A selection of readings on journalism - for journalists

The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford runs a mid-career Fellowship Programme for journalists from all over the world. This document provides key reading recommendations for them, and potentially for journalists elsewhere and others interested in grappling with what academic work can tell us about journalism, its place in society, its implications, the institutions that sustain it, and its future.

The document is organised into 23 broad topics, with a suggested starting reading for each marked in bold, followed by a sample of additional readings. Because of the structural inequalities in academic research, the majority of the readings are from high income democracies.

This reading list is curated by Meera Selva, former Director of the RISJ Fellowship Programme, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, Director of the RISJ, and Dr Joy Jenkins (2019), Dr J. Scott Brennen (2020), Dr Anne Schulz (2021) Dr. Kirsten Eddy (2022) and Dr Amy Ross Arguedas (2024) on the basis of suggestions from RISJ staff and researchers, RISJ journalist fellows, and all the different academics, journalists, and others who have provided is with ideas from our open calls. We update it from time to time. Thanks to everyone who has made this possible.