Jesse Hearns-Branaman
I am currently Assistant Professor of International Journalism at the United International College of Hong Kong Baptist University and Beijing Normal University located in Zhuhai, China.
I earned my PhD from the the Institute of Communications Studies at the University of Leeds, England, my MA in International Communication Studies from the University of Nottingham, and my BA in Radio and Television from San Francisco State University.
I have published two monographs. The latest is titled "Journalism and the Philosophy of Truth: Beyond Objectivity and Balance" (2016) for the Routledge Research in Journalism. My previous book was "The Political Economy of News in China: Manufacturing Harmony" (2015) for Lexington Books.
My research interests include poststructuralism, Marxism, news media, comparative media studies. I have previously published in the International Journal of Baudrillard Studies and the Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, as well as presenting at many conferences, workshops and seminars on Jean Baudrillard, Herman & Chomsky's Propaganda Model, and news media production in the People's Republic of China.
I currently teach "History of Mass Communications," "Communication Theory," "Journalism and Truth," "Popular Culture and Journalism," and "Introduction to Journalism" to undergraduate students.
I have previously taught journalism, culture, media and communication studies at the National Institute of Development Administration, Bangkok, Thailand; the University of Leeds, University of Sheffield, and Leeds Metropolitan University in the UK; and the University of Nottingham, Zhejiang University and Wanli University in China.
At the National Institute of Development Administration I taught "Academic Research Writing," "Media Studies," "Perspectives on Communication" and "Critical Linguistics and the News Media" classes, , and I was a member of the curriculum development committee for MA in Applied Communication and co-chair for the 2013 and 2014 conferences on Language and Communication. I was also adjunct lecturer at University of Sheffield's Dept. of Journalism, teaching "Language and Journalism" and "Journalism and Political Communication". I was also teaching assistant for "Reporting Politics" & "TV News Feature Production, "Social Communications: Processes and Effects", and "History of Communications" at University of Leeds' Institute of Communication Studies. I was also lecturer for "Media Environment" module at Leeds Met University. Before coming to the UK, I was module leader, lecturer and tutor for "British Culture and Media" as well as lecturer and tutor for "Cross-cultural Communication" and "British Cinema" at University of Nottingham, Ningbo, PRC.
My PhD project, under the supervision of Dr. Chris Paterson and Dr. Paul A. Talyor, was titled "The Fourth Estate in the USA and England: Discourses of truth and power." It features a discussion of the ideology and epistemology behind the Fourth Estate, using an analysis of two discourses. The first is about Power, or the relationship between government and news media, while the second concerns Truth, that is bias and objectivity in the news media. The theoretical framework underlying compares normative theories of the news media, critical political-economic theories, and the post-Marxist, post-structuralist theories of Jean Baudrillard and Slavoj Zizek. Primary data came from discourse analyses of news events in the USA and England as well as interviews with political-news journalists from London and Washington DC conducted in the Summer of 2010.
I earned my PhD from the the Institute of Communications Studies at the University of Leeds, England, my MA in International Communication Studies from the University of Nottingham, and my BA in Radio and Television from San Francisco State University.
I have published two monographs. The latest is titled "Journalism and the Philosophy of Truth: Beyond Objectivity and Balance" (2016) for the Routledge Research in Journalism. My previous book was "The Political Economy of News in China: Manufacturing Harmony" (2015) for Lexington Books.
My research interests include poststructuralism, Marxism, news media, comparative media studies. I have previously published in the International Journal of Baudrillard Studies and the Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, as well as presenting at many conferences, workshops and seminars on Jean Baudrillard, Herman & Chomsky's Propaganda Model, and news media production in the People's Republic of China.
I currently teach "History of Mass Communications," "Communication Theory," "Journalism and Truth," "Popular Culture and Journalism," and "Introduction to Journalism" to undergraduate students.
I have previously taught journalism, culture, media and communication studies at the National Institute of Development Administration, Bangkok, Thailand; the University of Leeds, University of Sheffield, and Leeds Metropolitan University in the UK; and the University of Nottingham, Zhejiang University and Wanli University in China.
At the National Institute of Development Administration I taught "Academic Research Writing," "Media Studies," "Perspectives on Communication" and "Critical Linguistics and the News Media" classes, , and I was a member of the curriculum development committee for MA in Applied Communication and co-chair for the 2013 and 2014 conferences on Language and Communication. I was also adjunct lecturer at University of Sheffield's Dept. of Journalism, teaching "Language and Journalism" and "Journalism and Political Communication". I was also teaching assistant for "Reporting Politics" & "TV News Feature Production, "Social Communications: Processes and Effects", and "History of Communications" at University of Leeds' Institute of Communication Studies. I was also lecturer for "Media Environment" module at Leeds Met University. Before coming to the UK, I was module leader, lecturer and tutor for "British Culture and Media" as well as lecturer and tutor for "Cross-cultural Communication" and "British Cinema" at University of Nottingham, Ningbo, PRC.
My PhD project, under the supervision of Dr. Chris Paterson and Dr. Paul A. Talyor, was titled "The Fourth Estate in the USA and England: Discourses of truth and power." It features a discussion of the ideology and epistemology behind the Fourth Estate, using an analysis of two discourses. The first is about Power, or the relationship between government and news media, while the second concerns Truth, that is bias and objectivity in the news media. The theoretical framework underlying compares normative theories of the news media, critical political-economic theories, and the post-Marxist, post-structuralist theories of Jean Baudrillard and Slavoj Zizek. Primary data came from discourse analyses of news events in the USA and England as well as interviews with political-news journalists from London and Washington DC conducted in the Summer of 2010.
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Books by Jesse Hearns-Branaman
For the Routledge Research in Journalism Series.
Papers by Jesse Hearns-Branaman
I define Antirealist epistemology as research that brackets out consideration that media can represent reality, either arguing explicitly against the possibility or ignoring the issue altogether, including most Saussurian-influenced post-structuralism and Schutz-influenced social constructionism. Counter to this, a Hyperrealist epistemology would take the position that the Reality that news media portrays is not Reality in the Realist sense but, instead, signs of Reality, or in Baudrillardian terms the Hyperreal.
This theoretical discussion is complimented by an analysis of interview questions relating to epistemological concerns and to ideology. The empirical data consists of twenty interviews conducted with political correspondents in the USA and UK. A version of critical discourse analysis is used to examine the ways in which journalists talk about the issues raised by the questions, what is termed their ‘discursive strategies.’ The categories for analysis are grounded in the discursive strategies used by the journalists themselves, examined to elaborate not simply the explicit content, but the deeper implicit meanings inherent in the way they answer.
This provided both an original theoretical discussion and an original set of empirically-derived data. It also allows us to further understand the role of journalism as the Fourth Estate, the types of ‘truth’ it brings to us, the types of ideologies that underpin the news production process via news media professionals, and how the system is maintained despite its inherent contradictions.
Conference Presentations by Jesse Hearns-Branaman
This paper will introduce a comparative project aimed at better exploring the Fourth Estate role of journalist in the USA, UK, Thailand and the People’s Republic of China by exploring the discourses journalists use in talking about truth and power in relationship to such a role through in-depth interviews. It will begin by briefly introducing the first stage of research conducted in the USA and UK. This will be followed by a review of the literature about journalistic roles in the Thai and Chinese contexts, showing how an expansion of the research into those contexts will provide a good contrast in which to better consider the Fourth Estate roles of journalists. In the end, this research will better allow us to see if the adoption of such roles by journalism necessarily follows from a rise in the power of the middle class, as those such as Conboy have argued, or if other political, economic or social factors are a greater influence."
Book Chapters by Jesse Hearns-Branaman
For the Routledge Research in Journalism Series.
I define Antirealist epistemology as research that brackets out consideration that media can represent reality, either arguing explicitly against the possibility or ignoring the issue altogether, including most Saussurian-influenced post-structuralism and Schutz-influenced social constructionism. Counter to this, a Hyperrealist epistemology would take the position that the Reality that news media portrays is not Reality in the Realist sense but, instead, signs of Reality, or in Baudrillardian terms the Hyperreal.
This theoretical discussion is complimented by an analysis of interview questions relating to epistemological concerns and to ideology. The empirical data consists of twenty interviews conducted with political correspondents in the USA and UK. A version of critical discourse analysis is used to examine the ways in which journalists talk about the issues raised by the questions, what is termed their ‘discursive strategies.’ The categories for analysis are grounded in the discursive strategies used by the journalists themselves, examined to elaborate not simply the explicit content, but the deeper implicit meanings inherent in the way they answer.
This provided both an original theoretical discussion and an original set of empirically-derived data. It also allows us to further understand the role of journalism as the Fourth Estate, the types of ‘truth’ it brings to us, the types of ideologies that underpin the news production process via news media professionals, and how the system is maintained despite its inherent contradictions.
This paper will introduce a comparative project aimed at better exploring the Fourth Estate role of journalist in the USA, UK, Thailand and the People’s Republic of China by exploring the discourses journalists use in talking about truth and power in relationship to such a role through in-depth interviews. It will begin by briefly introducing the first stage of research conducted in the USA and UK. This will be followed by a review of the literature about journalistic roles in the Thai and Chinese contexts, showing how an expansion of the research into those contexts will provide a good contrast in which to better consider the Fourth Estate roles of journalists. In the end, this research will better allow us to see if the adoption of such roles by journalism necessarily follows from a rise in the power of the middle class, as those such as Conboy have argued, or if other political, economic or social factors are a greater influence."