Have You Heard? US journalistic “listening” in cacophonous times

This study seeks to understand “listening” as a practice and norm of journalism in the context of an eruption of journalistic discourse about listening surrounding the 2016 US election. An examination of US journalists’ own discourse about listening pointed to an understanding of the need to listen more, better, and to a more diverse set of voices. The widespread criticism of journalism’s performance frequently pointed to failures of listening as a root cause of the more general failure to adequately cover the campaign. Thus, listening involved a set of skills, but was also sometimes construed as a moral obligation. Overall, however, the discourse showed an anemic understanding of listening, often pointing to the public’s inability to listen to journalists.