The value of emotion: An examination of television journalists’ notions on emotionality

Abstract

This article engages with current discussions about public emotions by examining journalists’ perceptions of the value of emotional expression in broadcast news. First, the study provides insight into how journalists assess the place and role of emotion in news reporting and the perceived emotionalizing of news. Second, it examines how the journalists’ discourse about emotion is linked to their ideas of ‘good journalism’, as well as to their professional self-image. The data consist of in-depth interviews with television journalists working for both public service and commercial news programmes in Finland and in the Netherlands.