøvaag, Helle; Stavelin, Eirik; Karlsson, Michael; Kammer, Aske
The hyperlinked Scandinavian news ecology: The unequal terms forged by the structural properties of digitalisation Journal Article
In: Digital Journalism, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 507-531, 2018, (Pre SFI).
@article{Sjøvaag2018,
title = {The hyperlinked Scandinavian news ecology: The unequal terms forged by the structural properties of digitalisation},
author = {Helle Sjøvaag and Eirik Stavelin and Michael Karlsson and Aske Kammer},
url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epub/10.1080/21670811.2018.1454335?needAccess=true},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2018.1454335},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-04-06},
journal = {Digital Journalism},
volume = {7},
number = {4},
pages = {507-531},
abstract = {The article presents a network analysis of 22,861,013 geocoded external hyperlinks, collected from 230 Danish, 220 Norwegian and 208 Swedish news websites in 2016. The analysis asks what the structural properties of the Scandinavian media systems—including its geography and ownership structures—mean for news outlets’ centrality within the hyperlinked news ecology. The analysis finds that whereas incumbent legacy media occupy central positions, about one third of the network is absent from the hyperlinked interaction, primarily local, independently owned newspapers. A multiple linear regression analysis shows that national distribution and corporate ownership correlates to network centrality more than other predictors. As brokers in the network consist of the large, legacy, capital-based news organisations, hyperlink connectivity is primarily characterised by proximity to the centres of power, corporate ownership, agenda setting incumbency and national distribution.},
note = {Pre SFI},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The article presents a network analysis of 22,861,013 geocoded external hyperlinks, collected from 230 Danish, 220 Norwegian and 208 Swedish news websites in 2016. The analysis asks what the structural properties of the Scandinavian media systems—including its geography and ownership structures—mean for news outlets’ centrality within the hyperlinked news ecology. The analysis finds that whereas incumbent legacy media occupy central positions, about one third of the network is absent from the hyperlinked interaction, primarily local, independently owned newspapers. A multiple linear regression analysis shows that national distribution and corporate ownership correlates to network centrality more than other predictors. As brokers in the network consist of the large, legacy, capital-based news organisations, hyperlink connectivity is primarily characterised by proximity to the centres of power, corporate ownership, agenda setting incumbency and national distribution.
2017
Touileb, Samia; Pedersen, Truls; Sjøvaag, Helle
Automatic identification of unknown names with specific roles Journal Article
In: Proceedings of the Second Joint SIGHUM Workshop on Computational Linguistics for Cultural Heritage, Social Sciences, Humanities and Literature, pp. 150-158, 2017, (Pre SFI).
@article{Touileb2017,
title = {Automatic identification of unknown names with specific roles},
author = {Samia Touileb and Truls Pedersen and Helle Sjøvaag},
url = {https://www.aclweb.org/anthology/W18-4517.pdf},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-08-01},
journal = {Proceedings of the Second Joint SIGHUM Workshop on Computational Linguistics for Cultural Heritage, Social Sciences, Humanities and Literature},
pages = {150-158},
abstract = {Automatically identifying persons in a particular role within a large corpus can be a difficult task, especially if you don’t know who you are actually looking for. Resources compiling names of persons can be available, but no exhaustive lists exist. However, such lists usually contain known names that are “visible” in the national public sphere, and tend to ignore the marginal and international ones. In this article we propose a method for automatically generating suggestions of names found in a corpus of Norwegian news articles, and which “naturally” belong to a given initial list of members, and that were not known (compiled in a list) beforehand. The approach is based, in part, on the assumption that surface level syntactic features reveal parts of the underlying semantic content and can help uncover the structure of the language.},
note = {Pre SFI},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Automatically identifying persons in a particular role within a large corpus can be a difficult task, especially if you don’t know who you are actually looking for. Resources compiling names of persons can be available, but no exhaustive lists exist. However, such lists usually contain known names that are “visible” in the national public sphere, and tend to ignore the marginal and international ones. In this article we propose a method for automatically generating suggestions of names found in a corpus of Norwegian news articles, and which “naturally” belong to a given initial list of members, and that were not known (compiled in a list) beforehand. The approach is based, in part, on the assumption that surface level syntactic features reveal parts of the underlying semantic content and can help uncover the structure of the language.