Pinar Istek
The University of Texas at Austin
Research Statement
The combined forces of digital technology and the economic downturn were pivotal in shifting the labor dynamics of the media industry away from the hire of full time staff and the embrace of freelance workers. This new ‘gig economy’ is important because this is the first time in the history of journalism that freelance journalists have had such a significant contribution to content production and the shaping of public perception. My research interests are primarily focused on how the changing economic landscape of the media industry and the rise of the ‘gig economy’ influence the makeup of the workforce and journalistic practices.
Before entering academia, my professional experiences as a staff and freelance photojournalist exposed me to the early stages of the media industry’s economic shift. As a scholar, I have examined how the new freelance journalists have developed feasible business models and how they cultivate new relationships with clients and editors. My scholarship also examines how digitization and economic shifts affect their personal lives, and how much time their new environment leaves them to do actual journalistic work. For most, the notion of “employer/boss” is changing from an organization to individual editors, which represents a huge shift in the nature of the economy from the standpoint of individual journalists. My research strives to discover the impact of these conditions have on journalistic practices to fully understand the new nature of the media industry.
My research focuses on how freelance photojournalists are affected by the changes in the media market. I employ qualitative methodologies to explore the media production processes, journalistic practices and the relationship between photojournalists and the environment they work in. Specifically, I employ qualitative interviews, ethnographic observation, and textual analysis and by employing these interpretivist approaches I have garnered meaningful insight into the experiences of journalists. I hope to expand these studies beyond photojournalists to include reporters, photo editors, data journalists, copy editors, and other positions within of the industry.
I have published papers in Visual Communication Quarterly, Cultural Studies - Critical Methodologies, and Journalism Studies. My solo studies, “On Their Own: Freelance Photojournalists in Conflict Zones” and “A Warm Body with a Camera: What Does Remoteness Mean for Freelance Photographers?” used hierarchy of influences and field theory, to explore some of the embodiment issues that freelance photojournalists face. In “Intra-Newsroom Visual Agenda-Setting: An Ethnographic Approach to the Austin American-Statesman’s Agenda-Setting Process” I explored how photography plays a role in what stories land on the front pages of print editions. In this study, I suggested including the new concept of intra-newsroom agenda setting under the umbrella of agenda setting theory. This concept refers to the discussions and practices within a newsroom that can influence the agenda setting effects of a print news product.
While participating in the News as Culture research group at UT, I co–authored two studies. “Mastering the Mug Shot: Visual Journalism and Embodied Gatekeeping” focused on how political figures play a gatekeeper role in their visual representation in media, by exploring how journalists covered the mugshot booking of former Texas Governor Rick Perry. “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot, Whose Side Are You On? Journalists Tweeting the Ferguson Protests” analyzed tweets from the St. Louis Dispatch during the coverage of protests in Ferguson, Missouri, after the shooting death of Michael Brown.
My dissertation study examines how freelance photojournalists practice their profession under the pressures of ever changing media landscape. I will interview photojournalists and photo editors. Furthermore, I plan to conduct an online ethnography to observe their interactions as clients and photojournalists. In conducting this research, I will be adopting the political economy approach and field theory. I hope this research allows me to expand on the ideas I have begun exploring during my time as a doctoral student.
As a scholar and an educator, I am committed to undertaking research that will offer novel concepts to help us understand the current changes taking place in the journalism industry. Through my studies, I hope to improve the experiences of journalists in the industry, making journalism a better career path for our students.