The project probes the quality parameters of cultural criticism in mainstream media at a time when: 1) technological developments enable extensive public participation, but also advance a crisis in the cultural press; and, 2) the cultural industries increasingly influence what, when and how cultural products are appraised.
The study applies a Nordic approach and focuses on two cases studies regarding the negotiation of quality in journalistic articles with a critical approach regarding two areas of cultural importance and popularity today: global bestseller literature representing Nordic Noir genre, exemplified by the latest Millennium book (2015), and a “quality” TV series, exemplified by the long-running American series Mad Men (2007–2015). Content analysis of their reception in altogether 37 newspapers and magazines in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden aims at identifying how cultural journalists and cultural critics as important tastemakers in ascribing value to cultural products negotiate with and define the quality and, thus, contribute to the legitimisation of popular culture products.
The project is part of the research programme Perspectives on Aesthetic Quality in the Cultural Field, funded by the Arts Council Norway. In administrative terms, the project ended in February 2017 but the results will be published in Kvalitetspraksiser: Kvalitetsbegreper i samtidens kunst og kultur, edited by Jan Fredrik Hovden and Øyvind Prytz (Art Council Norwway, 2018).
Research team:
Associate Professor Nete Nørgaard Kristensen, University of Copenhagen (Principal Investigator)
Docent Heikki Hellman, University of Tampere
Associate Professor Karl Atle Knapskog, University of Bergen
Professor Kristina Riegert, Stockholm University
Researcher Paula Haara, COMET, University of Tampere (compilation and analysis of the Finnish data)
Presentations and papers of the project:
- A Question of Quality? Nordic cultural critique in the media and the negotiation of popular culture. Presentation of the project, Oslo, 11 February 2016 / Nete Nørgaard Kristensen, Kristina Riegert, Heikki Hellman and Karl Atle Knapskog.
- Nordiska tidningars kulturell legitimering av tv-serien Mad Men: kvalitetsparametrar. Presentation of the preliminary results, Oslo, 6 October 2016 / Nete Nørgaard Kristensen, Kristina Riegert and Heikki Hellman.
- Kvalitetskriterier i kulturjournalistikken: David Lagercrantz og “Det der ikke slår os ihjel” i nordisk kulturjournalistik.
Presentation of preliminary results, Copenhagen, 6 December 2016 / Nete Nørgaard Kristensen, in collaboration with Kristina Riegert and Heikki Hellman. - Media and the Cultural Legitimation of a Bestseller A comparative study of Millennium 4 in the Nordic press.
Paper at the NordMedia 2017 Conference, Tampere, 18 August 2017 / Heikki Hellman, Kristina Riegert and Nete Nørgaard Kristensen.
Publications of the project:
- Journalistit kulttuurisina välittäjinä: Mad Men -tv-sarjan legitimointi laatusarjana suomalaisessa lehdistössä 2008–2015 [Journalists as cultural mediators: Legitimation of Mad Men as quality television in the Finnish press, 2008–2015]. Media & viestintä, 41(2018):2, pp. 97–122 / Heikki Hellman and Paula Haara.
- Churnalism, Cultural (Inter)mediation and Sourcing in Cultural Journalism. Journalism Studies, published online 8 June 2017. DOI: 10.1080/1461670X.2017.1330666 / Nete Nørgaard Kristensen.
- Cultural Mediators Seduced by Mad Men: How Cultural Journalists Legitimized a Quality TV Series in the Nordic Region. Television & New Media, published online 27 November 2017, pp. 1–18. DOI: 10.1177/1527476417743574 / Nete Nørgaard Kristensen, Heikki Hellman ja Kristina Riegert.
- Millennium 4 – medierna och kvalitetsförhandling av en bästsäljare [Millennium 4 – the media and quality negotiation of a bestseller]. In: Kvalitetsforhandlinger: Kvalitetsbegreper i samtidens kunst og kultur / eds. Jan Fredrik Hovden and Øyvind Prytz. Oslo: Fagbokforlaget, pp. 403–436 / Heikki Hellman, Kristina Riegert and Nete Nørgaard Kristensen.
- Nordiske kulturjournalister forført af Mad Men [Nordic cultural journalists seduced by Mad Men]. In: Kvalitetsforhandlinger: Kvalitetsbegreper i samtidens kunst og kultur / eds. Jan Fredrik Hovden and Øyvind Prytz. Oslo: Fagbokforlaget, pp. 437–464 / Nete Nørgaard Kristensen, Kristina Riegert and Heikki Hellman.
About the research programme:
www.kulturradet.no/kvalitet/om-forskningssatsingen