Today, however, the genres of feature journalism are undergoing significant changes, reflecting the technological, social, economic and cultural changes that affect the media industry and the role of journalism at large.

Based on an analysis of influential textbooks on feature journalism, the paper argues that feature journalism has traditionally been dominated by a literary discourse, and discourses of intimacy and adventure – discourses that thus have become increasingly important for newspapers, thereby transforming the social function of news in general.

The present article explores the growing importance of feature journalism and attempts to understand its social function, how it has changed and why it has become so important. 'Ībstract Feature journalism has developed from being an insignificant supplement to news journalism to a family of genres that today dominates newspapers. The authors encourage the replication of this research study in other countries as an effective method of obtaining a broader understanding of the practices and impacts of environmental journalism at a global level. However, the last category (“adversarial”) did not appear in our sample. The subsequent analysis reveals three “factors,” or distinct discourses, labeled “scientifically objective, environmentally responsible journalist,” “environmental crusaders,” and “objective-pure journalists.” By analyzing factors’ discourses, the authors concluded that these groups are highly similar to the “disseminator,” “interpreter/investigator,” and “populist mobilize” categories identified in previous research for journalists with different field orientations. The authors interviewed 23 newspaper reporters covering environmental issues for the nine largest (in terms of daily circulation) daily Greek newspapers, by employing Q-methodology, a qualitative statistical approach specially adjusted for small samples. In particular, it investigates how environmental journalists perceive their role and function as reporters of environmental issues as well as the problems they face while reporting. 'This article assesses the variety of discourses articulated by journalists reporting on environmental issues.

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