Olemuslugu Eesti ja välismaa kaasaegses ajakirjanduses: võrdlevad perspektiivid
Date
2008
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Tartu Ülikool
Abstract
Description
The aim of this BA thesis entitled Feature Story in Estonian and Foreign Contempo-
rary Journalism: Comparative Perspectives was to explore characteristics of one of the
main journalistic genres of print media – feature story – in Anglo-American, German,
Russian but also in Estonian journalstic cultures. The discussion mainly focused on
the latter whreas the other journalistic cultures were included and studied from the
aspect of their direct or indirect influences to Estonian feature.
It opened with a compara-tive overview of theoretical concepts of feature in all the
journalistic cultures listed above. After that various dimensions of the genre – in the
practices of foreign magazines such as Der Spiegel, National Geographic and
Русский Newsweek as well as Estonian journalists who have been nominated for or
won the annual press award of the Estonian Newspaper Association (Eesti Ajalahtede
Liit) for feature writing – were addressed. The discussion drew on interviews with
Estonian journalists and editors of foreign publifications as well as analysis of feature
articles from the magazines listed above and fetures produced by Estonian authors.
The analysis conducted lead to a definition of the feature – similar in all the
journalistic cultures studied – as a genre that is based on facts, intertwines both
objective and subjective modes of expression of the print media with formal and
stilistic devices of fiction, and issues from persona. However, distinctive variation in
the concept of feature in the cultures under observation was also explicit: in Anglo-
American tradition the entertainment factor was considered a crucial component of
features, the Greman school appeared to appreaciate analytical angle, the Russian
feature-writing guidebooks revealed author's central position in the story.
Nevertheless, empirical analysis of the magazines' and the authors' texts indicated that
from the practical perspective features produced in and for different cultures are well
comaparble but at the same time clearly reflect the authors' persona. Such paradox led
to the conclusion that more than progressively unifying conventions of the genre,
feature stories are influenced by the specific nature of the text, the aim of the author
and his realtionship with the topic and the sources. This applies in all journalistic
cultures addressed in the thesis.
Keywords
H Social Sciences (General)