Travel Journalism and Travel Media: Identities, Places and Imaginings [1st ed.] 9781137599070, 9781137599087

Citation preview

Travel Journalism and Travel Media

Identities, Places and Imaginings

Ben Cocking

Travel Journalism and Travel Media

Ben Cocking

Travel Journalism and Travel Media Identities, Places and Imaginings

Ben Cocking Centre for Journalism University of Kent Kent, UK

ISBN 978-1-137-59907-0    ISBN 978-1-137-59908-7 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59908-7 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2020 The author(s) has/have asserted their right(s) to be identified as the author(s) of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: gettyimages / Photo by Sayid Budhi Cover design: eStudioCalamar This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Limited. The registered company address is: The Campus, 4 Crinan Street, London, N1 9XW, United Kingdom

Contents

1 Introduction: Travel Journalism—Forms and Origins  1 2 Making Tabloid Travel Journalism: Values and Visuality 27 3 “Itravel: Competing Forms of Travel Writing in Print Based and User Generated Journalism” 53 4 Visions of Past and Present? Travel Journalism Features and TripAdvisor Reviews of Tourist Destinations in the Middle East 77 5 Looking West: Representations of Cultural Difference and Patterns of Consumption in ‘Eastern’ Travel Journalism105 6 Selling it ‘Green’: Travel Journalism, Trump and the US National Monuments129 7 Conclusions153 Index 161

v

List of Figures

Fig. 4.1 Fig. 4.2 Fig. 4.3 Fig. 6.1 Fig. 6.2

Thomas Cook & Sons 1870s. https://www.shapell.org/ manuscript/travel-poster-egypt-and-palestine-toursthomas-cook/83 Thomas Cook & Sons 1930s. http://www.advertisingarchives. co.uk/detail/24741/1/Magazine-Advert/ThomasCook/1930s84 Egyptian State Tourist Department 1950s. https://www. antikbar.co.uk/original_vintage_posters/travel_posters/ romance_in_egypt_midcentury_modern/PT1751/84 By month coverage of the national monuments story across all US newspapers listed on Nexis 138 By month travel journalism coverage of the national monuments story 139

vii

List of Tables

Table 3.1 Table 3.2 Table 6.1 Table 6.2

Travel journalism in online newspapers Number and ranking of ‘Digital Nomad’ and ‘Travel Hacking’ blogs in top 50 blogs worldwide Top 20 (of 81) newspapers by coverage of the national monuments story Content on national monuments in travel pages

62 66 136 137

ix

CHAPTER 1

Introduction: Travel Journalism—Forms and Origins

Introduction Travel journalism—like all areas of journalism—is experiencing a continued period of great change and transition. The economic model of print journalism is increasingly unsustainable in the context of freely accessible, and often user generated, online content. Advertising revenue, that for so long brought financial security to print journalism, is now being reassigned to a rapidly changing online media environment. Similarly, tourism companies are seeing the potential in advertising and sponsoring online spaces like travel blogs and vlogs to generate custom more quickly and often for significantly less outlay than their more traditional means of engaging public relations companies to produce marketing content and inviting journalists on free trips. Allied to this social media platforms enable the production of user generated content. As a result travel journalism is in a state transition. Social media platforms provide seemingly limitless possibilities in terms of how content can be packaged. The presentational environment of, for example, blogging platforms opens up huge possibilities—particularly visually—for what has traditionally been a primarily textual form of journalism. The possibilities afforded by the technology of social media platforms has seen the emergence of hybridized forms of travel journalism. The aim of this book is to seek to explore how this context of transition is changing the representational characteristics and practices of the genre. That is, how travel journalism represents the world and how technological development and the emergence of new © The Author(s) 2020 B. Cocking, Travel Journalism and Travel Media, https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59908-7_1

1

2 

B. COCKING

ways of monetizing content are shaping the representational practices and potential of this form of journalism. The following chapters address these issues in several different, though often interconnected ways. In Chap. 2, the constitutive, representational elements of travel journalism are examined. Specifically, this chapter draws on the concept of ‘news values’ (Galtung and Ruge, 1965) in order to assess the ‘values’ of travel journalism. That is, the ideologically driven representational values that shape and constitute travel content. It focuses on British tabloid travel journalism, drawing comparison with more traditional, broadsheet based forms of travel journalism. In so doing, it considers the ways in which readers are, to borrow Althusser’s term, ‘interpellated’ ideologically by content; how readerships are encouraged to participate in different forms of consumption. Chapter 3 focuses on travel journalism’s transition from print to online. It examines compares the representational practices of travel blogs with that of traditional broadsheet newspapers and in so doing explores the different business models of each format. In particular Chap. 3 examines the representational drivers of narrative in print and blog settings along with the different ways in which such narratives engage readers. Chapters 4 and 5 examine the ways in which particular destinations are represented in travel journalism from different regions of the world. Chapter 4 looks ‘West’, focusing on how Malaysian travel journalism represents holiday experiences in both Malaysian tourist destinations along with famous and well established ‘Western’ destinations. In so doing it considers the points of similarity and divergence between these modes of representation and those well established in Western travel journalism. This perspective is balanced by Chap. 5 and its focus on representations of the Middle East in British and American newspaper travel journalism and on the online review site, TripAdvisor. This chapter seeks to trace circuits of representation from their origins in nineteenth century British travel journalism, through travel journalism to user generated content on TripAdvisor. Chapter 6 examines the political possibilities of travel journalism and its potential to respond to the mainstream news agenda. By way of an example this chapter focuses the coverage of US President Trump’s initiative to resize and repurpose ‘national monuments’ in American newspapers. It compares the coverage given to the story in all sections of each paper with that given in the travel sections. In so doing, it examines the ways in which travel journalism conveys political critique and environment concern, finding that it tends to do so through the interplay

1  INTRODUCTION: TRAVEL JOURNALISM—FORMS AND ORIGINS 

3

of established travel journalism representational practices with those associated with other forms of journalism, such as political reporting. Some of aspects of the changes travel journalism is undergoing have been addressed in other studies. For example, Hanusch and Fürsich’s edited collection Travel Journalism: Exploring, Production, Impact and Culture (Hanusch, 2014) examines some of the representational aspects of travel journalism in studies of specific regions. For example, it includes a chapter by me on representations of Africa in British broadsheet travel journalism. It also includes a chapter on travel blogging and aspects of the changing dimensions of the financial logic of travel journalism are also addressed in several different chapters. More recently, Bryan Pirolli produced a single authored monograph Travel Journalism: Informing Tourists in the Digital Age (2018). Taking a part academic, part practitioner based approach, it also addresses aspects of travel journalism’s transition from print to online environments. In so doing, it explores aspects of the changing representational practices of travel journalism—particularly in respect of how the production of content online calls upon journalists to utilize different skills and techniques, both in terms of the presentation and monetization of content. In this sense, the intention here is to focus on the changing nature of travel journalism’s representational output. That is, in contrast to Pirolli, to study the end product rather than the changing demands on the craft of journalism as it transitions online. Likewise, where—perhaps inevitably as the first book on travel journalism—Hanusch and Fürsich’s primary focus on taking stock of the state of play in an emerging academic field, this book seeks to examine specific representational attributes of travel journalism. These books are discussed in more detail later in this chapter as part of a review of existing literature on travel journalism. Intervention in these lines of enquiry is significant and timely for several reasons. It has, for example, been widely acknowledged that the study of the media as a whole is very Western centric—this is particularly the case in the study of travel journalism. The focus in Chap. 5 on Malaysian travel journalism furthers knowledge and understanding in this area, particularly in terms of how established representational tropes are refigured in non-­ Western travel journalism. Similarly, Chap. 6 aims to further extend existing research in the ways in which modes of representation ‘flow’ between older, often colonial, travel writing and contemporary travel journalism by seeking to explore the extent to which such modes resurface in user generated content on review sites like TripAdvisor. The use of theories of ‘news

4 

B. COCKING

values’ is very well established as a means of critiquing how and why stories are selected for the news. However, little consideration has been given to the application of this paradigm to other forms of journalism. Chapter 2 pursues this line of enquiry, seeking to explore the underlying ‘values’ of tabloid based travel journalism. Similarly, the comparative study in Chap. 3 of the representational practices of travel blogs and broadsheet travel journalism, aims further extend knowledge and understanding of how online environments are impacting on representational practices. Lyn McGaurr’s highly original study of travel journalism’s coverage of environmental conflict in Tasmania provides a unique insight into the political and cosmopolitan potential of the genre (2010). The focus in Chap. 6 on the coverage of the Trump administration’s resizing of lands with ‘national monument’ status in American travel journalism seeks to further advance research into its ability to intervene politically, to respond to the news agenda and convey awareness of environmental conflict.

Travel Journalism: An Image Problem The media industry tends to perceive of travel journalism as a low status format. It is not considered ‘real’ journalism because, as indicated in the previous chapter, ‘it seems to defy several major values of journalism: objectivity, editorial independence and public relevance’ (Fürsich, 2002, p. 61). Within the profession travel journalism is often perceived as being rather ‘lightweight’, less prestigious and of little importance relative to the ‘fourth estate’ function of news and current affairs journalism. As travel journalist Chris Moss wrote in 2008, travel journalism is often viewed as a fun, amateurish adjunct to the ‘real’ business of journalism. Consequently At best, this copy [travel journalism] often comes in with a few factual errors or sloppy observations. At worst, it is written up during a hangover on the flight home and culled from a guidebook. Because everyone had to do a “My holiday” essay at school, all journalists think they can knock off a quick travel feature without much trouble (Moss, 2008, p. 36)

Thus, in comparison to most other areas of journalism which require specific training and skills, ‘…many newspaper journalists who write travel pieces have generally not received any training in the field’ (Hanusch, 2009, p. 624). After all, travel is a leisure activity and the main aim of most professionally produced travel journalism is to encourage us to spend our

1  INTRODUCTION: TRAVEL JOURNALISM—FORMS AND ORIGINS 

5

money on travel and tourism activities. In this way, typically, travel journalism tends to directly address ‘readers, viewers or users as individuals who make consumer decisions’ (Fürsich, 2012, p.  13). Consequently, in broader, socio-cultural terms travel journalism is understood to be predominantly a market driven form of journalism (Hanitzsch, 2007, p. 374). The nature of the political economy of travel journalism, its close alliance with the tourism industry, its reliance on paid trips, is further problematized by the fact that travel journalism content is increasingly draw from public relations and marketing materials. The rise of new media forms online and the proliferation of user generated content have hit the economics of journalism, particularly print journalism, very hard. The budget for newspapers’ travel sections is no longer able to provide the resources for slow burn, long form pieces: ‘Classic travel features—meaning those containing narrative, colour, creativity, inquiry–are being replaced by reader tips, lists of suggestions and thinly disguised advertorial puffs and plugs for tour operators…’ (Moss, 2008, p. 37). A further consequence of declining budgets in that less and less travel journalists work ‘in house’— most now work on a freelance basis. The insecurity of freelance work means that nowadays out of necessity travel journalists often end up engaging in a much broader range of work activities than they have historically. Typically, in addition to producing travel articles, they might also contribute to travel guides, write hotel and restaurant reviews and produce marketing literature for tour operators (ibid, p. 33). This places contemporary travel journalists in an even more complicated and compromised position relative to the professional ethics and values of journalism than their historic counterparts. In particular, journalistic objectivity and the professional ‘capacity to narrativize the events in the real world’ would appear to be almost at odds with the workaday practices of travel journalists (Zelizer, 2004, p. 103). Certainly, at the very least, they are conceived of in very different ways to other areas of journalism. Indeed, on a pragmatic level, this is tempered by understanding the relationship between travel content and public relations copy as being on a ‘quid pro quo’, symbiotic, basis: “We sell ourselves piece by piece. For a plane ticket, a hotel night. But I do not look at it [relation to marketing] as a them-and-us kind of relationship. It’s not adversarial. I know what they need, they know what I need and we’re here to promote the same experience. I think you have to be honest, but you don’t have to be brutal” (Marty, freelance travel journalist). (Marty in Rosenkranz, 2019 p. 624)

6 

B. COCKING

These complex and manifold issues are very much constituent elements that make up the genre travel journalism. Clearly, that this is so influences the ways in which it is understood within the journalism industry. It is also no doubt the case that these issues are part of the reason why travel journalism is an emerging field of academic study. The study of news and current affairs journalism is well established—it is accepted as such by academics across all disciplines and understood to be a legitimate and respectable field of enquiry. But travel journalism? Certainly, it is evident that seeing the seriousness and import of studying accounts of tourism/ leisure activities requires significant justification—and this clearly continues to be so. In the last 2 years I have presented papers on travel journalism at two major international academic conferences. The first was at the European Communication Research and Education Association in 2017 and the second at the International Association for Media Communication Research in 2018. On both occasions mine were the only papers on travel journalism—in some ways surprising, particularly at the IAMCR conference where there were over 1200 delegates presenting papers. That the study of travel journalism is a young and relatively emergent field no doubt in part at least accounts for this. However, I was also struck by the way in which many of the delegates seemed not to have considered travel journalism as a potential area of study. It was not so much the case that they seemed to have written it off as a rather inconsequential area of journalism—or at least they were not explicit in indicating this to me! Rather, if my experience of speaking at academic conferences such as these is anything to go by, it is that journalism’s potential role as a watchdog for democracy is such a powerful ideal that it is difficult to look to areas of journalism that are not primarily connected to this function. This is not to suggest a uniformity of perspective or, indeed, conformity to a particular conceptual framework. The role of journalism in democratic societies is by no means an accepted given. Journalism studies conferences typically bring together academics working across a broad range of disciplines that draw upon very different methodological and theoretical approaches. Nonetheless, as varied and interdisciplinary as perspectives are, predominantly the majority of academic research on journalism has remained focused on news and current affairs and the abilities and potentialities, and indeed shortcomings, of these forms of journalism in playing an important and foundational role in the functioning of modern democracy. Many recent developments in journalism studies are testimony to this—look for

1  INTRODUCTION: TRAVEL JOURNALISM—FORMS AND ORIGINS 

7

example at the large body of work that has been amassing in recent years around fake news. Principally, this is concerned with examining the phenomenon of fake news in terms of its impact on ‘real’ news and the latter’s implicit significance to the functioning of democracy (see, e.g., McNair, 2017; Waisbord, 2018). Likewise, other recent developments such as artificial intelligence, big data journalism, algorithmic processing, citizen journalism and the rise in partisan and extreme news outlets can also be seen in terms of how they are impacting, for good or bad, on journalism’s role in our ‘mass-mediated democracy’ (McNair, 2002, p. ix). Journalism continues to experience fundamental technological change—change that has transformed not only the working practices and modes of employment across the industry but the very nature of the content we understand as journalism (see, e.g., Boczkowski and Anderson, 2017; Ornebring, 2018). In recent years this has occurred in relation to transformational shifts and schisms in politics; the rise of right wing populism, the dissolution of globalization and the fracturing of traditional forms of political identity (see, e.g., Wodak, 2015). In this context, the dominant lines of enquiry which the discipline of journalism studies has pursued are vitally important and, if anything, they are testimony to the productive and ‘real world’ contributions academic studies of journalism can make (see, e.g., The Worlds of Journalism Study, Journalism Safety Research Network and the Humanitarian Journalism Project). By contrast, the study of travel journalism seems beset by the genre’s perceived low status. Though the field is now nearly 20 years old, studies of travel journalism continue to expound detailed justifications outlining why this form of journalism is culturally significant and therefore worthy of further investigation. For example ‘We argue that travel journalism is an important site for studying the ideological dimensions of tourism and transcultural encounters, as well as the ongoing dynamics of media globalization’ (Fürsich and Kavoori, 2001, p. 150) ‘The aim…[is] to highlight the crucial role of travel writing’s unique situation in the national press which gives an appearance of credibility and provides the context to influence readers’ (Daye, 2005, p. 15) ‘In short, travel journalism—just like ‘serious’ forms of journalism—warrants attention as documentation of the shared assumptions between journalists and readers about what representations are relevant from beyond their borders’ (Day Good, 2013, p. 296)

8 

B. COCKING

‘the myriad forms of travel journalism have seen extraordinary growth in recent years, paralleling the growth and scale of tourism, and suggesting that travel journalism is more than ready for serious scholarly attention today’ (Abram and Norum, 2016, p. 272)

This is understandably evident in Fürsich and Kavoori’s foundational article ‘Mapping a critical framework for the study of travel journalism’ from 2001. Exploring and explaining the object of study is no doubt a necessary step towards establishing the integrity and rigour of any emerging field of academic study. To find, though, a similar sense of justification in academic work on travel journalism two decades later, such as Abram and Norum (2016), for example, speaks of the specific problems travel journalism faces in establishing itself as a legitimate area of academic study.

Travel Journalism and Travel Writing In addition to its lesser professional status part of the need for continued justification for the study of travel journalism arguably stems from a lack of clarity over what travel journalism actually is. In part this is compounded by confusion over its relation to another somewhat difficult to define term, travel writing. Certainly, there is a degree of interchangeability in the usage of these two terms. In academic literature the term ‘travel writing’ is sometimes used to denote travel content published in journalism and media formats—as can be seen in the references to Daye (2005) and Santos (2004a, b) above. Similarly, more broadly, in popular culture the term ‘travel writing’ is often used as a kind of ‘catch all’ phrase that seemingly encompasses everything from works of literature to online travel blogs and articles in newspapers’ travel sections. Clearly, there is a long and rich history to travel writing—with its origins rooted in ancient Greece, we find ‘travel’ in ‘our myths of origin, in our earliest literatures, in our oldest critical terms for the most essential figure of speech. After we learn “to be” and “to have” in a new language, we learn “to go”’ (Campbell, 1991, p. 2; see also Blanton, 2002). It is a history that has become overlapped and blurred with the history of journalism and the emergence of what we understand today as travel journalism. The ‘first experiments in printed news and opinion on contemporary events’ began to emerge in the sixteenth century (Conboy, 2004, p. 1). As Anderson’s seminal text Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (1983) illustrates so clearly the development of print capitalism played a

1  INTRODUCTION: TRAVEL JOURNALISM—FORMS AND ORIGINS 

9

crucial role in the emergence of the modern nation-state. At the heart of Anderson’s conception of the advent of national identity we find ‘the newspaper reader, observing exact replicas of his own paper being consumed by his subway, barbershop, or residential neighbours, is continually reassured that the imagined world is visibly rooted in everyday life’ (1983, p. 34). Arguably, the cultural and social conception and everyday practices of travel were also critical to this history moment too. Indeed, the very circulation of the newspaper on which imagined communities are premised was dependent, conceptually and in actuality, on ‘travel’. However, as Steward notes it was not until the mid-1800s, as the ‘aristocratic grand tour gave way to its middle class successor’, that mass tourism began to take hold (2005, p.  41). In its origins mass tourism was principally a ‘western’ leisure time activity, emerging as a by-product of the industrial revolution, modern tourism initially developed in Britain, Western Europe and North America (Towner, 1995, p. 340, see also; Von Buch, 2007). As the development of these new forms of leisure activities gained popularity, so the commercial potential of tourism became increasingly apparent. During this period, Hunter identifies a series of key developments in mass tourism: The launching of the Cook excursions in Britain (1841), the appearance of the first Baedekker guide (1843), the inauguration of a winter “season” in Saint Moritz (1864), the creation of Yellowstone (1877): these were the important markers of its growth path (2004, p. 28)

The nineteenth century also witnessed the burgeoning development of national newspapers in Western Europe and North America. For example, in Britain The Times was first published in 1785, The Manchester Guardian, 1821 and The Daily Telegraph in 1855. Whilst in France Le Figaro was first published in 1826 with Le Temps emerging in 1861. Likewise, America’s two principle newspapers of record, The New  York Times and The Washington Post were established in 1851 and 1877 respectively. Newspapers, alert to tourism activities as socio-cultural practices, started to publish travel related articles. However, they were though relatively slow to focus on tourism and leisure activities as new forms of consumerism. As Pirolli notes, whilst The New  York Times featured travel related content in its very first edition, it was not until 1896 and the introduction of a Sunday magazine that the concept of dedicated ‘travel sections’ began to take hold (2018, p. 27). In this way, the early twentieth century was an

10 

B. COCKING

era when, for the first time, journalism played a crucial role in influencing and modelling consumer trends and activities of modern leisure activities: the world was presented as something to be consumed and it was here that the search for novelty, authenticity and difference was at its most frenetic. The new breed of travel journalists not only constructed their images of their own social and cultural identities but also contributed to the formation of those available to others (Steward, 2005, p. 52)

Hanusch and Fürsich seek to distinguish travel journalism from travel writing on the basis that travel writing ‘generally allows the inclusion of fictional elements and other literary license that would not be accepted in traditional news media’ (2014, p. 6). This definition is useful in some ways and problematic in others. Firstly, McNair argues that in essence journalism is: ‘an account of the existing real world as appropriated by the journalist and processed in accordance with the particular requirements of the journalistic medium through which it will be disseminated to some section of the public’ (1998, p. 9). Certainly, the general public have traditionally understood journalism in this way. Thus, holding with this view, as indeed Hanusch and Fürsich do (p. 7), then it is possible to see that content typically found in newspapers’ travel section would, no doubt, be popularly understood in this way. However, what about other forms of travel journalism? What about, for example, travel blogs, YouTube travel channels, or terrestrial television travel programmes? The public might well perceive user generated content online as not conforming to the same professional and ethical standards as print based journalism. Therefore, with no recourse to prove otherwise, they might reasonably expect that such content could well be exaggerated, partially true, or indeed, entirely fabricated. And yet they would most likely still understand such content as ‘travel journalism’. Likewise, moving from the public’s general perceptions of travel journalism to the academic study of it also raises some issues and complexities that need further unpacking. McNair (1998) and others such as Hartley (1996) and Schudson (2016) who have defined journalism as being accounts of real world events seemingly imply that these accounts are the products of professional journalists’ labour—that they are in effect our witnesses on the world. Clearly, historically this has been a significant, arguably the most significant, aspect of journalists’ work. Yet, all forms of journalistic content are increasingly been derived from and suffused with

1  INTRODUCTION: TRAVEL JOURNALISM—FORMS AND ORIGINS 

11

marketing and public relations content (Lewis et al., 2008). The view that journalism content is the result of journalists’ perception of the real world does not appear to take account of the ways in which marketing and public relations shaping and influencing journalism content. In the context of travel journalism this is not to suggest material derived from marketing and public relations content is not factually correct or that it does not bear relation to the real world in some way. Rather, the perception that we read and consume the individual seemingly eye witness style accounts of journalists does not acknowledge the other influences and pressures that shape such accounts. In addition to the ways in which promotional materials impact on travel content, it should be acknowledged that in some cases such materials have come to form the basis of travel content. A personal friend of mine who works as a freelance journalist regularly bids online for travel assignments—some of which involve repurposing promotional material on a specific destination into the form of a first person travel account without even visiting the destination. Clearly, such content remains factually correct (in terms of details on the destination, for example) and it is very difficult for the public to understand it as anything other than journalistic accounts of reality. Nonetheless, in terms of understanding what travel journalism is it is vital that we acknowledge these influences and practices. The distinction that Hanusch and Fürsich make between travel writing as being subject to ‘literary licence’ and travel journalism as being an ‘account of reality’ is further problematized by Pirolli (2018) who points out that academic studies of travel writing view the genre as being ‘“predominantly factual, first-person accounts of travels that have been undertaken by the author-narrator”’ (Youngs, 2013, p. 3 in Pirolli, 2018, p. 18). Youngs’s definition of travel writing is broad and it is worth noting that he does not appear to see a clear distinction between the former and travel journalism: It includes discussion of works that some may regard as genres in their own right, such as ethnographies, maritime narratives, memoirs, road and ­aviation literature, travel journalism and war reporting, but it distinguishes these from other types of narrative in which travel is narrated by a third party or is imagined (Youngs, 2013, p. 3)

Whilst Youngs acknowledges that the boundary between factual and imagined accounts is ‘not fixed’ it nonetheless delimits a set of defining

12 

B. COCKING

characteristics, an approximate terrain, that constitutes travel writing (p. 3). It is a broad and encompassing set of characteristics which, in contrast to Hanusch and Fürsich and, indeed, Pirolli, includes travel journalism. Clearly, Youngs is writing about forms of travel writing—simply put if the subject matter is travel related, if it purports to be factual and if it is in written form then it amounts to travel writing. Though, it is obviously beyond the remit of Youngs’s book, this does raise the issue of where travel related writings blur and meld with other media forms. Perhaps more fundamentally, whilst explicitly fictitious accounts might be dismissed, travel writing—however defined—has always had connection with fiction. The question of extent to which it accommodates fictitious content has ‘dogged travel writing since its inception, whenever you take that inception to have been’ (Hulme, 2002, p. 223). A further complication seems to arise from the way in which Hanusch and Fürsich demarcate travel writing’s ‘literary licence’ to include fictitious content as being what sets it apart from what is ‘accepted in the traditional news media’. Travel journalism may be understood to be grounded in factual accounts of reality but this does not necessarily imply that it is an accepted part of ‘traditional news media’. Indeed, as Hanusch and Fürsich indicate travel journalism is generally perceived to be of lower status than news journalism precisely because it seems to eschew the latter’s ethical and professional values, particularly in so far as being objective goes. How, then, might we define travel journalism and how might we best understand it in relation to travel writing? Whilst there are clearly complexities in the way in which Hanusch and Fürsich seek to distinguish between travel journalism and travel writing, ultimately, viewing these terms as pertaining to different genres provides a more productive basis for exploration and analysis than viewing travel writing as an umbrella term. However, understanding the differences and variations between these two genres as being primarily about literary licence on the one hand and factual accounts on the other does not entirely account for the subtle and complex relationship travel journalism has with the its production of its ‘truths’, the complex elements that help make up and shape these ‘truths’, and the professional values of journalism. Equally, nor does it account for the ambiguous and composite relationship travel writing has with fiction and fact. Neither genre is static, both are constantly evolving and online environments are changing the nature of travel journalism very fast. Arguably, then, the multifaceted and varied forms of travel journalism

1  INTRODUCTION: TRAVEL JOURNALISM—FORMS AND ORIGINS 

13

produce multifaceted and varied forms of ‘truths’. For example, a newspaper article which details the tourism company the journalism travelled with along with the costs of flights and accommodation, is likely to be understood as an account of reality in that it is subject to a legal obligation to be factually correct. However, online, for example, the commercial drivers of content may well be much less clear—indeed, it is possible there may be none. Consequently, the extent to which such content purports to be ‘true’ may also be less clear, more nebulous and perhaps also less important in terms of our engagement with it. Perhaps then, a distinction between travel journalism and travel writing is more productively situated in the differences in the forms and political economies of each genre? In terms of forms, travel writing is almost exclusively produced in book length, while travel journalism is typically significantly shorter in length and is much more varied. Indeed, it spans a variety of media forms, it very often includes still and/or moving images and some of the forms it takes do not include any writing at all. Consequently, travel writing has the potential to be much more historically significant and enduring, whereas travel journalism is much more consumer driven and ephemeral. There are profound differences in their underlying political economies too. Travel writing may, as Youngs notes, serve as historical memoir, ethnographic account or personal reflection but ultimately in commercial published form it must be these things in ways that sell—ways that engage, entertain and bring vicarious pleasure. Clearly, travel journalism is also about engaging and entertaining its readers—whether this be in terms of driving website traffic or as part of a broader selection of news, information and entertainment that, for example, a newspaper might offer. Over and above, the endeavour to engage and entertain, travel journalism positions us—to some degree or other—as consumers and it seeks to influence the cultural and economic decisions we make about our leisure time. In this sense, ‘The travel journalist as an expert and tastemaker is in a position of power over the consumer, a position that is of value for commercial interests’—whether directly in the form of encouraging us to buy into a particular destination or more indirectly in the form of promoting goods such as guide books or clothing (Rosenkranz, 2016, p. 6). That both genres typically make use of a first person narrative style that positions the reader in the footsteps of the author/traveller is illustrative of the genres intertwined history. However, this is deployed in travel journalism as a means to entertain and encourage the reader to make commercial decisions—ones that could see the reader undertaking the same tourism

14 

B. COCKING

experiences that they have read about. By contrast, travel writing is not primarily subject to the same commercial drivers. Certainly, many have sought to follow in the footsteps of great travellers but this is not the principle commercial aim of the genre. To summarize, travel journalism is travel related content presented in written, visual, audio mediums—or a combination thereof. It is in the public domain and is published across a variety of platforms from legacy media such a print and television to ‘new’ media environments such as blogs and social media by both professionals and ‘amateur’ content users and creators. Its narrative style is invariably first person with its readers/audiences being directly addressed. It provides us with content about ‘foreign’ destinations and information about tourism activities. It is inherently highly commercial and is stratified by class and socio-economic groups. It is a fast changing genre of journalism—the effects of technological development along with the styles and influences of a broad range of other media and literary genres sluice through its porous borders.

Mapping Lines of Enquiry In this way, this book does not aim to characterize the constituent elements of the genre of travel journalism—Hanusch and Fürsich’s 2014 book comprehensively achieve the aim of providing this emerging field of study with such a foundation. Similarly, the rapidity of changes such as those outlined here means that it is difficult to accurately chart the ways in which they are transforming travel journalism. Certainly, such an endeavour would surely be quickly surpassed by further developments, particularly in the area of online travel journalism. Rather, this book seeks to make a series of interventions into the study of travel journalism. These interventions focus on the representational potential and strategies of the genre; the developing forms of online journalism; the “news values” of travel journalism and the intersection of the genre with the study of news journalism; and travel journalism’s political potential. These lines of enquiry fit in and around, and in some cases deviate from, the four dimensions of research outlined by Hanusch and Fürsich. In this way, the intention is to further develop areas of existing research, such as travel journalism’s representation of different parts of the world, but also indicate new potential areas of exploration, hopefully in ways that resonate and create dialogue with researchers working in other areas of journalism studies. Since its inception journalism studies has overwhelmingly been

1  INTRODUCTION: TRAVEL JOURNALISM—FORMS AND ORIGINS 

15

focused on the study of news. Yet news is in decline and areas of journalism such as travel journalism are in the ascendency. The academic study of news has a lot to offer the study of travel journalism, conceptually and methodologically. Far greater dialogue is needed between different areas of journalism studies. Travel journalism is an extremely potent media force, both culturally and economically. It is important to recognize this cultural and economic power not just as a basis for claiming travel journalism as a legitimate area of academic study but in order to assess the effects and influence of such power. It is hoped that the interventions this book makes help in opening up and further developing areas of travel journalism research and also contribute to further dialogue across the spectrum of journalism studies.

Travel Journalism and the Lifestyle Turn The impact of new media technology on the political economy of journalism has precipitated a significant rise in the production of forms of content that lie beyond the confines of political news and current affairs and these developments are gaining recognition within the field of journalism studies (see,e.g., Kristensen and From, 2012; Karlsson, 2016). The study of travel journalism has emerged and developed as a frontier area within a broader turn towards lifestyle journalism. It is in this context that Hanusch and Fürsich’s book can be seen. Indeed, Hanusch and Fürsich have, like many of the other contributors, engaged in research on other facets of lifestyle journalism prior to the publication of this book and, seemingly, continue to do so (see, e.g., Hanusch, 2013, 2018, 2019; Fürsich, 2013, 2012). Their edited collection on travel journalism examines methodological approaches to the study of travel journalism and explores the emergence and popularity of online travel content. It also explores the ways in which travel journalism represents different regions of the world, assessing its contribution to the culture and politics of globalization as well as the role it plays in the perpetuation and development of tourist activities and behaviours. The intention was to ‘take stock’ of an emergent academic area and ‘provide a comprehensive introduction to the field of travel journalism studies’ (3). A review of the book for the journal Journalism (Sage) begins with ‘All studies of travel journalism must include a justification for the chosen topic. Why study travel media and not news journalism? That is also true of the edited volume Travel Journalism: Exploring Production, Impact and Culture’ (Ljungberg, 2015, p.  798). In relation to the

16 

B. COCKING

discussion above on the dominant lines of enquiry in journalism studies, here the issue of travel journalism’s status and significance in relation to news journalism is made explicit. The importance of news journalism is presented as given here; so too is the requirement to justify studying travel journalism. Hanusch and Fürsich in the opening chapter of the book, ‘On the Relevance of Travel Journalism: An Introduction’, address issues that pertain to the problematic status of the genre and its complex and fast changing political economy. In essence, it is precisely the issues that give rise to travel journalism’s challenging status that provide fertile grounds for academic enquiry. Throughout the following chapters of this book these issues will be explored in detail in relation to different facets of and developments within travel journalism. However, take for example, its political economy and its reliance on the tourism industry for funded trips and public relations copy. Though this may be deeply conflictual with the professional values of news journalism, travel journalism’s alliance with the largest industry in the world is very significant and worthy of further investigation. Hanusch and Fürsich identify four dimensions which they argue characterized the parameters of existing research on travel journalism (2014, pp. 9–11). In order to assess how the genre of travel journalism has continued to change and evolve since their co-edited collection of 2014, and by way of mapping out the focus and principal lines of enquiry of this book, it is important to briefly outline these four dimensions. The first of which they term ‘The representation of foreign cultures’. They point out that academic interest has, thus far, tended to focus primarily on its representational characteristics of travel journalism—the stock in trade significatory resources through which other parts of the world are rendered meaningful for its readers. The principle concern of work in this area is to examine the representational practices that are deployed in the endeavour of representing the foreign nations and cultures. Drawing on the academic field of Cultural Studies, work in this area typically seeks to explore the ways in travel journalism represents different parts of the world (see, e.g., Fürsich, 2002; Cocking, 2009; Day Good, 2013). This is predicated on understanding travel journalism as an important ‘site where meaning is created and where a collective version of the “Other/We” is negotiated, contested and constantly redefined’ (Fürsich and Kavoori, 2001: 167). Consistent with the consumerist function of travel journalism, its representation of different parts of the world tends to be positive and

1  INTRODUCTION: TRAVEL JOURNALISM—FORMS AND ORIGINS 

17

enthusiastic. After all, the intention is to exhort readers to make economic decisions about tourism and leisure activities or at the very least entertain them so that they continue to consume travel journalism in specific media sources. Such representations are, though, often based on or make references to an ‘exoticizing and stereotypical discourse of the Other’ (Hanusch and Fürsich, Hanusch, 2014: 9). Light hearted though such references might typically be, they are by no means benign and should not be overlooked. Studies of the representational characteristics of travel journalism are significant not only for what interpretations and/or categorizations of such characteristics reveal but also in terms of the significatory pathways that can be plotted between the latter and the discursive frames of reference our cultural imagination calls upon. Hanusch and Fürsich identify a second area of research on travel journalism as ‘The ethics of travel journalism’ (Hanusch, 2014. pp. 9–10). This dimension pertains to the relationship between travel journalism and the tourism industry. Specifically, issues such as journalists accepting paid trips in exchange for producing features on particular locations, along with the impact of public relations derived materials produced by commercial travel operators and government run tourism boards on travel journalism content. This issue is also addressed in Hanusch’s ‘Travel Journalists’ Attitudes toward Public Relations: Findings from a Representative Survey’ (2012) examines travel journalists’ ambiguous position; at once reliant on PR departments and the tourism industry to fund travel experiences and at the same time grappling with the ‘traditional journalistic ideals of independent, un-biased and critical reporting’ (2). Similarly, Volcic, Erjavec and Peak examine the branding of post-war Sarajevo via a critical discourse analysis of travel review, this necessarily involves consideration of ‘the multi-faceted intersection of cultural memory with journalism, branding, and tourism’ (Volcic et al., 2014, p. 727). The financial logic of tourism in this region results in ‘War memories [becoming]…repackaged and branded as consumer experiences for tourists in attempts to strengthen local economies’ (Volcic et al., 2014, p. 727). Related to the political economy of travel journalism is the issue of market orientation. As Hanusch and Fürsich note, this is another aspect that marks travel journalism out as being different from, and of lower status to, other forms of journalism. By contrast, travel journalism identifies its readers and audiences as consumers who it exhorts to make decisions about leisure time and tourist activities. In this sense, travel journalism, like other forms of market orientated lifestyle journalism, seeks to provide

18 

B. COCKING

‘help, advice, guidance, and information about the management of self and everyday life’ (Hanitzsch, 2007, p. 375). The issue of travel journalism’s market orientation is also addressed in Mansfield’s ‘Travel Writing in Place Branding—A Case Study on Nantes’ which seeks to examine whether the city’s own place branding publicity filters into British travel journalism on tourism experiences in Nantes. The study identifies representational overlap between the city’s branding publicity and British travel journalism features on Nantes, but also identifies areas of the city’s branding that if they were better covered in travel journalism could result in the city being better promoted. The bringing together of ‘travel section editors and their travel writers, and destination managers, their branding analysts and their press officers’ (2017, p. 1) in order to achieve this is, again, a further indication of high market orientation of travel journalism and the consumer possibilities it affords. Likewise, this issue of travel journalism’s consumer enterprise is examined by Hyan Yoo et al. in their study of ‘the factors that drive online trust in travel-related CGM [Consumer Generated Media] and examined the extent to which these trust perceptions influence the perceived impacts and benefits of CGM use’ (2009, p. 50). Hanusch and Fürsich identify a final, fourth, area of research in the study of travel journalism. This they term the ‘motivational aspects of travel journalism’ (2014, p. 11). It pertains to the cultural significance of travel journalism’s capacity to ‘help construct differing ideal types of tourists’ (ibid). This set of considerations is borne out the sociological study of tourism. Seminal works in this field, such as Boorstin (1964), MacCannell (1973), Cohen (1979, 1988) and Urry (1990, 1995). This particular strand of sociological research has, from a range of different perspectives, focused on the motivations and behaviours of tourists. It has sought to understand how and why people engage in tourism activities. Given the ways in which travel journalism is involved in the promotion of tourism activities, it follows that it is important to consider the ways in which its representations of such activities have a bearing on shaping our participation in them and, indeed, our practise of them. More recent work in the field of Tourism Studies has sought to address not only the individual’s motivations and cultural practices in tourism settings but also with specific locations and destinations As Urry and Larsen note, this involves consideration of ‘how places are intertwined with people through systems that generate and reproduce performances in and of place (and by comparison with other places)’ (2011, p.  2). This broadening of focus in Tourism Studies is indicative of a further point of convergence with travel

1  INTRODUCTION: TRAVEL JOURNALISM—FORMS AND ORIGINS 

19

journalism. For example, Santos’s ‘Perception and Interpretation of Leisure Travel Articles’ (2004) examines the ways in which readers interpret and are positioned by American travel journalism on Portugal. This study sought to understand the ‘perception and interpretation of mass mediated leisure travel texts as they reveal how readers socially justify meanings assigned to destinations and the “Other”’ (p. 394). Santos finds that the representational dynamics of the travel texts clearly have motivational consequences for their readers that go beyond a textual level to the actual cultural practices of tourist activities: Audiences are active participants in the construction and interpretation of meaning since they actively carve out spaces that help them situate their perceptions…This construction of meaning in leisure travel messages is multi-layered in the sense that notions of intimacy, trust, tradition, authenticity, and social-cultural knowledge were simultaneously engaged by participants (p. 408)

The motivational dynamics of travel journalism and the extent to which they come to bear on the enactment of tourism activities is also examined in Steward’s study of the influence of British travel journalism on the historical development of foreign tourism 1840–1914. She found that British travel journalism played a foundational role in helping to shape the tourism practices of this era. Again, there is strong sense of the interpretative-­ textual impacting on ‘real world’ tourism activities: By presenting readers with the world as a set of potential experiences to be chosen and consumed, by constantly asking ‘Where will you go next?’, they presented their readers with a set of choices through which they could express their individual tastes and preferences, and thereby their desires and fantasies, if not in reality, at least in their dreams (2005, p. 52)

Since the publication of Hanusch and Fürsich’s edited collection in 2014, the field of travel journalism has, of course, continued to grow and develop. The most significant development in travel journalism is its continued transition into online spaces. This has been a trend since the early 2000s and as early forms of social media such as blogging became established as ubiquitous popular cultural practices, so too has become clear that travel oriented content is a very popular fit with this media form (see, e.g., Seppo, 2001; Pan et al., 2007). A significant further contribution in

20 

B. COCKING

this area is Bryan Pirolli’s Travel Journalism: Informing Tourists in the Digital Age (2018). As noted above, it takes the form of a part academic study, part practitioners’ guide. Pirolli’s book seeks to ‘map’ the emerging online spaces the genre is transitioning into: ‘Travel journalism is at a crossroads, and its practitioners are still scratching their heads about the best route to follow as they re-evaluate their roles’ (p.  4). Drawing on interviews with travel journalists, blogger and consumers, Pirolli’s intention is to the explore ‘…the new demands and practices facing practices facing professionals today’ in order to assess ‘how social media and search engine optimization affect writing and topic choice’ (Pirolli, 2018, p. 4). In this way Pirolli explores travel journalism’s repositioning in online spaces in terms of the consequences this has for practitioners. In asking ‘how travel journalists distinguish themselves and what value they bring to consumers’, he seeks further understanding of how the craft of travel journalism is changing and the new and emerging skills professional travel journalists need to engage with (2018, p.  29). In so doing, Pirolli also discusses in considerable detail the professional values of travel journalism, ‘questions of professionalism, ethics, responsibility, and trust’ and considers how these values are being refigured in the context of social media and online settings (ibid).

Charting Lines of Enquiry Certainly, it is clear that the development of online travel media, of both professionally produced and user generated varieties, has burgeoned over the last 4 years. A significant indicator of just one aspect of this rapid expansion is that the total number of unique visitors to the top 50 travel blogs world-wide increased from 29,911,790 in the final quarter of 2016 to 44,428,356  in the first quarter of 2018—an increase of over 48% (Stabile, 2018). Whilst, the exploration of travel journalism’s transition to online spaces is a central consideration of this book it is also one that provides the basis for the exploration of several other interlocking themes— such as the conceptual and professional interaction between travel journalism and ‘hard’ news; the former’s political potential, along with its representation of ‘other’ peoples and places. In this sense, and in contrast to Hanusch and Fürsich, the intention of this book is not to ‘take stock’ but to contribute some new/less chartered lines of enquiry as well as to develop further research in some more established areas. Following this

1  INTRODUCTION: TRAVEL JOURNALISM—FORMS AND ORIGINS 

21

chapter, the book shifts focus to consider in Chap. 2 ‘Making tabloid travel journalism: values and visuality’ what might be described as the underlying ‘values’ of travel journalism. In this chapter, some of the intersections and boundaries between the study of mainstream news journalism and tabloid based travel journalism are explored and mapped out. From Galtung and Ruge’s seminal study of ‘news factors’ in 1965, there has developed a significant literature devoted to consideration of what makes the news, ‘the news’. However, the study of the factors that contribute to the selection and ordering of news stories has, so far, been focused entirely on ‘hard’ news and political reporting. There has been no real consideration of ‘newsworthiness’ outside of ‘hard’ news. This chapter develops an exploratory study of the ‘news values’ of travel journalism based on a sample drawn from British tabloid newspapers in order to better understand the factors that help shape this form of travel journalism content. Chapter 3 ‘“itravel”: competing forms of travel writing in print based and user generated journalism’ builds upon the previous chapter’s assessment of the ‘values’ that determine travel content but here the focus is on the travel journalism’s transition from being located predominantly in print based media to being a prevalent form of content across the main online media platforms. The chapter compares user generated content from the top 50 worldwide most viewed travel blogs with professionally produced travel content from the top four most read English language newspapers: the Mail Online, The New York Times, The Guardian and The Washington Post. In so doing, makes use of a Bourdieusian perspective in order to examine how ‘symbolic mastery’ is manifest in professional and user generated content. It identifies two different types of blog: the ‘travel hacking’ and the ‘digital nomad’ styles and observes that there appears to be a much more personalized form of symbolic mastery in the latter, whereas the former category made use of more traditional displays of expertise and authority, much more akin to those found in the professionally produced travel journalism found in the online newspapers. Chapter 4 is titled ‘Visions of Past and Present? Travel journalism features and TripAdvisor reviews of tourist destinations in the Middle East’. Whilst the representational dynamics of travel journalism is undoubtedly a dominant line of enquiry within the field, this chapter seeks to explore the historical trajectory of representations of the Middle East from its origins in Victorian ‘Arabist’ travel writing, through early mass tourism to contemporary travel journalism and user generated reviews on TripAdvisor.

22 

B. COCKING

Drawing on the postcolonial perspectives of Edward Said (1991) and Ali Behdad (1994), the chapter charts the origins of ‘Arabist’ modes of travel writing and then explores how similar representational characteristics typify travel journalism and promotional material for early mass tourism in the region. The emphasis then shifts to a contemporary setting where some examples of contemporary travel journalism are examined in the context of user generated reviews of Middle East holiday destinations on TripAdvisor. The intention is to explore the nature of representations ‘flows’ across travel writing, travel journalism and accounts of tourist experience—such as those found on TripAdvisor. Following this, Chap. 5 ‘Looking West: representations of cultural difference and patterns of consumption in “Eastern” travel journalism’. Typically, the focus on the representational characteristics of travel journalism has tended to be located in Western Europe and America, giving consideration to how the West views ‘other’ parts of the world. By contrast, Chap. 5 focuses on travel journalism from the three largest English language newspapers in Malaysia, the New Straits Times, The Star and the Malay Mail. It examines how travel content from these newspapers represents tourist destinations, particularly Western ones. In so doing, consideration is also given to practices of tourism being promoted and what this might reveal about the consumption of leisure activities as well as the cultural and economic stratification of tourism in Malaysia. Chapter 6 ‘Selling it “green”: travel journalism, Trump and the U.S National Monuments’ considers the political potential of travel journalism, specifically the politics of environmentalism. It focuses on the ways in travel journalism as a genre has the potential to engage its readers in ways that move beyond the commercial endeavours of providing them with consumer advice and a source of entertainment. This chapter seeks to examine the extent to which travel journalism can respond to the mainstream news agenda and, conversely, the circumstances under which the discursive characteristics of other forms of journalism (such as ‘hard’ news) might interject into the typical ‘what to see, what to do’ narrative structure of travel journalism. This chapter focuses on the US press coverage of the Trump administration’s review of the national monument sites. It compares the coverage this story received in all sections of all US newspapers with the coverage given to it in the travel sections of these newspapers. In so doing, it identifies the cosmopolitan potential of the genre, to raise awareness and promote social reflexivity.

1  INTRODUCTION: TRAVEL JOURNALISM—FORMS AND ORIGINS 

23

References Abram, S., & Norum, R. (2016). An archaeology of Arctic travel journalism. Studies in Travel Writing, 20(3), 272–284. Anderson, B. (1983). Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. London and New York: Verso. Behdad, A. (1994). Belated travelers: Orientalism in the age of colonial dissolution. Durham and London: Duke University Press. Blanton, C. (2002). Travel writing: The self and the world. London: Routledge. Boczkowski, P. J., & Anderson, C. W. (2017). Remaking the news: Essays on the future of journalism scholarship in the digital age. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Boorstin, D. J. (1964). The image: A guide to pseudo events in America. New York: Harper and Row. Campbell, M. B. (1991). The witness and the other world: Exotic European travel writing from 400–1600. Ithaca, New York and London: Cornell University Press. Cocking, B. (2009). Travel journalism. Journalism Studies, 10(1), 54–68. Cohen, E. (1979). A phenomenology of tourist experiences. Sociology, 13(2), 179–201. Cohen, E. (1988). Authenticity and commoditization in tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 15(3), 371–386. Conboy, M. (2004). Journalism: A critical history. London: Sage. Daye, M. (2005). Mediating tourism: An analysis of the Caribbean holiday experience in the UK National Press. In D.  Crouch, R.  Jackson, & F.  Thompson (Eds.), The media and the tourist imagination (pp. 14–26). London: Routledge. Day Good, K. (2013). ‘Why we travel: Picturing global mobility in user-generated travel journalism’ Media. Culture and Society, 35(3), 295–313. Fürsich, E. (2002). How can global journalists represent the ‘other’? A critical assessment of the cultural studies concept for media practice’ Journalism, 3(1), 57–84. Fürsich, E. (2012). Lifestyle journalism as popular journalism. Journalism Practice, 6(1), 12–25. Fürsich, E. (2013). Lifestyle journalism as popular journalism: Strategies for evaluating its public role. In F.  Hanusch (Ed.), Lifestyle journalism. London and New York: Routledge. Fürsich, E., & Kavoori, A. P. (2001). Mapping a critical framework for the study of travel journalism. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 4(2), 149–171. Galtung, J., & Ruge, M.  H. (1965). The structure of foreign news. Journal of Peace Research, 2(1), 64–91. Hanitzsch, T. (2007). Deconstructing journalism culture: Toward a universal theory. Communication Theory, 17(4), 367–385.

24 

B. COCKING

Hanusch, F. (2009). Taking travel journalism seriously: Suggestions for scientific inquiry into a neglected genre. In T.  Flew (Ed.), Communication, creativity and global citizenship: Refereed proceedings of the Australian and New Zealand communication association conference 2009. Brisbane, QLD: Queensland University of Technology. Hanusch, F. (2013). Journalists in times of change: Evidence from a new survey of Australia’s journalistic workforce. Australian Journalism Review, 35(1), 29–42. Hanusch, F. (2014). On the relevance of travel journalism. In F.  Hanusch & E. Fürsiche (Eds.), Travel journalism exploring production impact and culture (pp. 1–17). London: Palgrave Macmillan. Hanusch, F. (2018). Political journalists’ corporate and personal identities on Twitter profile pages: A comparative analysis in four Westminster democracies. New Media & Society, 20(4), 1488–1505. Article first published online: March 22, 2017; Issue published: April 1, 2018, https://doi. org/10.1177/1461444817698479 Hanusch, F. (2019). Journalistic roles and everyday life. Journalism Studies, 20(2), 193–211. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2017.1370977 Hartley, J. (1996). Popular reality: Journalism, modernity and popular culture. London: Arnold. Hulme, P. (2002). ‘Patagonian cases: Travel writing, fiction, history’, in Seuils & Traverses: Enjeux de l’écriture du voyage (Vol. II, ed, pp. 223–237). Jan Borm, Brest: Centre de Recherche Bretonne et Celtique. Humanitarian Journalism Project (n.d.). Retrieved from August 30, 2019. https://www.publicmediaalliance.org/publications/website-humanitarianjournalism/ Hunter, F.  R. (2004). Tourism and the empire: The Thomas Cook & son Enterprise on the Nile, 1868-1914. Middle Eastern Studies, 40(5), 28–54. Hyan Yoo, K., Lee, Y., Gretzel, U., & Fesenmaier, D. R. (2009). ‘Trust in Travel-­ related Consumer Generated Media’ Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism, 2009 Proceedings of the International Conference in Amsterdam, The Netherlands pp. 49–59. Journalism Safety Research Network (n.d.). Retrieved from August 30, 2019. http://www.cfom.org.uk Karlsson, M. B. (2016). Goodbye politics, hello lifestyle: Changing news topics in tabloid, quality and local newspaper websites in the U.K. and. Sweden from 2002 to 2012’, Observatorio (OBS∗) Journal, 10(4), 150–165. Kristensen, N. N., & From, U. (2012). Lifestyle journalism. Journalism Practice, 6(1), 26–41. Lewis, J., Williams, A., & Franklin, B. (2008). A compromised fourth estate? Journalism Studies, 9(1), 1–20.

1  INTRODUCTION: TRAVEL JOURNALISM—FORMS AND ORIGINS 

25

Ljungberg, J. (2015). Book review: Folker Hanusch and Elfriede Fürsich (eds) Travel journalism: Exploring production, impact and culture. Journalism, 17(6), 798–800. MacCannell, D. (1973). Staged authenticity: Arrangements of social space in tourist settings. American Journal of Sociology, 79(3), 589–603. Mansfield, C. (2017). ‘Travel writing in place branding–a case study on Nantes’, Journal of Tourism. Heritage & Services Marketing, 3(2), 1–7. McGaurr, L. (2010). Travel journalism and environmental conflict. Journalism Studies, 11(1), 50–67. McNair, B. (1998). The sociology of journalism. London: Arnold. McNair, B. (2002). Journalism and democracy: An evaluation of the political public sphere. London and New York: Routledge. McNair, B. (2017). An introduction to political communication. London: Taylor and Francis. Moss, C. (2008). The road to nowhere. British Journalism Review, 19(1), 33–40. Ornebring, H. (2018). Journalists thinking about precarity: Making sense of the “new normal”. International Symposium on Online Journalism Journal, 8(1), 109–127. Pan, B., MacLaurin, T., & Crotts, J. C. (2007). Travel blogs and the implications for destination marketing. Journal of Travel Research, 46(1), 35–45. Pirolli, B. (2018). Travel journalism: Informing tourists in the digital age. Abingdon, Oxon and New York: Routledge. Rosenkranz, T. (2016). Becoming entrepreneurial: Crisis. ethics and marketization in the field of travel journalism’, Poetics, 54, 54–65. Rosenkranz, T. (2019). From contract to speculation: New relations of work and production in freelance travel journalism. Work, Employment and Society, 33(4), 613–630. Said, E. (1991). Orientalism. London: Penguin. Santos, A.  C. (2004a). Perception and interpretation of leisure travel articles. Leisure Sciences, 26(4), 393–410. Santos, A.  C. (2004b). Framing Portugal representational dynamics. Annals of Tourism Research, 31(1), 122–138. Schudson, M. (2016). The sociology of news production. Media, Culture & Society, 11(3), 263–282. Seppo, A. K. (2001). Towards a general theory of touristic experiences: Modelling experience process in tourism. Tourism Review, 56(3/4), 33–37. Stabile, M. (2018). Retrieved from November 30, 2018. theexpeditioner.com, https://www.theexpeditioner.com/ Steward, J. (2005). “How and where to go”: The role of travel journalism in Britain and the evolution of foreign tourism, 1840-1914. In J. K. Walton (Ed.), Histories of Tourism: Representation, Identity and Conflict, Clevedon, Buffalo. Toronto: Channel View Publications.

26 

B. COCKING

The Worlds of Journalism Study (n.d.). Retrieved from August, 30 2019. http:// www.worldsofjournalism.org/ Towner, J. (1995). What is Tourism’s history? Tourism Management, 16(5), 339–343. Urry, J. (1990). The tourist gaze: Leisure and travel in contemporary societies. London: Sage. Urry, J. (1995). Consuming places. London: Routledge. Urry, J., & Larsen, J. (2011). The tourist gaze 3.0: Places, buildings and design. London: Sage. Volcic, Z., Erjavec, K., & Peak, M. (2014). Branding post-war Sarajevo: Journalism, memories, and dark tourism. Journalism Studies, 15(6), 726–742. Von Buch, A. (2007). In the image of the grand tour: Railway Station embellishment and the origins of mass tourism. The Journal of Transport History, 28(2), 252–271. Waisbord, S. (2018). Truth is what happens to news: On journalism, fake news, and post-truth. Journalism Studies, 19(13), 1866–1878. Wodak, R. (2015). The politics of fear: What right-wing populist discourses mean. London: Sage. Youngs, T. (2013). The Cambridge introduction to travel writing. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. Zelizer, B. (2004). When facts, truth, and reality are god-terms: On journalism’s uneasy place in cultural studies. Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 1(1), 100–119.

CHAPTER 2

Making Tabloid Travel Journalism: Values and Visuality

Introduction Yet of the millions of events that occur every day in the world, only a tiny proportion ever become visible as ‘potential news stories’: and of this proportion, only a small fraction are actually produced as the day’s news in news media (Hall, 1973, p. 181).

The processes governing news selection—the ways in which one news story might be selected over another—has long attracted a great deal of scholarly interest. Indeed, the publication of Galtung and Ruge’s seminal ‘taxonomy’ of ‘news factors’ first published in 1965, opened up an area of academic enquiry—one that has continued to evolve in step with the advent of new media platforms and technologies. This has led to researchers have endeavoured to ‘investigate the ideological imperatives embedded in the work of constructing news as a truthful representation of reality’ (Allan, 2010, 71). Academic interest has, though, tended to focus almost exclusively on the ‘hard’ news of political reporting. Nonetheless, since the early 1990s there has been recognition of the rise of tabloidization across all forms of journalism and news media. For example, Dahlgren and Sparks (1992) collection Journalism and Popular Culture seeks to explore the rise of tabloid culture across print journalism and television. However, as they acknowledge the profession—and indeed, academic studies of it— have tended to ‘downplay such historical and institutional aspects as journalism’s intersection with advertising and entertainment and underscore © The Author(s) 2020 B. Cocking, Travel Journalism and Travel Media, https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59908-7_2

27

28 

B. COCKING

journalism’s role in the rational transfer of socially and political useful information’ (1992: 7). The ways in which news media has become increasingly characterized by tabloid style content tabloidization of the media is, though, addressed in Harcup and O’Neill’s (2001) significant revision of Galtung and Ruge’s (1965) classic study of news values. In introducing ‘celebrity’ as a category of news value, Harcup and O’Neill sought to gauge the intensification of tabloid culture that occurred throughout the 1990s. In particular, their study is revealing of the ways in which tabloidization has infiltrated elements of traditional ‘hard’ news culture. However, their work—along with the vast majority of literature on news values—focuses solely on ‘news’ journalism. There is a strong rationale for this—in the context of the journalism industry’s historical identification with the concept of the ‘fourth estate’ and its somewhat self-proclaimed function as a facilitator of democracy, academic studies have focused almost exclusively on the news values of ‘hard’ news. In this sense, studies of news values have played a significant role in debates about the function of journalism and its political economy and continue to do so. However, traditional ‘hard’ news content is (and always has been) one element of the ‘package’ of content readers and viewers are exhorted to engage with. What then of the other forms of journalism that we encounter? Other forms of journalism might not be judged and ascribed values based on its political significance (in the way that ‘hard’ news is) but equally it cannot be valueless. If it is possible to ask what are the values that underscore a story that is featured on the front page of a newspaper, it must surely be possible to explore the values that determine the content that features on in sports section, restaurant reviews, or travel section? Indeed, ‘News Values Go on Holiday: the ideological values of travel journalism’ (Cocking, 2017) sought to pursue the latter line of enquiry in the form of an initial, exploratory assessment of the news values of a selection of British broadsheet travel journalism. In the conclusion of this journal article it was noted that In this respect, further research in this area could involve the comparative analysis of broadsheet and tabloid newspapers in order to assess whether this might reveal different news values or perhaps different inflections of the same news values—such that they might be indicative of the cultural values of their respective readerships (Cocking, 2017, p. 1362)

This chapter seeks to address this issue by developing further the study the news values of travel journalism by focusing on a selection of travel

2  MAKING TABLOID TRAVEL JOURNALISM: VALUES AND VISUALITY 

29

features from British tabloid newspapers. It will focus on travel content from the online versions of The Sun, The Mirror and The Daily Mail. In so doing, the intention here is explore the nature of travel features of this form of journalism in order to better understand their underlying ‘values’. Specifically, to what extent do they share the same values as their broadsheet counterparts? Does tabloid based travel journalism place different emphasis on certain values? Does it indicate the presence of other values— ones unique to this form of journalism? In the context of news values, travel journalism is of interest for several reasons. It is true that travel journalism is not as actively or inherently political as ‘hard’ news. However, it would be wrong to infer from this that forms of journalism such as travel journalism are inherently unpolitical and therefore unimportant. Travel journalism does not construct for us a sense of the political landscape in the way that news journalism purports to but the values which shape and drive its content are, like political reporting, inherently ideological. Similarly, whilst the ideological imperatives of travel journalism do not bear directly on, for example, the media’s relationship with political elites, they are, nonetheless, of significance for several reasons. Firstly, travel journalism’s close—and often problematic—relationship with the advertising and the tourism industry, shapes its content and promotes certain patterns and modes of consumption. Secondly, by very definition travel journalism involves the representation of ‘other’ parts of the world and it is important to consider not only the characteristics and features of such representations but also how these characteristics are selected and shaped by the underlining ideological values of this form of journalism. Thirdly, travel journalism presents its readers with the opportunity to undertake particular tourist experiences and in this sense has the potential to impact on and influence specific tourist practices (Cocking, 2014 in Hanusch and Fürsich, 2014, p. 190). Thus, it is the potential for travel journalism to influence what we imagine of different destinations and regions of the world, its function as a promoter of consumer lifestyle choices and the cultural significance of its ability to influence tourist behaviour that suggest its ‘values’ are worthy of consideration.

Analysing Travel Journalism from a News Values Perspective Such is the breath of research that builds on or makes reference to Galtung and Ruge and factors pertaining to the selection of news that it crosses the disciplines of sociology, media and cultural studies and journalism studies.

30 

B. COCKING

One approach that is of particular relevance here is the development of a ‘discursive’ approach to news values (Caple & Bednarek, 2013; Kheirbadi & Aghagolzadeh, 2012; Van Dijk, 2013). This approach has emerged out the interdisciplinary theoretical perspective of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (see, e.g., Van Dijk, 1988; Fairclough, 1995; Wodak, 1996; Barkho, 2010). It shares in the broad endeavour of CDA to analyse: ‘the effects of power and ideology in the production of meaning are obscured and acquire stable and natural forms: they are taken as “given”’ (Wodak & Meyer, 2001, p. 3). In the context of analysing news content and news values from a CDA perspective, Caple and Bednarek have adopted a ‘multimodal’ focus. Historically, CDA has tended to focus on the discursive reproduction of language, however, it has been acknowledged that it is important not to overlook the significance of visual imagery in the production of meaning and ideology. Consequently, Caple and Bednarek’s CDA focused examination of news content and values aims to take account of the ways in which in print journalism, for example, news photography interacts with news text (2013, p. 9). In the endeavour of analysing news values from a CDA perspective, Caple and Bednarek have adopted a ‘multimodal’ focus in order to take account of not only the ‘textual’ content of news but also the visual imagery that often accompanies it. This method seeks to move beyond the perceived limitations in linguistic approaches to news values in order to examine the underlying discursive context of the language used in news stories (2014, pp. 138–139). As Caple and Bednarek acknowledge, this approach also seeks to take account of the importance of visual images and the ways in which in print journalism, for example, news photography interacts with news text (2013, p. 9). They argue that it is important to investigate the: roles that the different components of a news story play in the construction of newsworthiness—for example, do language and visuals reinforce each other, thus constructing the same news values? Do they complement each other? Do they contradict each other? (Caple and Bednarek, 2015, p. 18)

The association of news values with a discursive perspective is of particular interest here. In terms of the conception of news values it would seem most productive, regardless of the specific form of journalism under consideration, to conceive of news values as being primarily ‘textual’. That is, as discursive elements underpinning the significatory content of

2  MAKING TABLOID TRAVEL JOURNALISM: VALUES AND VISUALITY 

31

‘texts’—including visual imagery. Clearly, in consideration of the processes of news selection, it is possible to ascribe news values to real world ‘events’. Indeed, it is possible to determine a higher concentration or presence of news values in ‘events’ which can be factored into the journalistic practices and processes whereby one ‘event’ is selected over another. Ultimately, though, such judgements are ideologically motivated and these ideological beliefs are produced and perpetuated discursively—and it has long been acknowledged that media ‘texts’ play a fundamental role in the promulgation of discursive formations (Tuchman, 1979). Bednarek and Caple’s use of a multimodal form of CDA is particularly instructive in that travel journalism can be very visual, especially the kind under consideration here, that is., content from British tabloid newspapers. And yet, as with studies of ‘hard’ news, comparatively little attention has been given to the visual dimensions of travel journalism (Good, 2013, p. 296). Given that travel journalism tends very often to make use of visual material, it seems vital that any study of its news values takes its multimodal nature into account. In this way, Bednarek and Caple’s aim of examining ‘systematically the role that language, image and other semiotic resources play in the construction of newsworthiness’ (2013: 13), resonates with the intentions of this chapter. It is not possible, though, to simply apply the approach outlined by Bednarek and Caple in its entirety. In focusing on news journalism, Bednarek and Caple frame their analysis around a set of ten news values. These are Negativity, Timeliness, Proximity, Superlativeness, Eliteness, Impact, Novelty, Personalization, Consonance and Aesthetic Appeal (2015: 5). Their list of news values is derived from Bell (1991: 156-58) but with some relatively minor differences. For example, in the context of distinguishing between news values and more general (and consistent) professional practices, Bednarek and Caple discount two of Bell’s original news values: Unambiguity and Facticity. For them, these factors are more to do with establishing and maintaining the broader values of the profession, that is, producing factually correct and therefore credible content than establishing the newsworthiness of a specific event (2015: 6). In terms of this chapter’s focus on tabloid based travel journalism, the distinction made between general professional factors that impact on the shape and selection of content and the presence of specific news values, seems a useful and productive distinction to draw. Like news journalism— and indeed all forms of journalism—travel journalism is clearly subject to general professional practices and procedures. However, it is important to

32 

B. COCKING

note that the broad underlying values of the profession, do not impact uniformly on all forms of journalism. As Hanusch has shown, amongst travel journalists there is also a clear sense of the core values of the profession—objectivity and credibility (2010, p.  6). Evidently, though, their relationship with these principles is quite different to that of news journalists. Travel journalists produce content which tends to have some (often quite direct) economic connection with the tourism industry. It is important that the analysis of the ‘values’ of travel journalism is mindful of the political economy in which values are ascribed and content is produced. Another issue relates to the sequence of analysis. Caple and Bednarek identify their list of news values and then move on to examples of ‘discursive news values analysis (DNVA)’ (2015: 8). The news stories that they base their examples on are, though, drawn from what might be seen as ‘traditional’ or ‘mainstream’ news journalism. They are not drawn from specific genres of journalism such as arts, lifestyle, or fashion. In relation to ‘hard’ news journalism, there is a general acceptance amongst academics as to the news values that characterize such content, indeed, where different terms for specific news values have been employed there nonetheless remains considerable commonality in terms of how such terms are defined and understood (Caple & Bednarek, 2013: 5). By contrast, whilst my 2017 study of news values in British broadsheet travel journalism identified seven travel journalism specific news values, no literature exists on news values and tabloid travel journalism. Thus, in the absence of a long established and broadly agreed upon set of news values for travel journalism, the intention here is to use the seven news values identified in my 2017 as a starting point for identifying news values in British tabloid travel journalism—bearing in mind that variations of these values and/or entirely new values may emerge during the analysis. The news values identified in my earlier study were defined as follows: Appeal  Travel journalism is usually placed in the mid-section of most newspapers or as an accompanying supplement. It is not the sort of content to feature on the front page. It does not have the shock, awe or indeed, political significance of ‘hard’ news. Consequently, the nature of travel content and its positioning within newspapers is such that it vies for readers’ attention through the use of highly idealized images of and textual references to tourist activities. These visual and textual ques are often premised on broader discourses about tourism and leisure activities that circulate in popular culture.

2  MAKING TABLOID TRAVEL JOURNALISM: VALUES AND VISUALITY 

33

The Cultural Frame  Certainly it is the case that travel journalism has to compete with the other sections of newspapers. In drawing the reader’s attention, an immediate priority seems to be contextualizing the destination. Essentially, setting the scene and providing the reader with ways of perceiving of the destination—a sense of the cultural practices that typify a place or region. Not merely what to see and do but also of what goes on and for the reader/tourist with a sense of how to carry on. Identification  The reader is encouraged to follow in the travel journalist’s footsteps, to imagine themselves in a specific destination, engaging in activities described by the travel journalist. This is often premised upon developing a sense of uniqueness and authenticity—perhaps that a particular holiday experience is individually tailored or that it offers the opportunity to ‘go off the beaten track’ and see aspects of a destination rarely seen by tourists. Positivity  In many ways very much the converse of Galtung and Ruge’s news factor of Negativity and Harcup and O’Neill’s term Bad News (2001). As Hamid-Turksoy et al. (2014, p. 749) have noted, travel journalism tends to extremely upbeat in its presentation and is characterized by positive hyperbole. In addition to facilitating reader engagement and entertainment, this value is underpinned by the political economy of travel journalism. A more critical or reflective tone would seem to run counter to the intention of promoting tourism experiences and could undermine the tourism industry’s provision of free trips to travel journalists. ‘At Home/Out There’  Contrasting representations of difference and ‘otherness’ with recognizable signs of familiarity and ‘home’. At a f­ undamental level travel journalism seeks to tread a fine balance between introducing the reader to destinations and activities that appear appealing different, ones that are intrinsically “out there” and beyond the realms of the everyday, and those that provide them with a sense of reassurance and, very often, comfort. History  There is a very strong tendency in travel journalism to provide some historical details and background on destinations, activities and cultural practices. In part, this provides the reader with a sense of context, resonating with what MacCannell (1973) identifies as the tourists’ search for authenticity. Historical content can also be seen as contributing to

34 

B. COCKING

what Bourdieu (1986) terms, a sense of ‘cultural capital’ the reader (and ultimately, tourist) attributes to particular tourism experiences and destinations. Staying on a remote tropical island or visiting a site of great historical significance, such as Machu Picchu, might for example, conjure up for the reader a strong sense of cultural capital. Timeliness  A good deal of the content typically found in newspapers’ travel sections is seasonal. For example, winter sun or skiing holidays in the Autumn and Winter months or, indeed, holiday experiences aimed at young families during half term weeks. Other examples of timeliness include event based holiday experiences—such as a holiday at a music festival—or new tourism practices (eco-tourism, for example) or newly established destinations (such as those previously inaccessible due to political tensions or regimes).

Identifying ‘News’ Values in Tabloid Travel Journalism The tabloidization of ‘hard’ news has profoundly changed its intrinsic values and indeed the underlying news agenda (Lewis & Cushion, 2009, p.  310). It has also been acknowledged that tabloids tend to prioritize specific news values, typically foregrounding content that focuses on scandals, crime, sports and pop culture (Sparks, 2000). In the last two decades, the categories of news Sparks identified have increasingly melded into one which refracts such content through the all-encompassing lens of celebrity culture (Turner, 2010, p.  12). To what extent, then, do these broader news values of tabloid journalism play out in the travel journalism of tabloid newspapers? As Allern notes, tabloid news are often ‘highly personified; they will impart sensations and emotions’ (2002, p. 142). How might these characteristic features of style and tone manifest themselves in tabloid travel journalism content? What are the commonalities and points of departure in the underlying news values of broadsheet and tabloid travel journalism? The Sun, The Mirror and The Daily Mail all have well established online versions of their newspapers that command a significant amount of web traffic. Of the three, The Daily Mail has the most long standing web presence, first launching Mailonline in 2020 (Wikipedia). In the last 20 years the Mailonline has built a very strong global presence; in 2019 it was ranked the 8th most viewed news website in the world (by unique monthly

2  MAKING TABLOID TRAVEL JOURNALISM: VALUES AND VISUALITY 

35

visitors), ahead of the Washington Post (Sharma, 2020). However, in the last 2 years The Sun.co.uk has overtaken the Mailonline in terms of UK based unique monthly visitors—respectively, 30.2 million and 29.6 million unique visitors in April 2018 (Tobitt, 2018). In June 2019, Mirror. co.uk attracted 25.49 unique monthly visitors (Mirror Online reaches its biggest, 2019). In terms of readership demographics, by gender, The Sun and The Mirror have a stronger male following (in both cases amounting to approximately 60% of the readership) whilst the Daily Mail has slightly more female readers than men; 52.5%/ 47.5% (UK newspapers reveal readership demographics, 2017). With regard to readership age, the three newspapers appear to draw their largest proportions of readers from different age categories. For example, The Sun has the highest proportion of 15–34 year old readers (Kirk, 2015). Whereas, the highest proportion of The Mirror’s readers fall into the ‘millennial’ and ‘baby boomer’ categories (Yougov, 2020). Similarly, The Daily Mail has the highest proportion of older readers, with 45% of its readers being over the age of 65 (UK newspapers reveal readership demographics, 2017). Historically, The Sun and The Mirror have been strongly marketed at working class readerships, C2DE stratification—indeed, this tends to be how the papers present themselves and how they are perceived in popular culture (Biressi & Nunn, 2007, p. 298; Conboy, 2006, p. 3). However, both papers have built significant readerships from the ABC1 stratification (Boykoff, 2008, p, 552). By contrast, The Daily Mail defines itself as a ‘mid-market’ tabloid with its readership crossing working, middle and upper class stratifications (https://www.metroclassified.co.uk/daily-mail). Politically, The Sun and The Daily Mail are popularly understood to be ‘right wing’ newspapers, supporting the Conservative party, whilst The Mirror is perceived as being more ‘left wing’ and supporting the Labour Party. It is important to note, though, that the political leanings of each paper belie the fact that significant proportions of their readership vote against the political stance of each paper (Negrine, 2017 p.  70). For example, a poll by IPSO Mori found that 21% of Daily Mail readers intended to vote Labour in 2004, in the lead up to the 2005 general election (Duffy & Rowden, 2004). Demographically, then, The Sun, The Mirror and The Daily Mail represent a cross section of the British tabloid newspaper market. As such, they can be seen as key drivers and influencers of British tabloid style journalism. Despite its popularity, and the influence it has come to exert over all forms of news content, this style of journalism has attracted a great deal of criticism. In the last decade much of this criticism has focused on the

36 

B. COCKING

organizational culture and ethics of tabloid journalism in the wake of the News of the World phone hacking scandal and the public enquiry lead by Lord Leveson that resulted from it (Gershon & Alhassan, 2017, p. 189). Over and above concerns about the ethical motivations of tabloid journalism, criticism of tabloid style is as old as the form of journalism itself. Denigration of tabloid style has been principally motivated by concerns that this form of journalism is premised on ‘scandal, xenophobia, misogyny, bingo scratch cards and, most of all, celebrity gossip’ (O’Neill, 2012, p. 27). Clearly, there is validity to such criticisms. The kind of journalism produced at the News of the World, for example, undoubtedly fuelled concern that tabloid journalism tends not serve the ‘fourth estate’ ideal and that it can cheapen and devalue public opinion (Fenton, 2019, p.  3). However, it is equally important not to overlook the popularity of tabloid style journalism—in 2011 nearly three times as many people reader the most popular tabloid (The Sun) than they did the most popular broadsheet (The Guardian) (Haggerty, 2013). Clearly, tabloid style journalism can speak to a wider audience than other forms of news. Consequently, it also has the potential to be more inclusive—certainly it can be more entertaining, effervescent and ‘fun’ than the kinds of content typically associated with its broadsheet counterparts. In this sense, it is not the case that there is something intrinsically wrong with tabloid style but rather the issue rests with the uses that this style is often put to. Consequently, some academics have taken the view that tabloid journalism has some very positive attributes and that its impact on Britain’s media ecology and the quality of public debate and opinion has by no means been ‘uniformly negative’ (Conboy, 2011, p. 119; see also O’Neill, 2012; Biressi & Nunn, 2007; McNair, 2003). The online versions of The Sun, The Mirror and The Daily Mail all direct readers to discrete travel sections. What is immediately striking is the dominance of visual imagery in not only their travel sections but across their websites. Clearly, visually engaging images are being used as the principal means of drawing readers’ attention. This is very much in keeping with the attributes of personification, emotion and sensationalism Allern (2002) identifies as typical of tabloid style journalism—as it is with the increasingly ‘clickbait’ nature of online news content. The main sections of each newspaper’s website are indicative of the immense power of celebrity culture; images of celebrities abound and clearly celebrity focused news drives the news agenda. In the travel sections, though all of the newspapers regularly run features on celebrities’ holiday homes and

2  MAKING TABLOID TRAVEL JOURNALISM: VALUES AND VISUALITY 

37

favoured destinations, the overall emphasis is less celebrity focused. Nonetheless, the dominant visual signifiers associated with celebrity news are very much in evidence: images of young, stereotypically attractive people are widely used to draw readers to content on specific destinations. Visual images also play an important representational role in broadsheet travel journalism, particularly online. However, the significatory structure of broadsheet travel journalism tends to follow the formula of seeking to draws the reader’s attention through an engaging headline which is accompanied by interesting/arresting visual imagery below. Whilst The Daily Mail adheres to this format, The Sun and The Mirror seem to place greater emphasis on visual images. The following analysis will be based initially on assessing the presence of the seven news values identified in my 2017 study of British broadsheet travel journalism in the three lead articles, taken respectively from The Sun, The Mirror and the Daily Mail online travel sections. These lead features were identified as being indicative of the kinds of travel content ‘typical’ of each of the three newspapers’ travel sections and consequently provide the opportunity to examine the presence of other, perhaps characteristically ‘tabloid’, travel journalism news values. The online versions of each newspaper were visited on the same day, Sunday 24th January, 2020 and the three leading features of each paper’s travel section form the basis of the following analysis: The Sun ‘Wa-ter view You can stay in a floating ‘Artic’ hotel with stunning Northern Light views’, Sophie Finnegan, 24th January, Finnegan, 2020. The Mirror ‘Universal Studios Orlando’s new theme park will have a Super Nintendo World’ Julie Delahaye, 24th January, Delahaye, 2020. The Daily Mail ‘My favourite national treasures: It’s the National Trust’s 125th anniversary—and ALAN TITCHMARSH reveals his pick of 500 jewels for you and your family to enjoy…’, Alan Titchmarsh, 24th January, 2020. Beyond The Sun’s characteristic use of a pun filled headline, it is clear that visual images play an important role in drawing readers’ engagement. This is evident in The Sun’s lead feature which focuses on a luxury floating hotel, located on the River Lule in Sweden. Following the straightforward caption ‘YOU can now stay in a floating hotel with stunning views of the Northern Lights’ is a visually stunning, aerial photograph of the floating hotel which is built to a circular configuration, featuring a ‘bird’s nest’ design log roof. Likewise, the visual impact of The Mirror’s feature on

38 

B. COCKING

Universal Studio’s Orlando, USA new ‘Super Nintendo’ theme park is also immediately evident. The Mirror’s article on this amusement park combines simple, direct text with an aerial photograph of Universal Studio’s new site. The site looks magical and otherworldly with fireworks bursting into the night sky above palm trees, waterways and a complex network of fairy-tale like buildings and palaces. The use of aerial—usually ‘drone’ captured—images are becoming an increasingly ubiquitous significatory frame through which to photograph and film tourism destinations and experiences (Dinhopl & Gretzel, 2016). Shared across user generated content on social media sites such as Instagram, they are also being increasingly deployed for the purposes of tourism marketing (King, 2014). Evidently, this way of imaging the world is also becoming increasingly prevalent in tabloid travel journalism. In this sense, the use of these visually arresting images attests to the use of a very visual, characteristically tabloid, form of the travel ‘news’ value Appeal. In both The Sun and The Mirror visual, rather than textual, content is used as the primary means of encouraging reader engagement. By contrast, The Daily Mail’s article on television personality/gardener, Alan Titchmarsh’s favourite National Trust properties to visit seems to rely primarily on capturing the reader’s attention through the title and standfirst of the article. This is perhaps illustrative of The Daily Mail’s mid-­ market status and its more middle class, educated readership. The subject matter and its presentation by Titchmarsh speaks very much to an older, less social media conversant readership than the content in the other two newspapers. This article is clearly aimed at a generation who still watch terrestrial, schedule-based television and therefore recognize and are drawn to long established celebrities of this medium. In contrast to The Sun and The Mirror, the accompanying visual images are only evident once the reader has scrolled past quite a substantial block of text at the head of the article. Beyond the opening text there is a large, page width, photograph of a smiling Titchmarsh sitting on a tree stump in the grounds of one of his favourite National Trust properties, Studley Royal Water Garden in Yorkshire. The image is very much a visual illustration of the textual content of the article. It attests to the potential for the reader to follow in Titchmarsh’s footsteps and visit the National Trust properties he has reviewed. In this sense, the significatory function of Appeal in this article seems to be primarily grounded in the text with visual images playing a supporting role. This is much more in keeping with broadsheet travel journalism (Cocking, 2017).

2  MAKING TABLOID TRAVEL JOURNALISM: VALUES AND VISUALITY 

39

Harcup and O’Neill’s 2016 classification of news value included ‘Audio-visuals’ (p. 1482). Drawing on Caple and Bednarek’s work on the visual aspects of news discourses, they suggest that the presence of strong and engaging visuals are ‘certainly worth listing as a news value in their own right’ (Harcup and O’Neill, 2016, p. 1481). Certainly, it is clear that the articles in The Sun and The Mirror place a great deal of emphasis on arresting visual images. These images are powerful drivers of the articles’ narratives. Harcup and O’Neill suggest that ‘strong visuals can be a reason for selecting a story’ (2016, p. 1479). In the context of ‘hard’ news journalism the extent to which one story might contain more visual images than another is, no doubt, an important factor in the process of selecting and ordering stories. Certainly, as Harcup and O’Neill note in terms of their ‘sharability’ in online/social media settings (p.  1480). However, travel journalism content is primarily self-selecting, tending to be derived from and inspired by PR and marketing material produced by the tourism industry (Hanusch, 2012, p. 670). The images used in The Sun and The Mirror seem to convey aspects of the other ‘news’ values but arguably also amount to distinct ‘news’ value in their own right—termed here: Visual Images. Certainly, there is representational and ideological value to the visual images included in The Sun and The Mirror and they are used in such a way as to suggest a particularly tabloid style of travel journalism. Broadsheet travel journalism seems to place quite a lot of emphasis on providing insights into what to see and do in tourist destinations. Typically, this involves setting the scene for the reader and potential tourist and providing them with an insight into the cultural practices of a particular region or destination. Above and beyond this, an indication of the social mores they as tourists should call upon in their interactions with locals and local culture. The news value of The Cultural Frame seems to be almost absent in some of the tabloid articles under consideration here. The Sun’s article on the floating hotel in Sweden would appear to provide a suitably different, ‘other’, setting in which to describe cultural practices and differences. However, in essence the sole focus, the sole driver of the article is the visual appeal of the images of the hotel. There is no discussion of, for example, local cuisine, what to do in the surrounding area or what sort of clothing guests require in order to withstand the artic conditions. There is nonetheless a clear sense of difference here but it manifests itself in the form of an aesthetic appreciation of the hotel’s design. Here, it is not so much a case of cultural difference as it is aspirational interest in the novelty of the hotel’s strikingly different design. The text that punctuates the

40 

B. COCKING

arresting visual images that dominate the article further emphasizes the focus on the hotel’s design. For example, there is mention of the architects who designed the hotel and some details on its size and features. Arguably, it is the sort of content that is typically found in marketing briefs and public relations material and its presence, combined with the very limited details on how to get there and what to do, conveys the impression that this content is primarily aimed at entertaining readers vicariously rather than being the inspirational basis for choices in tourism consumption. There is little sense of The Cultural Frame here. The Mirror’s article on Universal Studio’s new ‘Super Nintendo’ theme park follows a similar format. As noted above, this content is also primarily conveyed through images with some accompanying, and relatively small, blocks of text. The article contains some details on the features of the ‘Super Nintendo’ theme park and plans to open similar parks in other destinations. However, like the article in The Sun there is little, if any, detail here that could be attributed to the notion of The Cultural Frame. There is very little information on how to get there and none on where to stay, how much it costs or what to see and do in the surrounding area. The reader is not provided with a sense of the tourist practices specific to this destination. The textual content of this article also bears a similarity to the sort of material associated with press releases and public relations briefings. Consequently, it is possible to conjecture that this article is also not primarily aimed at encouraging readers to visit Universal Studio’s ‘Super Nintendo’ theme park but rather focuses on a story—the news event of the theme park opening— that broadly fits with the relatively young, perhaps family orientated, demographic of The Mirror readers. Again, by contrast, the article from The Daily Mail seems to make use of a form of The Cultural Frame that is much more in keeping with broadsheet travel journalism content. Clearly, the focus of the article does not necessitate conveying cultural difference but the article does, nonetheless, contain a great deal of information about what to see and do at each location. For example, each house reviewed includes a ‘Don’t Miss’ feature which focuses on a particular, unique aspect or characteristic along with details of the price of admission. In this way, the article establishes a sense of the cultural practices that are typically in play in this form of tourism. There is also a clear sense of Identification in The Daily Mail’s article on visiting National Trust properties. As noted above, in general terms Alan Titchmarsh is a well-known celebrity that a large proportion of the readership can no doubt identify with. More than this, the details provided on

2  MAKING TABLOID TRAVEL JOURNALISM: VALUES AND VISUALITY 

41

each property—such as play areas in the grounds or particular rooms to visit—lay foundations on which we can imagine ourselves in specific locations. Titchmarsh’s text invites us to join him visiting the properties he reviews. In providing a strong sense of The Cultural Frame—what to see and do—the premise on which we can imagine ourselves in the locations featured is strongly established. Here, Identification is present in much the same way as it seems to typically be in broadsheet travel journalism. By contrast, Identification is largely absent in The Sun’s article on the floating hotel in Sweden. The text does not convey a sense of its author’s experiences of the floating hotel. Indeed, an impression of the author/journalist in the location is entirely absent from the text. Beyond the opening reference to the ‘river Lule’ there is no information on where the hotel is located in Sweden nor is any travel information provided on how to get there. In essence there are no visual or textual ‘footsteps’ to follow in here. No doubt readers will identify with the contemporary aesthetics of the hotel, its luxurious and novel features. This, though, seems to amount to a form of Identification that is borne out of some very limited and general representational characteristics of the article. Certainly, it seems at odds with the constitutive aspects of travel narratives, the primary features of the ‘news’ value of Identification, that encourage us to participate in a significatory journey. This sense of Identification is also largely absent from The Mirror’s article of Universal Studio’s ‘Super Nintendo’ theme park. The journalist/author is absent from the text and visual images and there is no sense of their experience of this destination. It should be acknowledged that the nature of this destination will no doubt be of interest to readers, that there will be readers who will contemplate buying into this holiday experience. However, much like The Sun’s article, beyond a very general sense of interest there are no specific signifiers of Identification in this article. All three articles are clearly inscribed with a sense of Positivity. In broad terms this is not surprising, after all, the basic premise of most professionally produced travel journalism is the promotion of consumer choices in tourism experiences (Fürsich & Kavoori, 2001). This dimension of the genre’s political economy is clearly an important factor underlying the affirmative, upbeat stylistics of most travel content (Hanusch, 2010, p. 74; see also Daye, 2005). Additionally, travel journalism, like all the other facets of newspapers’ ‘package’, has to play its part in endeavouring to entertain, retain and expand readership—this economic motivation no doubt also contributes to shaping travel journalism’s intrinsic positivity. It is

42 

B. COCKING

interesting to note, though, that the ways in which Positivity is conveyed in the three tabloid articles under consideration here reveals some differences in presentation to that typically found in broadsheet travel journalism. In this sense, what is immediately apparent when looking at the articles in The Sun and The Mirror is that they convey positivity in broad and generalized terms. It seems this is related to the ways in which other ‘news’ values are present in these articles in rather broad and generalized terms. For example, The Sun’s article on the floating hotel in Sweden describes it as ‘gorgeous property, which looks like a bird’s nest from above and is known as Arctic Bath’ (The Sun, 24th January). Likewise, The Mirror’s piece on the ‘Super Nintendo’ theme park makes reference to its ‘thrilling rides, themed lands and plenty of interactive game play’ (The Mirror, 24th January). Undoubtedly, the tone is positive, enthusiastic and exciting but also somewhat impersonal. There is little sense of the author writing of first-hand experience in these destinations. Consequently, there is a contrast with broadsheet travel journalism in terms of the construction of positivity in these articles. These tabloid articles convey a more generalized form of positivity—one that seems to be premised on exhorting the reader to engage in a sense of wonderment at the aesthetics of tourism experiences. As with some of the other values discussed above, The Daily Mail’s article on National Trust properties conveys a form of positivity that is more consistent with that of broadsheet travel journalism. There is a much stronger sense of the author’s personal engagement with the experiences they describe: ‘I love exploring historic homes and gardens because they colour in what would otherwise be black-and-white history’ (Alan Titchmarsh, The Daily Mail, 24th January, 2020). There is a more individualized form of positivity here. It is conveyed through personal perspective and first hand insights into visiting the National Trust’s properties. The positivity of The Daily Mail’s article is bound up in Titchmarsh’s enjoyment—the inference being that this is an enjoyment we, the reader, can tangibly experience too. This presentation of Positivity is more in keeping with that typically found in broadsheet travel journalism, functioning in a more individualized way as a driver for the consumption of tourism experiences (Cocking, 2017, p.  1359). This contributes to the impression that the articles in The Sun and The Mirror are motivated primarily by the economic imperative to entertain readers. The Daily Mail article seems to be premised on the expectation that its readers will follow through to become consumers of the tourism experiences they describe in a way that is not as apparent in The Sun and The Mirror.

2  MAKING TABLOID TRAVEL JOURNALISM: VALUES AND VISUALITY 

43

Information about tourism experiences and destinations is often conveyed in travel journalism through contrasting signifiers of difference with those of familiarity. This representational binary of ‘At home/out there’ seemed to be a relatively prevalent ‘news’ value in broadsheet travel journalism (Cocking, 2017, p. 1357). Certainly, there is a strong sense of difference in The Sun’s and The Mirror’s articles. The Sun’s feature on the floating hotel in Sweden is presented primarily through visual images. The photographs of its location on a frozen river and features such as its partially iced over plunge pool are aesthetically beautiful and convey a dramatic sense of ‘out there’. Clearly, this is a destination like no other, offering a unique, perhaps ‘once in a life time’ opportunity. The Mirror’s piece on the ‘Super Nintendo’ is also dominated by captivating visual images. Arguably this is not so much ‘out there’ as it is other worldly. Here difference is connoted through the presentation of a fantasy world. However, in both articles difference is constructed through what is present—signifiers of ‘home’, of everyday familiarities are entirely absent. These articles do not make use of the representational binary of ‘At home/ out there’. The ‘At home’ part of this ‘news’ value is missing, it is, at best, an inference beyond the text. In this sense, the partial presence of ‘At home/out there’ contributes to the impression that these articles are primarily for interest and entertainment. The reader is drawn to difference as novelty; the presence of signifiers of ‘At home’ might invite readers to draw comparisons between their everyday experiences and by extension imagine themselves participating in the tourism experiences described in the articles. That is, to ultimately to ‘buy into’ and consume them. By contrast, The Daily Mail’s article on National Trust properties fits very much into the ‘staycation’ sub-category of travel journalism. Whereas, The Sun and The Mirror focus on expensive and unique tourism experiences, The Daily Mail focuses on tourism experiences that are local and financially accessible to large numbers of people throughout the UK.  Whilst not ‘far flung’ or ‘exotic’, there is nonetheless a strong sense of ‘At home/ out there’ running through The Daily Mail’s article. Indeed, whilst arguably the degree of difference conveyed here is relatively small, the contrast between signifiers of the ‘everyday’ and the tourist destinations is much more explicit. Unlike, the content in The Sun and The Mirror, this article makes an explicit contrast between the familiar cycles of everyday life and descriptions of experiences and places that purport to take us beyond this mundanity:

44 

B. COCKING

Nowadays, more than ever, we need respite from the 24-hour news cycle and the worries of the world, and going to a magnificent house or garden gives us that. There’s pleasure and spiritual enrichment in beautiful things (Alan Titchmarsh, The Daily Mail, 24th January, 2020)

History  Historical details often feature strongly in travel journalism content. This seems to mirror, or is perhaps borne out of, the broader cultural practices of tourism, where tourists, tour guides and tourist literature place considerable emphasis on the acquisition of historical knowledge about destinations. In part this seems to function as an aspect of the ways in which tourist activities are inscribed with meaning, that is, the ways in which they are made ‘authentic’ (Cohen, 1988; MacCannell, 1973). Tourist activities and practices are often premised on accruing different forms of authenticity (Lau, 2010). Historical information can function then as a marker of authenticity, contributing to the interpretative framework through which tourists experience tourism activities and settings. A further function of historical information in the context of rendering tourism experiences meaningful and authentic is the way in which such information might be seen as contributing to the ‘cultural capital’ tourists ascribe to specific tourism experiences. This is, seemingly, an aspect of the highly class stratified social status of travel and tourism—part of the ways in which tourists construct narratives, retelling and representing their experiences to family, friends and, increasingly, social media contacts. In this sense the presence of historical details in travel journalism content can be seen as markers of authenticity and, by extension, cultural capital. The Daily Mail’s article on National Trust properties typifies the ways in which travel content tends to make use of historical details. Throughout the article there are references to the history of specific National Trust properties along with the inclusion of minor or incidental historical details that add depth to the article and convey a strong sense of authenticity. For example, the description of visiting Chartwell, a country house in Kent that was owned by former Prime Minister, Winston Churchill notes that Churchill was a keen amateur brick layer; that ‘bantam hens still live in his chicken house, Chickenham Palace’ (Alan Titchmarsh, The Daily Mail, 24th January, 2020). Perhaps unsurprisingly there is no real historical content in The Mirror’s article on the ‘Super Nintendo’ theme park. Clearly, it provides a unique and authentic experience but this experience which offers the tourist ‘rides, attractions, an entertainment centre, hotels, shops,

2  MAKING TABLOID TRAVEL JOURNALISM: VALUES AND VISUALITY 

45

restaurants and plenty more surprises’ is conveyed via other ‘news’ values such as Appeal and Identification, rather than History. Likewise, historical detail is also absent from The Sun’s article on a floating hotel. Like the article in The Mirror, this article focuses on a unique, one off, experience. Certainly, it is possible to imagine that there might be quite a lot of historical detail—on architecture and design, on the history of floating buildings etc.,—that could have been included here. However, this article also relies primarily on the ‘news’ values of Appeal and Identification as a means of conveying the story to its readers. The lack of historical detail in The Sun and The Mirror contributes to the perception that their content is primarily for readers’ entertainment. Conversely, the presence of historical detail in The Daily Mail supports the view that this content is actively promoting tourism consumption choices. All three articles contain a strong degree of Timeliness. The Mirror’s article on the ‘Super Nintendo’ theme park was clearly produced on the basis that this theme park was part of a series of new developments planned by Universal Studio, Orlando. Whilst this is content driven by a news event (the opening of the theme park), this is not the case with The Sun’s feature on the floating hotel in Sweden. The hotel opened in 2018 and in this sense does not constitute a new event. Rather, it is a winter based tourism experience and here timeliness is driven by seasonal change. The Daily Mail’s article is motivated by another form of Timeliness—2020 marks the 125th anniversary of the National Trust and this is the imperative behind the publication of this feature. However, whilst Timeliness is clearly an important factor in the publication of all three articles, it is perhaps tempered by the degree to which some of the other ‘news’ values, such as Identification are present. As noted above The Sun and The Mirror seems to privilege the aesthetic appeal of their tourist experiences over a more personalized sense of engagement, of following in the author’s footsteps. Consequently, whilst articles in The Sun and The Mirror are undoubtedly timely this is perhaps less directly relevant to their readers. For example, this is not a case of seasonal timeliness coinciding with readers’ seasonal holiday planning in the way that an article on a skiing holiday in January might. Conversely, the stronger sense of personalization and the accessibility of the National Trust houses, means that the timeliness of The Daily Mail’s feature might also be a factor in motivating them to engage in visiting National Trust houses.

46 

B. COCKING

Conclusions: Distinctly Tabloid News Values? By way of some general observations, it is worth reiterating that, as others have noted, studies of news values are always interpretive and partial rather than absolute (Harcup and O’Neill, 2001; Galtung and Ruge, 1965). In this sense, this initial, exploratory sample reveals some of the representational trends that shape and underscore tabloid based travel journalism. It is also worth noting that these representational trends are by no means the complete picture. After all other types of travel content can no doubt be found in their travel sections, including consumer advice articles and ‘listicles’. In keeping with the general trends of tabloidization there is also an increasing focus on destinations that have appeared in films and television series across all forms of travel journalism. What has emerged, though, is the impression that tabloid travel content deploys ‘news’ values in ways that differ with broadsheet travel journalism. This is evident in the ways in Appeal, Positivity and Timeliness were constructed in the articles in The Sun and The Mirror. These values were configured in more direct ways— ways that were simpler and some instances more sensational and dramatic than that typically found in broadsheet tabloid travel journalism. Some of the other ‘news’ values, such as the Cultural Frame and History were absent in the articles from The Sun and The Mirror. Whilst others— Identification and ‘At home/out there’—were only partially present. The articles contained no first-hand impressions of the destinations—seemingly providing little basis for the reader to imagine themselves participating in the holiday experiences. This runs counter to the ways in which tabloid journalism is often characterized as championing personal, emotive and human interest forms of address. Similarly, whilst both conveyed their destinations as different and unique this lack of personal information meant there was little sense of ‘home’, of the everyday to contextualize ‘out there’. Nonetheless, whilst there is difference in amplitude and emphasis, variations of the same underlying values are broadly recognizable in both tabloid and broadsheet forms of travel journalism. The underlying values are the same across both forms but in some cases the volume has been turned up—and down—in the tabloid content. This is very much in keeping with the broader distinctions drawn between tabloid and broadsheet forms of journalism (McLachlan & Golding, 2000; Uribe & Gunter, 2004). The most substantive point of difference emerged around the role of Visual Images in the articles in The Sun and The Mirror. These articles seem to follow the general trend in tabloid journalism towards

2  MAKING TABLOID TRAVEL JOURNALISM: VALUES AND VISUALITY 

47

using more visual images, often as a driver for ‘clicks’ online (Harcup and O’Neill, 2016, p.  1476). Certainly, this is the case here. These articles privilege visuals over textual content, their images being the principal frames through which drive readers interpret their narratives. Whilst there is more variation in the ways in which the content in The Sun and The Mirror deploy ‘news’ values, the article in The Daily Mail seems to make use of ‘news’ values in a more measured and consistent way. In this respect, The Daily Mail is more in keeping with the representational strategies of broadsheet travel journalism. There is a much stronger sense of personalization in The Daily Mail’s article—the reader is very much encouraged to imagine themselves visiting the National Trust properties described. This seems to be reflective of The Daily Mail’s mid-­ market position and its relatively affluent, older readership. A further indicator of this is that The Daily Mail places emphasis on travel content which promotes consumption and follow-through, whilst The Sun and The Mirror tend to emphasize the visual aesthetics of travel, privileging the entertainment value of such content over its potential as a driver for consumption. What emerges then is the impression that tabloid travel journalism tends to convey its underlying representational and ideological values in a more varied and in some instances more direct and simple way. The emphasis it places upon visual images as a narrative driver of travel content is very interesting and clearly fits with the fast developing interface between the stylistics of tabloidization and technological possibilities of social media inspired and derived content. Identifying and examining the news values of tabloid travel journalism facilitates further understanding of the cultural influence of this form of journalism as well as its economic power and associations. It will be very interesting to chart the development of this trend and clearly there is a great deal of scope for further research into the ‘news’ values of tabloid travel journalism.

References Allan, S. (2010). News culture. Berkshire, England: Open University Press. Allern, S. (2002). Journalistic and commercial news values: News organizations as patrons of an institution and market actors. Nordcom Review, 23(1), 137–152. Barkho, L. (2010). News from the BBC, CNN, and Al-JazeeraHow the three broadcasters cover the Middle East. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press. Bell, A. (1991). The language of news media. Oxford: Blackwell.

48 

B. COCKING

Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education (pp. 241–258). New York: Greenwood. Biressi, A., & Nunn, H. (2007). The Tabloid Culture Reader, Maidenhead. Berkshire: Open University Press, McGraw-Hill Education. Boykoff, M. T. (2008). The cultural politics of climate change discourse in UK tabloids. Political Geography, 27, 549–569. Caple, H., & Bednarek, M (2013). Delving into the discourse: Approaches to news values in journalism studies and beyond. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Oxford University, pp.  1–29. Retrieved January 12, 2020, from https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:1f5c6d91-bb1f-4278-a16066149ecfb36b/download_file?file_format=pdf&safe_filename=Delving%2Bint o%2Bthe%2BDiscourse&type_of_work=Working+paper Caple, H., & Bednarek, M. (2014). Why do news values matter? Towards a new methodological framework for analysing news discourse in critical discourse analysis and beyond. Discourse & Society, 25(2), 135–158. Caple, H., & Bednarek, M. (2015). Rethinking news values: What a discursive approach can tell us about the construction of news discourse and news photography. Journalism, 17(4), 1–22. Cocking, B. (2014). ‘Out there’: British travel journalism and the negotiation of cultural difference’ in Travel Journalism: Exploring Production, Impact and Culture, edited by Hanusch, Folker & Fürsich, Elfriede, 176–192. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Cocking, B. (2017). News values go on holiday: The ideological values of travel journalism. Journalism Studies, 19(9), 1349–1365. Cohen, E. (1988). Authenticity and commoditization in tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 15(3), 371–386. Conboy, M. (2006). Tabloid Britain: Constructing a community through language. London: Routledge. Conboy, M. (2011). British journalism: A historical introduction. London: Sage. Dahlgren, P., & Sparks, C. (Eds.). (1992). Journalism and popular culture. London: Sage Publications. Daye, M. (2005). Mediating tourism: An analysis of the Caribbean holiday experience in the UK National Press. In D.  Crouch, R.  Jackson, & F.  Thompson (Eds.), The Media & the Tourist Imagination: Converging cultures (pp. 14–26). New York: Routledge. Delahaye, J. (2020). Universal studios Orlando’s new theme park will have a super Nintendo world, Travel section, the mirror. Retrieved January 24, 2020, from https://www.mirror.co.uk/travel/usa-canada/universal-studios-orlandosnew-theme-21353419 Dinhopl, A., & Gretzel, U. (2016). GoPro panopticon: Performing in the surveyed leisure experience. In S.  Carnicelli, D.  McGillivray, & G.  McPherson (Eds.), Digital Leisure Cultures: Critical perspectives (pp. 66–79). New York: Routledge.

2  MAKING TABLOID TRAVEL JOURNALISM: VALUES AND VISUALITY 

49

Duffy, B., & Rowden, L. (2004). You are what you read? How newspaper readership is related to views, IPSOS MORI. Retrieved January 23, 2020, from https:// www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/publication/1970-01/sri_you_are_what_ you_read_042005.pdf Fairclough, N. (1995). Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language. Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education Limited. Fenton, N. (2019). The scandalous power of the press: Phone hacking in the UK. In H. Tumber & S. Waisbord (Eds.), Routledge companion to media and scandal. Abingdon: Routledge. Finnegan, S. (2020). Wa-ter view You can stay in a floating ‘Artic’ hotel with stunning Northern Light views. Travel section, the sun. Retrieved January 24, 2020, from https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/10811355/arctic-bath-hotel-sweden/ Fürsich, E., & Kavoori, A. P. (2001). Mapping a critical framework for the study of travel journalism. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 4(2), 149–171. Galtung, J., & Ruge, M. (1965). The structure of foreign news: The presentation of the Congo, Cuba and Cyprus crises in four Norwegian newspapers. Journal of International Peace Research, 1, 64–69. Gershon, R. A., & Alhassan, A. (2017). The diffusion of authority: A case study analysis of news Corporation’s News of the World newspaper. In K. D. Altmeppen, C.  Hollifield, & J. van Loon (Eds.), Value-oriented media management: Decision making between profit and responsibility (pp. 189–207). Cham: Springer. Good, D. K. (2013). ‘Why we travel: Picturing global mobility in user-generated travel journalism’, Media. Culture and Society, 35(3), 295–313. Haggerty, A. (2013). The sun is top of the tabloids and the guardian best-read broadsheet according to latest figures. Retrieved January 23, 2020. https://www.thedrum.com/news/2013/05/31/sun-top-tabloids-and-guardian-bestread-broadsheet-according-latest-figures) Hall, S. (1973). The determinations of news photographs. In S. Cohen & J. Young (Eds.), The manufacture of news: Deviance, social problems and the mass media. London: Constable. Hamid-Turksoy, N., Kuipers, G., & Van Zoonen, L. (2014). Try a taste of Turkey. Journalism Studies, 15(6), 743–758. Hanusch, F. (2010). The dimensions of travel journalism: Exploring new fields for journalism research beyond the news. Journalism Studies, 11(1), 68–82. Hanusch, F. (2012). A profile of Australian travel journalists’ professional views and ethical standards. Journalism, 13(5), 668–686. Harcup, T., & O’Neill, D. (2001). What is news? Galtung and Ruge revisited. Journalism Studies, 2(2), 261–280. Harcup, T., & O’Neill, D. (2016). What is news? Journalism Studies, 18(12), 1470–1488. Kheirbadi, R., & Aghagolzadeh, F. (2012). A Discoursive review of Galtung and Ruge’s news factors in Iranian newspapers. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2(5), 989–994.

50 

B. COCKING

King, L. M. (2014). Will drones revolutionise ecotourism? Journal of Ecotourism, 13(1), 85–92. Kirk, A. (2015, January 12). Mail is UK’s most read newspaper brand – but under 35s favour The Sun. Retrieved January 23, 2020, from https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/mail-uks-most-read-newspaper-brand-under-35s-favour-sun/ Lau, R. W. K. (2010). Revisiting authenticity: A social realist approach. Annals of Tourism Research, 37(2), 478–498. Lewis, J., & Cushion, S. (2009). The thirst to be first. Journalism Practice, 3(3), 304–318. MacCannell, D. (1973). Staged authenticity: Arrangements of social space in tourist setting. American Journal of Sociology, 79(3), 589–603. Mailonline. (2020). Retrieved January 23, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/MailOnline McLachlan, S., & Golding, P. (2000). Tabloidization in the British press: A quantitative investigation into changes in British newspapers, 1952-1997. In C. Sparks & J. Tulloch (Eds.), Tabloid Tales global debates over Media standards (pp. 75–90). Oxford: Roman and Littlefield Publishers. McNair, B. (2003). An introduction to political communication. London: Routledge. Mirror Online reaches its biggest-ever monthly audience in June 2019. (2019, July 19). Retrieved January 24, 2020, from https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/ uk-news/mirror-online-reaches-biggest-ever-18366143 Negrine, R. (2017). How did the British media represent European political parties during the European parliament elections, 2014: A Europeanized media agenda? The International Communication Gazette, 79(1), 64–82. O’Neill, D. (2012). No cause for celebration: The rise of celebrity news values in the British quality press. Journal of Education, 1(2), 26–44. Sharma, A. (2020, January 5). 15 Best most popular news websites in the world – 2019 edition. Retrieved January 24, 2020, from https://www.techworm. net/2018/12/best-most-popular-news-websites-world.html Sparks, C. (2000). Introduction: The panic over tabloid values. In C. Sparks & J.  Tulloch (Eds.), Tabloid Tales. Lanham/Boulder/New York/Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield. Titchmarsh, A. (2020). My favourite national treasures: It’s the National Trust’s 125th anniversary–and ALAN TITCHMARSH reveals his pick of 500 jewels for you and your family to enjoy…, Travel section, The daily mail, 24th January. Retrieved January 24, 2020, from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-7926333/ALAN-Titchmarsh-reveals-pick-National-Tr ust-spotsfamily-enjoy.html Tobitt, C (2018, May 18). The sun overtakes mail online to become UK’s biggest online newsbrand, latest comscore data shows. Retrieved January 24, 2020, from https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/the-sun-over takes-mail-online-tobecome-uks-biggest-online-newspaper-brand-latest-comscore-data-shows/

2  MAKING TABLOID TRAVEL JOURNALISM: VALUES AND VISUALITY 

51

Tuchman, G. (1979). Women’s depiction by the mass media. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 3, 582–542. Turner, G. (2010). Approaching celebrity studies. Celebrity Studies, 1(1), 11–20. UK Newspapers Reveal Readership Demographics. (2017, June 22). Retrieved January 23, 2020, from https://www.inter-media.co.uk/uk-newspapersreveal-readership-demographics/ Uribe, R., & Gunter, B. (2004). Research note: The tabloidization of British tabloids. European Journal of Communication, 19(3), 387–403. Van Dijk, T. A. (1988). News analysis: Case studies of international and National News in the press. Hillsdale New Jersey, Hove and London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Van Dijk, T. A. (2013). News as discourse. New York and London: Routledge. Wodak, R. (1996). Disorders of discourse. London: Longman. Wodak, R., & Meyer, M. (2001). Methods of critical discourse analysis. London: Sage. Yougov. (2020, January). The daily mirror is the 9th most popular and the 3rd most famous. Retrieved January 23, 2020, from https://yougov.co.uk/topics/media/explore/newspaper/The_Daily_Mirror

Websites https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MailOnline Retrieved January 23, 2020, from https://www.inter-media.co.uk/ uk-newspapers-reveal-readership-demographics/ Retrieved January 23, 2020, from https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ publication/1970-01/sri_you_are_what_you_read_042005.pdf Retrieved January 23, 2020, from https://www.mailmetromedia.co.uk/brand/ mailonline/ Retrieved January 23, 2020, from https://www.metroclassified.co.uk/daily-mail Retrieved January 23, 2020, from https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ mirror-online-reaches-biggest-ever-18366143 Retrieved January 23, 2020, from https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/ mail-uks-most-read-newspaper-brand-under-35s-favour-sun/ Retrieved January 23, 2020, from https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/ the-sun-overtakes-mail-online-to-become-uks-biggest-online-newspaperbrand-latest-comscore-data-shows/ Retrieved January 23, 2020, from https://www.techworm.net/2018/12/bestmost-popular-news-websites-world.html Retrieved January 23, 2020, from https://www.thedrum.com/ news/2013/05/31/sun-top-tabloids-and-guardian-best-readbroadsheet-according-latest-figures Retrieved January 23, 2020, from https://yougov.co.uk/topics/media/explore/ newspaper/The_Daily_Mirror

CHAPTER 3

“Itravel: Competing Forms of Travel Writing in Print Based and User Generated Journalism”

Introduction The impact of new media technology on travel journalism, and more specifically the rise of user generated content, has received limited attention. The intention here is to examine the representational modalities of travel blog content and consider the ways in which it is changing the nature of traditional, professional travel journalism. Drawing on Bourdieu’s notion of ‘distinction’ (1987), this chapter explores how the authority and expertise of the professional travel journalist now competes with the more organic, perhaps less commercially driven displays of ‘symbolic mastery’ in travel blogs. Problematic though its public relations derived ‘advertorial’ content might be, it is also a consequence of the close alliance between travel journalism and the tourism industry. Online, as might be expected, the world-wide prevalence and economic strength of tourism—an industry which in 2017 accounted for 10.4% of global GDP and 9.9% of employment worldwide—is mirrored in the production of vast amounts of tourism related content (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2018). In 2018 the total number of blog accounts registered on Tumblr exceeded 417.1 million (Tumblr/Wikipedia). The category of travel consistently features in the top ten rankings of most viewed blog categories and such user generated content is fast gaining significant readership figures (Adams, 2018). A survey of the Google analytics of the top 50 travel blogs showed

© The Author(s) 2020 B. Cocking, Travel Journalism and Travel Media, https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59908-7_3

53

54 

B. COCKING

that over the last quarter of 2016 the number of unique visitors across all 50 sites totalled 29, 911, 790 million (Stabile, 2017). Such a figure is undoubtedly smaller than the readership figures of The Mail Online which in 2015 attracted 200 million unique browsers each month (Baird, 2015). Or similarly The New York Times, which in January 2016 attracted 649.2 million total digital page views (Barr, 2016). Nonetheless, it is clear that travel companies, and other associated businesses, see the commercial potential of UGC travel blogs, advertising on or sponsoring popular sites like Nomadic Matt and Two Monkeys Travel Group. It is also evident that sites such as these regularly feature in online and print content produced by established and legacy media organizations. For example, Ben Schlappig the creator of One Mile at a Time has featured in a number of articles in long established national newspapers, such as The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times (Schlappig). Travel journalism, then, has clearly been profoundly affected by developments in social media technology and the rise of user generated content. Given the readership figures of travel blogs, it is clear that such user generated content also has the potential to be a significant contributor to cultural perceptions of peoples and places.

Mapping Travel Journalism Undoubtedly, this issue of how travel journalism renders the world to its readers and viewers continues to be a dominant line of academic enquiry (see, e.g., Damkjoer & Waade, 2014; Cocking, 2009; Voase, 2006; Fürsich & Kavoori, 2016). Scholarly studies in this area have tended to focus on the cultural role of travel journalism as a significant, yet overlooked, site of ‘journalistic praxis—that of encountering, covering and depicting the Other’ (Fürsich, 2016: 58). This involves consideration of ‘the shared assumptions between journalists and readers about what representations are relevant from beyond their borders’ (Day Good, 2013: 296). In this sense, as Hamid-Tuksoy et al. note, travel journalism is the example par excellence of media construction through language, as well as photographs: travel features produce images, representations, dreams and fantasies of distant locations most readers have not (yet) visited or know little about. By focusing on this journalistic form we can understand the wider power relations involved in making travel articles (2014: 745)

3  “ITRAVEL: COMPETING FORMS OF TRAVEL WRITING IN PRINT… 

55

However, studies such as these focused on print and legacy media produced travel content created by professional journalists. The predominance and growing influence of user generated travel content has, though, long been acknowledged within disciplines such as Tourism Studies as well as other, often overlapping disciplines such as Marketing and Leisure Management (see, e.g., Amaral, Tiago, & Tiago, 2014; Camprubí, Guia & Comas, 2013; Bosangit, McCabe, & Hibbert, 2009). Studies in these areas commonly conceive of UGC travel content in terms of its marketing potential, as a form of ‘electronic word of mouth’. Consequently, quantitative research methods tend to dominate (De Ascaniis & Morasso, 2011: 125; see also Baka & Scott, 2008; Schmallegger & Carson, 2008). This has facilitated the examination of the extent to which specific tourist destinations are presented positively and negatively, particularly on review sites such as TripAdvisor (O’Connor, 2008). Most significantly, though, such quantitative approaches have also enabled consideration of the extent to which tourists as UGC creators are influencing the promotion of destinations (Ayeh, Au, & Law, 2013; Lee, Law, & Murphy, 2011). Yet, as Ascaniis and Morasso note, a quantitative approach to UGC does not tell us the whole story about how users read their fellow travellers’ comments. Intuitively, it is clear that it makes a difference whether a tourist suggests a destination for a short visit or for a longer-term holiday; for a family trip, a honeymoon or a study stay (2011: 2).

In this sense, it is important not to overlook the interconnected nature of travel blogs. As Helmond notes, blogs are ‘a centralizing force within the distributed network: a central identity hub’ (2010: 19). The promotion of content and, ultimately, the capacity to influence consumer choices and cultural practices, is dependent on cross-promotion across other social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, as well as the co-promotion of fellow bloggers and links to legacy media and advertising content (Nabeth, 2009; Reed, 2005). Related to this, the factors which prompt users to present destinations positively or negatively requires consideration of how UGC resonates with commonly held cultural assumptions about destinations and thus the extent to which such content competes with professionally produced travel journalism. This issue, of whether cultural assumptions are challenged or perpetuated by user generated travel journalism content, is addressed by Duffy (2015) through a

56 

B. COCKING

survey and observational interviews with a small group of travel journalism students. Duffy examines their use of different forms of travel focused media content in researching a destination prior to visiting it. Consideration is given to the influence of user generated travel content, including travel websites, OURS (online user review sites), chat rooms and blogs, on their travel planning (825). By way of addressing the rationale behind their attitudes towards different forms of travel content, students were asked about which styles of writing they preferred (825). The imperative for this was to assess whether UGC in particular affords the possibility of alternative perspectives, ones that ‘run counter to the global imagining of a place, to reject the homogenized representation…’ (823). Duffy found that rather than facilitating heterogeneous viewpoints, ‘the Internet appears to offer a homogenized worldview that creates an occlusion of alternative travel behaviours and a hegemonic dominance of the tourist’ (830). This appears to be compounded by a strong preference for ‘first person anecdotal’ styles of writing (829). Seemingly, the emphasis is on ‘not “what I saw” but rather “what I felt about what I saw there”…a destination is of interest only insofar as it provides a personal anecdote’ (830). Likewise, consideration of the representational dynamics of user generated travel content informs Day Good’s study of the New York Times ‘Why we Travel’ a collation of over 2000 reader-submitted photos and captions submitted to the newspaper’s online travel section (2013). Like Duffy the intention is to examine the presence of ‘“new” tourisms’ (295). That is, representations that seem to run counter to the hegemonic signifying practices which, in the context of globalization, have turned ‘a previously vast and mysterious world into something “too well known, too fast” (Osborne, 2000: 184)’ (305). Drawing on the work of tourism scholars Dean MacCannell and John Urry, representations of travel from the ‘Why we Travel’ collection are delineated as either ‘emergent’ or ‘enduring’. Acknowledging their respective ‘modernist’ and ‘postmodernist’ framing of the cultural practices of tourism, Day Good argues that both draw attention to ‘distinct lenses, or “gazes,” that tourists employ as they travel and consume new sights’ (298). Further, that the complementarity between these perspectives helps facilitate an understanding of the ‘historically layered touristic themes and gazes (combining notions of leisure, authenticity, neo-colonial exoticism, kitsch, and class) that are exhibited in WWT’ (298). The images of the ‘Why we Travel’ collection are seen as dominated by ‘enduring’—what Duffy might term ‘hegemonic’—modes of representation. Yet, Day Good finds the WWT collection, and the

3  “ITRAVEL: COMPETING FORMS OF TRAVEL WRITING IN PRINT… 

57

‘authoritative aesthetic’ lent it by the New York Times, also has the capacity for more reflexive forms of representation (295). Ones that appear to be opening not closing down interpretive possibilities: When subject matter is problematic or disorientating, as exhibited in WWT’s uneven representations of poverty, war or gawking tourists, the publication works to legitimate them, presenting them as intelligible, uncontroversial, and worthy of contemplation and consumption (311)

Raman & Choudary (2014) find a similar breadth and variety in representational styles and content in Indian travel blogs. In comparison with travel features in published in The Times of India and The Hindu, which were ‘very prescriptive and informative, intended for prospective travellers with a possible goal of promoting tourism and culture’ the travel blogs in their sample tended to be more overtly opinion based and critical (122). Clearly, the market forces of Indian newspapers means that their travel content tends ‘to cater to the taste of their audience and work within an editorial framework’ (125). This results in a characteristically, upbeat style of travel journalism designed to promote consumption, appealing to the ‘global citizen of the world, the sophisticated traveller and holiday-seeker’ with content placed closed to advertisements for package holidays (127). In contrast with the ‘what to do’ and ‘what to see’ narratives of professional travel journalism, Raman and Choudary find that with the ‘potential to build communities of interest and practice outside the commercialism of the industry, travel blogging represents a significant departure from mainstream professional travel journalism’ (129).

Analysing User Generated Travel Blogs and Professional Produced Travel Journalism Existing research like Raman and Choudary’s appears to indicate a less hegemonically determined and much broader variation of styles and narrative formats in user generated travel content than is typically found in professionally produced travel journalism (see also, Pirolli, 2014). Yet, constitutively, both of travel content share the same drive to acquire readers and followers—to in a sense establish brand identity (see, e.g., McGaurr & Lester, 2018). It is vital, therefore, to consider how content in both formats acquires legitimacy and authority—how does they build ‘engagement’? In drawing on the Bourdieu’s concept of ‘distinction’ the

58 

B. COCKING

intention is to examine how such content displays ‘symbolic mastery’ through language, form and visual imagery. How is authority and expertise manifest and how does this compare with more traditional forms of professionally produced travel journalism? Fundamentally, ‘what creates the power of the words’ in tourist’s blogs ‘is the belief in the legitimacy of the words and of those who utter them’ (Bourdieu, 1982/1991: 170). For Bourdieu ‘distinction’ is derived from participation in a ‘field’, where the latter ‘defines itself by (among other things) defining specific stakes and interests, which are irreducible to the stake and interests specific to other fields (Bourdieu, 1993: 72). The concept of the ‘field’ can be conceived of as a ‘matrix of objective relations between positions within a social space/practice’ (Kane, 2012: 273). Whilst often associated with conceptions of class stratification, fundamentally ‘distinction’ is predicated on the relative performance of participants in social space, that is, in the ‘field’. As Kane notes, ‘players with distinction exhibit a symbolic mastery of the practice, a dominant capital in relation to other players’ (2012: 273). In this sense, consideration is given to the forms this ‘symbolic mastery of the practice’ takes in professional and user generated travel journalism. How do the significatory practices deployed in travel journalism content function as indicators of their producers’ ‘distinction’? After all, content producers’ authority or expertise is dependent on the symbolic power of their content and their ability as: specialists has the effect of making explicit and systematizing, and thus of providing the means of transforming simple practical mastery into symbolic mastery; of transmuting the unsayable into the sayable, of transgressing the boundaries of the unthinkable (Bourdieu, 1979: 83)

In making use of Bourdieu’s theoretical concepts the intention is to explore how ‘symbolic mastery’ is manifest in professional and user generated content. This takes the form of a comparative contents analysis of 50 newspaper articles from four of the globally most read English language online newspapers, the Mail Online, The New York Times, The Guardian and The Washington Post (Comscore) with the top 50 travel blogs of the last quarter of 2016 (Stabile, 2017). As a methodological approach contents analysis involves ‘objective and systematic counting and recording procedures to produce a quantitative description of the symbolic content in a text’ (Neuman, 1997, p. 273). Content analysis, then, provides a basis on which to analyse, make judgements about and quantify, the characteristics of

3  “ITRAVEL: COMPETING FORMS OF TRAVEL WRITING IN PRINT… 

59

UGC and print based travel journalism, examining their function as indicators of social ‘distinction’. Of the four newspapers, three, The Guardian, The New York Times and The Washington Post, can be defined broadsheet newspapers which attract primarily middle and upper class readerships (McNair, 2003). The Mail Online, by contrast, is a mid-­market tabloid newspaper with an upper working class and lower middle class readership (Statistica, 2019). It is interesting to note that whilst these newspapers are based in America and Britain and whilst a substantial proportion of their content is domestically orientated, they all have significant online readerships outside their country of origin. All the online versions of these newspapers essentially operate the same business mode (Picard, 2014: 506). All the websites are free to access but all contain advertising and affiliate links through which the newspapers derive revenue. All of the four online newspapers in this sample have discreet travel ‘sections’ on their websites. These sections are structured and formatted in similar ways, adding a sense of familiarity for the first time visitor. Although, whilst the New York Times, the MailOnline and The Guardian make use of themed subsections, such as the use of ‘The Frugal Traveller’, ‘MailEscape’ and ‘Holiday Guides’ respectively, the Washington Post makes less explicit use of subsections. The Washington Post also seems to update its travel section less regularly—several of the articles included here date back to 2015. Nonetheless, overall, the content in all four websites is typical of professionally produced, newspaper published travel journalism, as Hanusch and Fürsich note, it has a ‘high market orientation according to Hanitzsch’s (2007: 375) definitions, as its aim is the “blending of information with advice and guidance as well as with entertainment and relaxation”’ (2014: 10). Whilst other studies have focused on content covering particular geographical regions (see, e.g., Buzinde, Eunjung Yoo & Bjorn Peterson, 2014; Cocking, 2009; Santos, 2004), the sample here was not delineated in any way. Arguably, this mitigates against developing a detailed account of the hegemonic modes of representation that characterize travel journalism on specific areas or countries (see, e.g., Hamid-Turksoy, Kuipers & Van Zoonen, 2012 study of British travel journalism on Turkey). Instead, this approach allows for a more overarching exploration of the means by which symbolic mastery is accrued and displayed. And further, consideration of the extent to which this is premised on the use of modes of representation that perpetuate or run counter to dominant discursive positions. The top 50 blogs survey, inevitably, contain a much more eclectic mix of content. Though all the blogs are produced in the international

60 

B. COCKING

language of the internet—English—they tend not to explicitly portray themselves as being produced in, or allied with, specific nations. That said, in some cases, references to specific currencies and/or products indicate the nationality of their primary readership. For example, blogs such as View from the Wing, appears to be primarily aimed at an American readership in that its articles on credit card reward schemes for travellers only features American credit cards. Certainly, it is not the case that user generated content is as devoid or above such commercial imperatives as the term (UGC) might be given to imply. Clearly, there are a vast number of blogs that offer their readers nothing more than free accounts of travel experiences. However, in terms of generating large numbers of followers, the top 50 chart indicates that this form of blogging has been entirely superseded by forms that have very clear commercial objectives. All the blogs in this sample seek to generate income from using and combining, to varying degrees, advertising, sponsorship, endorsements, products, subscription, affiliate commission and donations. It should be noted that this is not unique to travel oriented blogs and UGC but an increasingly generic feature of blogs with large readerships, indicating the large scale commercial potential of the medium (Segev, Wang, & Fernandes, 2014: 17). In contrast to the newspaper sample, where we learn little of the authors who have produced the content, in the top 50 travel blogs sample the authors of content are much more visually and textually ‘present’. The majority of the blogs feature ‘about’ sections which typically include quite detailed information on the content producers. Overwhelmingly, the majority of the blogs featured in this sample are produced by young 20–35 year olds, white, college educated Americans. Interestingly, there were a smaller but significant number of bloggers from the Philippines, Australia and the UK and singular entries from other European countries such as Italy, Germany and Norway. It is also interesting to note that the majority of bloggers portray themselves as single, though the sample did include significant numbers of bloggers in relationships and family orientated blogs. Whilst some blogs include brief details of viewing figures, the majority do not and in the absence of such information, a sense of the likely readership demographic can be gained from these ‘about’ sections. It should be noted that the sample included four blogs that are explicitly pitched at older, 45 plus generations. This reflects the demographic of online users, where forms of social media such as blogging are most popular amongst 20–45  year old Westerners but whereas other studies have indicated that blogging is a more prevalent activity amongst women (see,

3  “ITRAVEL: COMPETING FORMS OF TRAVEL WRITING IN PRINT… 

61

e.g., Yoon, 2013: 179), the majority of bloggers in this sample are men (42 out of 50). Reading through the sample of 50 articles across the five newspapers, it is clear that this underlying imperative to promote consumption tends to result in the production of four main types of content: the traditional travel narrative, the list, the report and the aspirational/entertaining feature. In some respects, this typology supports the findings of Nilyufer Hamid-Turksoy et al. They too found that the majority of articles in their sample were traditional travel narratives, ‘“first-hand” accounts/reviews’, with a significantly smaller number taking the form of travel reports (2012: 747). The sample used here also yielded a number of articles that take the form of a list as well as a small number of ‘aspirational/entertaining’ travel features—articles that are not primarily selling travel experiences but seem to be encouraging readers to continue to consume the newspaper by playing to their general interest in the subject of travel. Two of these categories—the list and the aspirational/entertaining article—do not feature in Nilyufer Hamid-Turksoy et al’s study, or others that have taken a similar approach, such as Santos, 2004. It is possible that they included the list style of content as part of the traditional travel narrative. However, in the sample used here list style content tended to take a very specific form, one that principally differs from the traditional travel narrative in that it lacks a narrative arc and is usually not presented in first person form. For these reasons, it would seem to be a distinct type of content. In terms of the ‘aspirational/entertaining’ type of content, it is possible that this was not identified in previous studies which focused on specific countries or regions. Content centred upon specific locations is primarily driven by the imperative to promote travel experiences in such locations. In adopting a broader view of the travel sections of the newspapers included in the sample here, it is possible to see that alongside content primarily intended to promote ‘vacation planning’ (Santos, 2004: 128), there is content designed to draw readers’ interest. That is, there is a certain form of travel content that appears to function primarily as a vehicle for ‘entertainment and information purposes’ (Hanusch, 2010: 71). Clearly, these types contain elements that blur and are interwoven. It is also the case that the sample includes content that contains features from more than one type. It is important to note that the function of this typology is to identify dominant representational features in the language and format of the articles in the sample for the purposes of exploring how symbolic capital is manifest within them, rather than to arrive at an absolute, delineated set of categories (Table 3.1).

62 

B. COCKING

Table 3.1  Travel journalism in online newspapers Type The Washington post The New York times The mail The Guardian Totals:

Narrative 7 5 5 8 25

List

Report

Aspirational

3 3 1 4 11

2 2 2 1 7

0 3 4 0 7

Of the four types of travel content identified in the online newspaper sample, the ‘traditional’ travel narrative is the predominant form with 50% of the total taking this form. Perhaps in keeping with the more serious, critical profile of the broadsheets, the traditional travel narrative was most widely found in The Guardian and The Washington Post. This style of travel narrative tends to be written in the first person. The emphasis is very much on enabling the reader to see through the author’s eyes and imagine themselves in the location. This type of content does not ‘constantly create new representations but rather fall on previously established organizing narratives…these narratives are shared among popular cultural products providing frames of reference that confirm and legitimize representations’ (Santos, 2004: 123). In this way, articles evaluate locations and instruct their readers as to the tourism practices of specific locations, providing them with a sense of what to do and, crucially in commercial terms, how to do it. The central premise of this form of travel journalism is to function as the intermediary between the tourism industry and their potential customers. A sense of the ‘terroir’ tends to feature strongly, often providing the narrative bridges and informing the reader of what to see, what to do, where to stay and where to eat: We’re also warmly welcomed for lunch at Les Grands Bassins, the city’s oldest restaurant and a neighborhood institution in the newly revived old port area. Shipping containers have been transformed into student housing, and old industrial warehouses have morphed into a sleek shopping mall called the Docks Vauban (Nicklin, Washington Post, 20th July, 2017)

In this way, this form of travel journalism promotes a systematized “way of seeing” (Daye, 2005: 24). Here symbolic mastery is established through the author demonstrating their expertise, their knowledge and painting a rich text-visual semiotic for us to place ourselves in. In this respect, there is considerably consistency in the features of this type of travel journalism

3  “ITRAVEL: COMPETING FORMS OF TRAVEL WRITING IN PRINT… 

63

across the four newspapers, largely over-riding cultural differences and market positions. The authors’ apparent knowledge of the touristic experiences of a location, to seamlessly ‘fit in’ and yet remain tantalisingly, reassuringly aloofness from the ‘masses’ combines with glimpses of what MacCannell referred to as ‘life as it is really lived’ (1973: 592). Achieving this representational composition embodies symbolic mastery in this form of travel journalism: Then, several times a day, the boat stops at various coves, islands or beaches. Some guests take out snorkels and kayaks to explore the area, while others spend time hunting for coconuts or fishing off the back of a boat. Each evening, the boat moors up close to an island and you paddle to shore, before spending the evening sitting around a camp fire, playing volleyball with the locals and drinking rum and pineapple juice, before bedding down under the stars (Cockcroft, MailOnline, 13th March 2017)

The list style article was the next most common form across all the newspapers, though it featured more in the broadsheets than the mid-­market MailOnline. Clearly, this is a very commercial, advertorial form of content with typically each feature of the list being a potential point of consumption. This is reflective of the more affluent and educated demographic of broadsheet readers (Benson, 2006: 191; Conboy, 2007: 77). Whilst this type of travel journalism is principally a driver of consumption, it must be the case that the actual number of readers who are in a position to act on a specific list feature is relatively low. Perhaps there is also an entertaining, vicarious inclination towards this form of content—the reader finds enjoyment in knowing what they should do if they were to ever visit a particular location. The list format promotes specific patterns of consumption and cultural knowledge that are deeply embedded in the middle and upper class holiday experience, such as dinning out and the association of leisure time with luxury and good taste (Urry, 1988). The lack of this format in the MailOnline is perhaps an indication that this type of travel journalism serves the consumption patterns of a more up-market readership. Beyond class stratification and market orientation, it is clear that the basic representational components of this format remain largely across the newspapers. As with the traditional travel narrative, in this type of travel journalism symbolic mastery is displayed through the author’s presentation of a form of ‘knowing’. A knowledge not only of what to see and do in a particular location but an ability to sense what their readers would aspire to do were they at that location:

64 

B. COCKING

Apparently the french dip (a meat sandwich with gravy on the side) is making a comeback. It has been Cole’s stock in trade for almost 100 years and they’ve got it down to a fine art. This is a great place to pop in for a sandwich and an ice-cream float after doing the art galleries of Downtown or the fashion district… Rumour has it there’s a speakeasy in the back too, but you didn’t hear that from me (Bakare, ‘Los Angeles city guide: what to see, plus the best bars, hotels and restaurants’, The Guardian, 25th February, 2017)

Across the sample, all of the newspaper websites contained similarly low levels of report type content. Clearly, this is not a dominant form of content and arguably it is the least commercial, functioning not as a driver of consumption but as a watchdog for readers. It tends to be deployed primarily on occasions where broader world events spill over into travel plans. In this sense, it is the form most akin to news content and the ideal of “fourth estate” journalism (Hampton, 2008: 8). For example, the Washington Post website contained an article on American tourist safety in London following the 2017 terrorist attacks (Sachs, 6th July 2017). It does not serve to promote particular tourist activities or holiday destinations, but champions the rights of its readers as consumers. Consequently, whilst other forms of travel journalism tend to be ‘upbeat’ in nature (HamidTurksoy, Kuipers & Van Zoonen, 2012: 748), reports are often overtly critical of tourism and associated industries. In this context symbolic mastery takes the form of showing an awareness of established political and ethical channels between the newspaper and its readership. As with the traditional travel narrative, the first person is often used, bringing the reader directly into the issue or debate. With no direct promotion of holiday experiences, the only potential commercial imperative to this type is derived from readers’ engagement with it, a sense that their paper is safeguarding their consumer rights can generate continued readership. Particularly if, as tends to be the case, it is in line with the political orientation of the paper and its readership as this travel report in the New York Times on the wider ramifications of President Trump’s ‘travel ban’ seems to attest: As a 32-year-old British-Somali journalist living in London, I found myself caught up in the travel ban chaos. When the ban went into effect in January, I was in New York City on a fellowship at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. I needed to fly back to London on Feb. 4 to visit family, but I wasn’t sure I would be allowed back into the United States because of my dual citizenship. I was intensely questioned by customs and immigration officials at Kennedy International Airport (Einashe, ‘Traveling to America while Muslim’ The New York Times, 21st July 2017)

3  “ITRAVEL: COMPETING FORMS OF TRAVEL WRITING IN PRINT… 

65

The ‘aspirational/entertainment’ was most evident in the MailOnline and the New York Times. Aspirational and/or entertaining content is very much a feature of the MailOnline, where such content serves as ‘click bait’ and in this sense the fact that such a high proportion of this paper’s travel content took this form is very much consistent with its overall profile and the class profile of its readers (Chen, Conroy, & Rubin, 2015: 2; Conboy, 2007: 10). The presence of this type of travel journalism on the New York Times website is also in keeping with newspaper’s emphasis on more personalized, consumer driven content throughout its transition to an online news platform (Singer, 2016: 13). Typically, this type of content is very upbeat, often quite extraordinary and beyond everyday life. For example, the New York Times featured an article titled ‘The Delicious World of Bruno, Chief of Police’ based on the setting of British author Martin Walker’s ‘Bruno: chief of police’ crime novels in the Perigord region of France (Asimov, The New York Times, 24th July 2017). As is indicative in this article’s title, clearly, the reader is not being expected to ‘buy into’ this experience so much as they are being engaged by its aspirational and entertainment values. Like the report format, this type of travel journalism is not directly promoting consumption as it is working in the service of drawing in and maintaining readership. Consequently, here symbolic mastery is displayed through forms of representation that are characteristically ‘tabloid’ in their origins (Lefkowitz, 2016: 2). Such forms tend to be sensational, dramatic and often drawing on references to popular culture: Showcasing the best properties in the region and honing in on dazzling Ibiza, the first episode of Homes by the Med reveals the aspirational lifestyle and properties that exists beyond the world-renowned clubbing heartland, including a traditional farmhouse-cum-yoga-retreat and a contemporary hillside cave (Leach, ‘From a seven bedroom ‘Bond lair’ overlooking the sea to a rustic farmhouse high in the hills: The jaw-dropping holiday homes of Ibiza’, MailOnline, 14th March, 2017)

User Generated Travel Journalism Across the sample of the top 50 travel blogs, there appear to be two main types of content—the ‘digital nomad’ and ‘travel hacking’. It is also important to note that some of the blogs in this sample use terminology that pertains to both the ‘digital nomad’ and the ‘travel hacking’ categories.

66 

B. COCKING

For example, one of the most popular blogs, ‘Nomadic Matt’ primarily aims to appeal to ‘digital nomads’, Matt portrays himself as making a living through travelling and blogging. However, his site also contains advice on ‘travel hacks’. Clearly, aspirant ‘digital nomads’ may wish to take advantage of credit card reward schemes just as they may wish to enrol on one of the courses on travel blogging also on offer. The distinction is that the central premise and appeal of ‘Nomadic Matt’s’ blog is its representation of digital nomadism. Similarly, whilst ‘travel hack’ blogs tend to focus on luxury breaks rather than ‘off the grid’ escapism, some blogs in this category also refer to both subcultural activities. Further, both types of blogs use forms of traditional travel journalism narratives to recount experiences to their readers. Whilst there is clearly some cross-over between the categories of ‘digital nomad’ and ‘travel hacking’ and similarity in terms of the modes of representation which underpin them, typically, the blogs identify themselves explicitly through these terms and can therefore be categorized as such (Table 3.2). These terms are themselves redolent with subcultural capital and this is a further indication as to the demographic of travel blog readers. Evolving out of the possibilities afforded by internet technologies and infrastructure, ‘digital nomadism’ characterizes a widespread shift in working and employment patterns, particularly in the creative industries where ‘the idea of a location-independent style of working and living’ is increasingly widely desired and commonly practised. (Muller, 2016: 344). In the specific context of travel, ‘digital nomad’ indicates a boundlessness, in terms of both location and communication, it is a reference to travel as nomadic or in other words, timeless and not bound to destinations of a tourist itinerary…Yet, the same term also implies that this self is also nomadic in a “digital” sense—not limited to the travel blog, but extended or “networked” across various digital platforms. He travels “indefinitely” not just in the offline world, but online as well (Azariah, 2012: 68)

Table 3.2  Number and ranking of ‘Digital Nomad’ and ‘Travel Hacking’ blogs in top 50 blogs worldwide

Digital Nomad

Travel hacking

22/50 In top 15: 13 16–30: 11 31–50: 9

28/50 In top 15: 2 16–30: 4 31–50: 11

3  “ITRAVEL: COMPETING FORMS OF TRAVEL WRITING IN PRINT… 

67

In the setting of travel blogs, the ‘digital nomad’ form of content is premised on a narrative of removing oneself from the confines of everyday life, of having a fixed address, ownership of property and goods, of having a regular form of employment. Again, such rhetoric is very much in keeping with the demographic—one which in many Western democracies feels politically disengaged and unable to access many of the benefits and attributes their parent’s generation achieved—home ownership, career longevity, savings and pensions (Melo & Stockemer, 2014). The ‘digital nomad’ blogs in this sample overwhelmingly portray themselves as the lifestyle solution to these problems and issues. Their blogs are presented as the sole means through which they derive an income, with little, or most frequently, no information given as to other sources of income: We had both started out on the same path before we ever knew each other existed. We both decided to leave the nine-to-five career lifestyle, sell off our possessions and travel the world. Our paths first crossed in the small, historic town of Luang Prabang in Laos (Two Monkeys Travel Group)

‘Digital nomad’ style blogs tend to very explicitly promote the notion that their blogs contain all the information and guidance needed for their readers on how they too can become ‘digital nomads’. Rarely, if ever, does this advice come for free—invariably the reader has to ‘pay’ for it somehow. This can be directly in the form of a subscription or purchase of book, for example, or it could be indirectly through reading content on a blog that also contains advertising or affiliate links through which the blogger derives commission. For example, ‘Nomadic Revelations’ contains a ‘Travel Gear’ section with advice on equipment and links to purchase specific travel related products (http://www.joaoleitao.com/ resources/travel-gear/). In terms of representational strategies ‘digital nomad’ blogs tend to focus on exotic, adventurous locations, the Far East, for example, features in the majority of ‘digital nomad’ travel blogs in this sample. This is perhaps not surprising in that it is a popular ‘backpacking’ destination, a form of travel out of which digital nomadism seems to have emerged (Molz and Paris, 2014: 74). In this sense, the ways in which such destinations are photographed and written about tends to be in keeping with dominant hegemonic perspectives. In common with professional travel journalism, the language used is mainly uplifting and positive. However, whereas the latter conventionally seeks to place the reader in the shoes of the author, enticing the reader to consume a travel experience by

68 

B. COCKING

letting them imagine themselves experiencing the location. By contrast, this form of user generated travel content places much more emphasis on how the blogger purports to feel as Duffy has noted a ‘personal reaction to a destination, over and above what is occurring in that destination’ (2015, 830). Though the modes of representation are very similar, in comparison with newspaper travel journalism, the emphasis differs. Rather than the professional travel journalism identifying with how their readership might engage with a particular location, the ‘digital nomad’ functions as a lens through which the reader imagines themselves in a particular location. In effect, ‘digital nomad’ blogs sell travel experiences much like traditional forms of travel journalism, but the reader is sold the ‘digital nomad’ identity, the locations featured in such blogs are gateways to putting this identity into practice. In this format, symbolic mastery is established through enabling the reader to imagine themselves as a ‘digital nomad’ in a specific location. Perhaps as a consequence of this the language is typically more conversational and informal than traditional travel journalism narratives: Banff is like a steroid-crazed body builder talking smack whilst bench pressing twice his body weight whilst Canmore is the mixed martial artist, planking in the corner, quietly confident, biding their time. Canmore is more sophisticated; it isn’t tacky souvenir stores, overpriced steak restaurants and two for one jäger bombs. It’s local craft beer and artisanal bakeries, if you are catching my drift. Much more up my alley, you know? (https:// youngadventuress.com/2017/07/visit-canmore-canada.html)

The ‘travel hacking’ blogs in this sample do not appear to offer a form of lifestyle solution in the way that the ‘digital nomad’ blogs do. Rather, they, in drawing on popular cultural parlance, offer ‘hacks’ to improve our everyday experience. Specifically, in the context of travel these blogs offer advice and guidance on how to ‘understand the system’ and travel more ‘efficiently’—in simple terms more cheaply. Clearly, the demographic of readers who could benefit from such advice is much broader than the ‘digital nomad’ focused content. This perhaps reflects the fact that there are 28 ‘travel hacking’ blogs in the top 50. That said, it is interesting to note, that 13 out of the top 15 are ‘digital nomad’ style blogs, indicating the growing interest in this form of travel. It is also clear that there is less diversity within the ‘travel hacking’ type—the content is very similar,

3  “ITRAVEL: COMPETING FORMS OF TRAVEL WRITING IN PRINT… 

69

suggesting perhaps that this style of blog is reaching saturation point? Indeed, five of the ‘travel hacking’ style blogs in this sample are hosted by boardingarea.com. Boardingarea.com hosts a broad range of travel reward scheme focused blogs from around the world, including America, Australia and several Western European countries, though it is only the US blogs that feature in the top 50 travel blogs list. It appears to have established a niche within the ‘travel hacking’ style of blogs and franchising a business model to bloggers such as One Mile at a Time and View from the Wing. Whilst the ‘digital nomad’ references backpacking, adventure and low cost forms of travel, the ‘travel hacking’ style tends to be focused on higher end, luxury experiences. The appeal here is providing the reader with guidance on how to making significant savings on first class travel. The commercial practices that underpin this are very similar to the ‘digital nomad’ format—they too include advertising, sponsorship, endorsements, products, subscription, affiliate commission and donations. However, the most commonly used (and arguably effective) approach is affiliate commission links. Specifically, from credit card companies that offer reward schemes for travelling—frequent flyer points, discounts on hotels and so on. In terms of content, the ‘travel hacking’ blogs tend to include accounts of trips that take the form of the traditional travel narrative. They are first person accounts and, like the traditional travel narratives of professional travel journalism, the reader is afforded the opportunity to imagine themselves experiencing what the author is recounting. This is evident in the modes of representation deployed—they tend to emphasize luxury and escape, focusing on experiences that are grounded in mainstream Western aspirations. In imagining ourselves partaking of such experiences we are then offered advice and guidance on how we can short circuit the system, securing the travel experience we aspire to whilst cheating it of the expense that we cannot really afford: Despite its length, the pretty white sand beach actually doesn’t take you far from Bintan given the latter’s vastness. So if you need to head back, no need to walk all the way down to the other end. And if you go hungry, there’s Nelayan (a restaurant) where you can try Asian snacks and drinks such as Buko (young coconut) Juice. They also serve alcoholic drinks, if that’s more to your liking. Just take care not to do your walks at noon, since the wide open space can get really hot (https://outoftownblog.com/ upsize-your-holiday-at-bintan-lagoon-resort/)

70 

B. COCKING

‘Travel hacking’ blogs make use of essentially the same modes of representation as professional newspaper travel journalism. They are very upbeat, lacking in criticality and share the latter’s direct promotion of specific locations and tourism experiences. By contrast, though, they tend to make use of more personalized, conversational tone. In this way, symbolic mastery is established through a form of expertise but it is presented as coming not the paid professional, but causally in a less formal and more intimate way. A small but noticeable number of ‘travel hacking’ blogs in the sample are produced by older individual, in the 45 years plus range. They explicitly market their sites as being based on their long accrued experience of the travel industry, making it clear that they are not college kids on a gap year. This is further indication of the demographic the readership and their desires and aspirations. They are perhaps older, more firmly entrenched in acquiring all the trappings of ‘success’ in modern living, property ownership, career and wealth and so on. Consequently, the motivation for using these sites is not as a spring board to a lifestyle change, rather it is to outsmart the system and secure a commodity others have paid considerably more for. It is about seeing travel as a ‘reward’ that we deserve. It is also evident from the credit card, hotel and airline deals being reviewed that these ‘travel hacking’ sites are predominantly American in origin, although the top 50 sample does include one British ‘travel hacking’ blog called A Luxury Travel Blog. It should be noted, though, that whilst content overwhelmingly conforms to these two categories, the commercial imperative underpinning all the blogs in the sample is essentially the same. Travel journalism found in newspapers is underpinned by a financial logic that involves paying professional journalists to produce content that will help engage readers and encourage them to consume travel experiences—travel experiences provided usually for free to journalists by companies hoping to benefit from promotion travel features. In the context of blogs, the commercial imperative is not multiple and cyclical, but direct and singular. The blogger hopes to benefit financially from producing content. This is based on generating income from using and combining, to varying degrees, advertising, sponsorship, endorsements, products, subscription, affiliate commission and donations.

Conclusions Travel journalism can certainly be ‘a vehicle for the commodification of a destination’ (Nilyufer Hamid-Turksoy et al., 2014, 754). However, it is evident from the typology derived from the content sampled here that

3  “ITRAVEL: COMPETING FORMS OF TRAVEL WRITING IN PRINT… 

71

travel journalism can also be about vicarious pleasure, in aspirational and entertaining ways. Such content does not necessarily promote specific destinations, it simply serves the purpose of keeping the reader’s interest and helping to cement their relationship their chosen newspaper. It can also take the form of reports that seek to safeguard the interests of readers. The financial logic of travel journalism is certainly premised on its association with the tourist industry but it is also dependent on its function as an integral part of the ‘package’ newspapers offer up for consumption. Entertaining readers, informing them of consumer choices and/or defending their consumer rights are all important elements of this ‘package’. By contrast, user generated travel content is more about encouraging readers to adopt forms of consumption that will help facilitate their travel experiences, than it is about promoting specific travel destinations. The ‘digital nomad’ and the ‘travel hacking’ styles of content are founded on essentially the same financial model and involve encouraging readers to consume products and services that enable them to realize their travel experiences. The ‘travel hacking’ style blogs tend to adhere more closely to the traditional travel narrative typology used in newspapers. The emphasis is on encouraging the reader to imagine themselves participating in the travel experience the blogger is describing. Like newspaper travel content, this style foregrounds the ‘terroir’, ‘the what to see and do’ of specific locations. However, whereas newspaper produced travel journalism tends to include information such as hotel prices at the bottom of the article, ‘travel hacking’ blogs appear to commonly mix information on flight discounts and credit card reward schemes into the travel narrative. Here, the travel narrative serves as a means of validating the claims made of the travel hacks being promoted, encouraging the reader to view them not as dubious internet cons but shortcuts that really work. In this context, symbolic mastery is displayed through combining the traditional travel narrative schemas that place the reader in the destination with apparent empirical evidence of travel hacks genuinely working in the real world. Symbolic capital is also garnered through the inclusion of details on air miles and/ or flight miles that the blogger has achieved as well as the luxury, high quality status of hotels and restaurants they used. Ultimately, though, the ‘travel hacking’ identifier provides a thin veneer of subcultural cool to a crude form of advertorial. For ‘digital nomad’ style blogs, the modes of representation that facilitate these forms of consumption, and through which their producers

72 

B. COCKING

practise symbolic mastery, are characterized by emphasizing a lifestyle choice. Predominantly first person accounts, personal experience eclipses practical information on what to see and do. The reader is invited to not so much imagine themselves in particular destinations, as they are imagine themselves as the ‘digital nomad’ in the travel experience. Symbolic mastery is further advanced through details given of how long bloggers have been continually travelling, how they derive an income from their blog as well as the variety of destinations they have visited. In terms of destinations it should be noted that, like newspaper travel journalism, destinations are largely presented in ways that broadly support Western hegemonic perspectives. Further, that symbolic capital is also gained by demonstrating that one has travelled to specific notable or ‘on trend’ destinations. The countries of the Far East feature very consistently in the blogs in this sample, serving as a means of demonstrating kudos. In Bourdieusian terms, forms of capital are relational and interdependent; clearly, going off the beaten track is only of symbolic value if it is widely recognized as an alternative. Significantly, this is characterized by a shift from modes of representation deployed in the endeavour of bringing to us the world “out there” to what might be termed “itravel” modes of representation. Specifically, the ‘digital nomad’ identifier indicates travel behaviours that stand apart from the practices of mass tourism. If they are not entirely new, they are a hybrid of the travel practices of backpacking and the lifestyle/technological transience afforded by the internet. Certainly, there are dominate trends within this content, such as travelling in the far East, but the sample also includes an Australian/Croatian family relocating to Croatia from Australia, a Sardinian solo female traveller, a Norwegian couple who are ‘digital nomads’ for 5 weeks a year and a number of Philippino (and Far Eastern) food/travel bloggers. Whilst there is an (over)reliance on traditional travel journalism modes of representation, there is indeed a shift from the location to the individual, borne out by emerging forms of symbolic mastery. This appears to draw from the ‘influencer’ modes of representation common to social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter. “itravel” modes of representation clearly foreground the personal, they show the heterogeneity of the individual and the differing perspectives on the world they bring. ‘Digital Nomads’ and “itravel” modes of representation are borne out of the melding together of the potentiality of a subcultural, individually inscribed travel practice with the possibilities afforded by social media technology for communicating such practices. Clearly, this

3  “ITRAVEL: COMPETING FORMS OF TRAVEL WRITING IN PRINT… 

73

communication is premised on new and very different forms of symbolic capital to those commonly associated with older, more established forms of travel journalism. Where traditional travel journalism is encumbered by the cultural and historical significatory baggage that prefigures its representations of the world ‘out there’, user generated travel content foregrounds the individual as travel experience, affording the possibility of more fluid and pluralistic ways of representing and practising travel and tourism.

References Adams, D. (2018). The most popular blog categories according to google. Retrieved January 23, 2020, from http://www.bitrebels.com/social/most-popular-blogcategories-google/). Amaral, F., Tiago, F., & Tiago, F. (2014). User-generated content: Tourists’ profiles on TripAdvisor. International Journal on Strategic Innovative Marketing, 01, 137–147. Ayeh, J. K., Au, N., & Law, R. (2013). “Do we believe in TripAdvisor?” examining credibility perceptions and online travelers’ attitude toward using user-­ generated content. Journal of Travel Research, 52(4), 437–452. Azariah, D. R. (2012). Beyond the blog: The networked self of travel bloggers on twitter. PLATFORM: Journal of Media and Communication, 4(1), 63–78. Baird, D. (2015). Mail online soars past 200m monthly browsers as newspaper sites bounce back. The Guardian, 20th February. Retrieved January 23, 2020, from https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/feb/20/mail-online-gains17m-unique-browsers-as-newspaper-sites-bounce-back Baka, V., & Scott, S. V. (2008). From studying communities to focusing on temporary collectives: Research-in-progress on web 2.0  in the travel sector. Working paper series (171), Information systems and innovation group, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK. Barr, J. (2016). The New  York times pulls back ahead of the Washington post for unique visitors. AdAge, 17th February. Retrieved January 23, 2020, from http://adage.com/article/media/york-times-pulls-back-ahead-washingtonpost/302720/ Benson, R. (2006). News media as a “journalistic field”: What Bourdieu adds to new institutionalism, and vice versa. Political Communication, 23(2), 187–202. Bosangit, C., McCabe, S., & Hibbert, S. (2009). What is told in travel blogs? Exploring travel blogs for consumer narrative analysis. In W.  Höpken, U. Gretzel, & R. Law (Eds.), Information and communication technologies in tourism 2009 (pp. 61–71). Vienna: Springer. Bourdieu, P. (1979). Symbolic Power. Critique of Anthropology, 77(4), 76–85.

74 

B. COCKING

Bourdieu, P. (1982/1991). Language and symbolic power. (trans. G.  Raymond and M. Adamson), Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Bourdieu, P. (1987/1990). In other words: Essay towards a reflexive sociology. (trans. R. Nice), Cambridge: Polity Press. Bourdieu, P. (1993). Sociology in Question. (trans. Richard Nice), London: Sage. Buzinde, C. N., Yoo, E. E., & Peterson, C. B. (2014). Authorizing others: Portrayals of middle Eastern destinations in travel media. In F. Hanusch & E. Fürsich (Eds.), Travel Journalism. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Camprubí, R., Guia, J., & Comas, J. (2013). The new role of tourists in destination image formation. Current Issues in Tourism, 16(2), 203–209. Chen, Y, Conroy, N.  J, & Rubin, V.  L, (2015). Misleading online content: Recognizing clickbait as “False News” WMDD‘1. Proceedings of the 2015 ACM on Workshop on Multimodal Deception, pp. 15–19. Cocking, B. (2009). Travel journalism. Journalism Studies, 10(1), 54–68. Comscore. (n.d.). Most read online newspapers in the world: mail online, New York Times and The Guardian. Retrieved January 23, 2020, from https://www. comscore.com/Insights/Infographics/Most-Read-Online-Newspapers-inthe-World-Mail-Online-New-York-Times-and-The-Guardian Conboy, M. (2007). The language of the news. Oxford: Routledge. Damkjoer, M. S., & Waade, A. M. (2014). Armchair tourism: The travel series as a hybrid genre. In F. Hanusch & E. Fürsich (Eds.), Travel Journalism. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Daye, M. (2005). Mediating tourism: An analysis of the Carribean holiday experience in the UK national press. In D.  Crouch, R.  Jackson, & F.  Thompson (Eds.), The media and the tourist imagination: Converging cultures. London and New York: Routledge. Day Good, K. (2013). Why we travel: picturing global mobility in user-­generated travel journalism. Media, Culture & Society, 35(3), 295–313. De Ascaniis, S., & Morasso, S. G. (2011). When tourists give their reasons on the web: The argumentative significance of tourism related UGC.  In R.  Law, M. Fuchs, & F. Ricci (Eds.), Information and communication Technologies in Tourism 2011. Vienna: Springer. Duffy, A. (2015). The road more travelled: How user-generated content can lead to homogenized travel journalism. Continuum, 29(6), 821–832. Fürsich, E., & Kavoori, A. P.  (2016). Mapping a critical framework for the study of travel journalism. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 4(2), 149–171. Fürsich, E. (2016). How can global journalists represent the ‘other’? Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism, 3(1), 57–84. Hamid-Turksoy, N., Kuipers, G., Van Zoonen, L. (2014). Try a taste of Turkey. Journalism Studies, 15(6), 743–758. Hampton, M. (2008). The fourth estate ideal in journalism history. In S. Allan (Ed.), The Routledge companion to news and journalism. New York: Routledge.

3  “ITRAVEL: COMPETING FORMS OF TRAVEL WRITING IN PRINT… 

75

Hanitzsch, T. (2007). Deconstructing journalism culture: Toward a universal theory. Communication Theory, 17(4), 367–385. Hanusch, F. (2010). The dimensions of travel journalism. Journalism Studies, 11(1), 68–82. Hanusch, F., & Fürsich, E. (Eds.). (2014). Travel journalism: Exploring production, impact and culture. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Helmond, A. (2010). Identity 2.0: Constructing identity with cultural software. Www. annehelmond.nl, PDF: http://www.annehelmond.nl/wordpress/wp— content/uploads//2010/01/helmond_identity20_dmiconference.pdf Kane, M. J. (2012). Professional adventure tourists: Producing and selling stories of ‘authentic’ identity. Tourist Studies, 12(3), 268–286. Lee, H. A., Law, R., & Murphy, J. (2011). Helpful reviewers in TripAdvisor, an online travel community. Journal of Tourism and Marketing, 28(7), 675–688. Lefkowitz, J. (2016). Tabloidization or dual-convergence. Journalism Studies, 19(3), 353–375. MacCannell, D. (1973). Staged authenticity: Arrangements of social space in tourist settings. The American Journal of Sociology, 79(3), 589–603. McGaurr, L., & Lester, L. (2018). See it before its too late? Last chance travel lists and climate change. In B. Brevini & J. Lewis (Eds.), Climate change and the media volume 2. New York: Peter Lang Publishing. McNair, B. (2003). News and journalism in the UK. New York: Routledge. Melo, D. F., & Stockemer, D. (2014). Age and political participation in Germany, France and the UK: A comparative analysis. Comparative European Politics., 12(1), 33–53. Molz, J. G., & Paris, C. M. (2014). The social affordances of flashpacking: Exploring the mobility nexus of travel and communication. Mobilities, 10(2), 173–192. Muller, A. (2016). The digital nomad: Buzzword or research category? Transnational Social Review, 6(3), 344–348. Nabeth, T. (2009). Social web and identity: a likely encounter. Identity in the Information Society, 2(1), 1–5. Neuman, W. (1997). Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. O’Connor, P. (2008). User-generated content and travel: A case study on tripadvisor.Com. In P. O’Connor, W. Höpken, & U. Gretzel (Eds.), Information and communication Technologies in Tourism 2008. Vienna: Springer. Osborne, P.  D. (2000). Travelling light: Photography, travel and visual culture. Manchester and New York. Manchester University Press. Picard, R. G. (2014). Twilight or new Dawn of journalism? Journalism Studies, 15(5), 500–510. Pirolli, B. (2014). Travel journalism in flux: New practices in the blogosphere. In F. Hanusch & E. Fürsich (Eds.), Travel Journalism. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

76 

B. COCKING

Raman, U., & Choudary, D. (2014). Have traveled, will write: User-generated content and new travel journalism. In F. Hanusch & E. Fürsich (Eds.), Travel Journalism. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Reed, A. (2005). ‘My blog is me’: Texts and persons in UK online journal culture (and anthropology). Ethnos, 70(2), 220–242. Santos, C.  A. (2004). Framing Portugal representational dynamics. Annals of Tourism Research, 31(1), 122–138. Schlappig, B. (n.d.). One mile at a time. Retrieved January 23, 2020, from http:// onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/ Schmallegger, D., & Carson, D. (2008). Blogs in tourism: Changing approaches to information exchange. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 14(2), 99–110. Segev, S., Wang, W., & Fernandes, J. (2014). The effects of ad–context congruency on responses to advertising in blogs. International Journal of Advertising, 33(1), 17–36. Singer, J. B. (2016). Campaign contributions: Online newspaper coverage of election 2000. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 80(1), 39–56. Stabile, M. (2017). The top 50 travel blogs. Retrieved January 23, 2020, from http://www.theexpeditioner.com/the-top-50-travel-blogs/ Statistica. (2019). Monthly reach of daily mail and the mail on sunday newspapers in great Britain from October 2018 to September 2019, by demographic group. Retrieved January 23, 2020, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/380710/daily-mail-the-mail-on-sunday-monthly-reach-bydemographic-uk/ Tumblr. Retrieved January 23, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Tumblr. Urry, J. (1988). Cultural change and contemporary holiday-making. Theory, Culture and Society, 5(1), 35–55. Voase, R. (2006). Creating the tourist destination: Narrating the “undiscovered” and the paradox of consumption.  In K.  Meethan, A.  Anderson & S.  Miles (Eds.), Tourism, Consumption and Representation (pp. 284–300). Oxford: CAB International. World Travel & Tourism Council. (2018). Retrieved January 23, 2020, from https://www.wttc.org/-/media/files/reports/economic-impact-research/ regions-2018/world2018.pdf). Yoon, A. (2013). Defining what matters when preserving web-based personal digital collections: Listening to bloggers. The International Journal of Digital Curation, 8(1), 173–192.

CHAPTER 4

Visions of Past and Present? Travel Journalism Features and TripAdvisor Reviews of Tourist Destinations in the Middle East

Introduction In 2009 I contributed an article to a special edition of the academic journal Journalism Studies. The issue was subtitled ‘Questioning European Journalism’. In the context of thinking not so much about looking inwards, across Europe but outwards, beyond its borders, my article sought to add to debates about the historical trajectory of European representations of ‘otherness’. Specifically, it focused on representations of the Middle East in travel journalism on the pan-European ‘Travel Channel’ (Disney) and in a selection of articles drawn from the travel sections of British broadsheet newspapers. Making use of a postcolonial lens, which drew on Said’s Orientalism (1991) and Behdad’s Belated Travelers (1994), the article explored the modes of representation deployed in travel journalism in order to describe tourist destinations in the Middle East. It examined the ways in which travel journalism made ‘reference to Europe’s colonial past with the readership encouraged to recall or even re-enact earlier journeys/explorations’ (Cocking, 2009, p. 55). It found that there was a strong tendency to recycle these much older forms of representation which originate in British and European travel writing of the nineteenth century. Specifically, it concluded that as deployed in travel journalism these modes of representation lost much of their original cultural and political context and instead functioned as markers of ‘authenticity’, ultimately servicing the commercial imperatives of travel journalism.

© The Author(s) 2020 B. Cocking, Travel Journalism and Travel Media, https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59908-7_4

77

78 

B. COCKING

Whilst this reflects the cultural and historical dynamics of British and European interactions with the Middle East, it is also indicative of a more general representational tendency in travel journalism—to portray ‘others’ in ways that draw upon established popular cultural imaginings and, indeed, stereotypes (Hamid-Turksoy et al., 2014, p. 744; Cocking, 2009, Fowler, 2007). Consequently, it would no doubt be possible in a sample of present day travel journalism on the Middle East to identify content which resonates with the representational strategies of earlier forms of travel writing. In this sense, the intention of this chapter is not to embark on a ‘then’ and ‘now’ comparison of the ubiquity of such forms of representation. Rather, the intention is to contextualize the development of these orientalist imaginings in nineteenth century travel writing and trace their articulation in early tourism marketing and travel journalism on the Middle East. This provides a basis to examine some examples of contemporary travel journalism on the Middle East with the intention of looking for gaps and deviations from these established tropes. The final part of these chapter then seeks to examine the relationship between seemingly ‘alternative’ or more open ended representations of the Middle East in contemporary travel journalism and Trip Advisor reviewer accounts of contemporary tourism experiences and practices. In this way, this chapter seeks to examine the potential circuits of interaction and influence between contemporary travel journalism and the realities of current tourism practices—points of similarity, difference and porosity.

Travellers’ Tales There is a long history of British travel to the Middle East—it is ‘Westerners’ oldest destination of travel, seasonal migration, and colonisation’ (Melman, 2002, p. 105). Part of this history, specifically the geo-politics of British colonialism and the expansion of its empire is also attributed with helping to produce the term itself. Captain Alfred Mahan of the US Navy is widely credited with having first used the term as a reference to British imperialist involvement in the area in an article titled ‘The Persian Gulf and International Relations’ published in the National Review in 1902 (ibid, see also; Davison, 1960; Koppes, 1976; Adelson, 1995, p. 1 Held, 2005, p. 8). However, as Culcasi notes, 2 years prior to this the term featured in the title of an article—‘The Problem of the Middle East’ written by British General Thomas Edward Gordon and published in the journal The Nineteenth Century (1900) (2010, p. 585). Though the precise origins of

4  VISIONS OF PAST AND PRESENT? TRAVEL JOURNALISM FEATURES… 

79

the phrase are unclear and disputed, what is certain is that the term was popularized further by a British journalist, Valentine Chirol, chief of the foreign department at The Times (Koppes, 1976, p.  96). Travelling through Persia (Iran) in 1902-1903 en-route to India, Chirol filed a series of 20 articles for The Times under the heading ‘The Middle East Question’. This was followed some months later by a book titled The Middle East Question Or Some Political Problems of Indian Defence (1903). Foreshadowing the emergence of the term the ‘Middle East’, the region had, like many other regions where the British were engaged in long established colonial and imperial activities, become a locus for travel and exploration. Indeed, the colonial presence of other European countries, such as France, Italy and Germany, throughout the Middle East no doubt contributed to the region becoming ‘a favourite place for Europeans to travel in and write about’ (Said, 1991, p.  157; see also Aune, 2005; Bryce, Maclaren & O’Gorman, 2013). For Said (and many other postcolonial writers and critics, see, e.g., Kabbani, 1986 and Behdad, 1994) European presence in the Middle East was always characterized by a ‘consciousness set apart from, and unequal with, its surrounding’ (Said, 1991, p. 157). The inequality of this cross cultural interaction provides the basis on which Said conceives of ‘orientalism’ as a mode of cultural discourse— in effect a body of knowledge foundational in establishing and perpetuating a ‘Western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient’ (p.  3). Further Said identifies orientalist discourse as being produced by and located in ‘not only scholarly works but also works of literature, political tracts, journalistic texts, travel books, religious and philosophical studies’ (p. 23). Of particular interest and significance to British (and indeed other European) travellers to the region was the Arabian Peninsula. Its harsh desert environs—known as the Rub’ al Khali or Empty Quarter—were of lacking in ‘direct Western military and strategic interests…[which] left the peninsula peripheral from both touristic and imperial viewpoints’ (Melman, 2002, p. 112). British interest in the regions was largely located along its coastal edges—its strategic importance was as a crucial point in trade routes. The interior of the peninsula held little interest, ‘The gaze from British imperialists stationed in Aden tended not to be inland towards central Arabia but out to the waters of the Arabian Sea in order to maintain a watchful eye on British shipping’ (Canton, 2013, p.  198). Consequently, the Arabian Peninsula was accessible to British travellers who were able to call upon imperial administrative and military support if

80 

B. COCKING

needed (Cocking, 2007, pp. 58–59). The lack of imperial interest in the interior of the peninsula contributed to the conditions on which it was mythologized in British and European travel writing. The Peninsula, and in particular the Rub’ al Khali, became a lodestone, ‘the locus of a pristine and authentic Arab way of life, a land of utopian dreams and, for some of its most renowned explorers, an asylum from an ailing and degenerate modern Western civilisation’ (Melman, 2002 p. 113). In turn, this led to the emergence of a specific genealogy of travel writing—the ‘Arabist’ tradition (Howe, 2000; Melman, 2002, Cocking, 2007, Graulund, 2009). The origins of this genealogy reside in eighteenth century travellers accounts of the region such as Laurent d’Arvieux’s Voyage en Palestine (first published in English in 1718) and Carsten Niebuhr’s Travels in Arabia (first published in English in 1792) (Tidrick, 1989, p. 8–13). By the nineteenth century, as more accounts emerged, so the region took hold in the public’s imagination. In particular Richard Burton’s Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah (1856), Anne Noel King Blunt’s A Pilgrimage to Nedj, the Cradle of the Arab Race (1879) and Charles Montagu Doughty’s Arabia Deserta (1888) can be seen as the foundational texts of the ‘Arabist tradition’ (Melman, 2002: 113; Tidrick, 1989: 31). Through these works, intertextuality, a mode of representation was developed and established as the register through which British travel writing of this period representational register emerged and evolved, becoming the means by which British travel writing of this period rendered Arabia for its readers. In essence, what characterized the Arabist tradition was its use of two representational themes: the Bedouin tribes’ people and the landscape of the desert. As Graulund notes, these themes were strongly intertwined and counter-posed against Western modernity: the Bedouin of the desert were praised not only for their physical ability to survive in the desert landscape, for their toughness and their endurance, but also for the moral purity they enjoyed as a result of their distance from the corrupting influences of civilization (2010, p. 87)

This is also illustrative of one of Pratt’s central points about the ways in which the representational registers of travel writing reflect the political and historical contexts in which it was produced. Pratt, for example, notes that the ‘Victorians opted for a brand of verbal painting whose highest calling was to produce for the home audience the peak moments at which geographical ‘discoveries’ were ‘won’ for England’ (1992, p. 201). Pratt

4  VISIONS OF PAST AND PRESENT? TRAVEL JOURNALISM FEATURES… 

81

makes this observation in part in relation to Richard Burton’s Lakes of Central Africa (1860) which contains a particularly vivid and rich account of ‘discovering’ Lake Tanganyika. British travel writing of the Victorian era attracted a great deal of interest in popular culture and was widely written about in the newspaper journalism of this period. For example, The Manchester Times, published a short excerpt from Burton’s Third Volume of a Pilgrimage to Meccah under the heading ‘The Bedouins and Bedouin Life’. It is indicative of the public’s interest in travel writing during this period and it also demonstrates the powerful intertextual circulation of orientalist motifs: The best character of the Bedouin is a truly noble compound of determination, gentleness and generosity…Ravenous and sanguinary propensities grow apace in the desert, but for the same reason the recklessness of civilisation is unknown there…The civilised man, on the contrary, has a hundred wants, or hopes, or aims, without which life for him has no charms. Arab ideas of bravery do not possess us (Saturday 16th February, 1856)

Tourist Imaginings However, as the representational templates of the ‘Arabist tradition’ were evolving and refracting from text to text, mass tourism was also being introduced in to the Middle East. The upper class colonial explorer-travel writing was rapidly supplanted by throngs of middle class tourists and the pristine ‘other’ spaces of the region were also being encroached upon by the infrastructure needed to support them. Britain was very much at the forefront of this socio-cultural revolution with Thomas Cook & Son—the company had established itself as a tourism pioneer in Britain and Europe and in Spring, 1869 led the ‘first Grand Tour of Egypt and Palestine/ Syria’ (Brendon, 1991, p. 121). It is not surprising to note that this initial tour encountered a number of logistical problems, including language difficulties, a lack of reliable tour guides, difficulties with currency exchange and problems with government bureaucracy and officials (Hunter, 2004, p. 31). By the early 1870s Cook had secured support from the Viceroy of Egypt which considerably helped with travel arrangements (ibid). Cook also secured steam boats for their Nile cruises. These were considerably faster and safer than the traditional ‘dahabeah’ Nile passenger sailing boats. Not being reliant on wind power meant that Cook’s tours adopt an ordered and structured approach to sight-seeing (Gregory, 2001, p. 125).

82 

B. COCKING

However, it is significant to note that the diaries and other testimony of Cook’s passengers indicate that they found the schedule Cook established too prescriptive, too fast paced and ultimately an imposition of western values into ‘pristine’ otherness of the Middle East: the steamer was vilified as the ensign of European modernity. By bringing the “modern” so abruptly into the heart of the “traditional”, the very presence of the steamer was a forceful reminder of the precariousness of “the timeless Orient”—of the predicament of belatedness—and noisily intruded the “modern” into scenes where most travellers expressly did not wish to see or hear it (ibid)

It is fascinating to see the sheer imaginative power of Western ideas about the Middle East. Unlike their explorer-travel writer counterparts, Cook’s tourists were clearly not engaged in individual desert ‘quests’ (Nash, 2006, p.  61). Nor were they seeking out particular Bedouin tribes supposedly known for their nobility (Hout, 2000 p. 124). The desire underlying these themes was undoubtedly in part at least about seeking refuge from the onslaught of Western modernity and to encounter the unchanged ‘other’. In such accounts of Cook’s early forays into the region we can see a similar sense of desire and fear over the potential loss of otherness. That these representational motifs should jump across the ‘traveller’—‘tourist’ divide and frame so completely these early experiences of mass tourism in the region is testimony to how deeply entrenched these ideas were (and perhaps still are?) in British culture. In this way, it is possible to see in both the seminal ‘Arabist’ accounts of the late nineteenth century (such as Burton, Blunt and Doughty) and these ‘tourist’ accounts similar discursive threads of what Behdad (and others such as Gregory above) have referred to as ‘belated’ orientalism. On both sides of the ‘traveller’ / ‘tourist’ divide there is an articulation of a ‘sense of displacement in time and space, an experience that produced either a sense of disorientation and loss or an obsessive urge to discover an “authentic” Other’ (1994, p.  13). The perception that the Middle East was unchanged and afforded tourists the opportunity to access the past in the present was the dominant representational paradigm through which tourists of this period experienced the region. It informed tourism activities, it was the basis on which tour destination itineraries were mapped out and it shaping sight-seeing practices (Jacobs, 2010, pp. 317–318). It also formed the basis on which destinations in the Middle East were marketed to tourists, ensuring their perceptions and expectations were cast long before they left home (Daher, 2006, p. 7).

4  VISIONS OF PAST AND PRESENT? TRAVEL JOURNALISM FEATURES… 

83

Just as the colonial explorer/travel writer had given way to the tourists of Cook’s early tours, so in the post-World War Two tourism boom, tourism in the Middle East segued from being the preserve of the middle class European cultural elite to being accessible to a much wider demographic. From the 1950s onwards the Middle East became an established location for mass tourism with the development of destinations and infrastructure aimed to cater for a broader range of tourism activities and practices (Nasser, 2006, p.  71). As Steward notes the expansion of mass tourism was in sequence with and no doubt fuelled by the emergence of post war upward mobility, consumerism and the development of visual technologies (Figs. 4.1, 4.2, 4.3): The production of popular, illustrated travel literature aimed at a wider and less affluent market drew on the same reproductive technologies that placed advertising at the heart of the new visual culture, and linked changes in society to new forms of consumer culture (Steward, 2005, p. 47)

These posters span a period of approximately 80 years. Whilst the first two posters were produced for Thomas Cook & Son, the third poster was produced for the Egyptian State Tourist Department. Despite these differences in period and origin, the representational consistency across the Fig. 4.1  Thomas Cook & Sons 1870s. https:// www.shapell.org/ manuscript/ travel-poster-egypt-andpalestine-toursthomas-cook/

84 

B. COCKING

Fig. 4.2  Thomas Cook & Sons 1930s. http:// www.advertisingarchives. co.uk/detail/24741/1/ Magazine-Advert/ Thomas-Cook/1930s

Fig. 4.3  Egyptian State Tourist Department 1950s. https://www.antikbar. co.uk/original_vintage_ posters/travel_posters/ romance_in_egypt_ midcentury_ modern/PT1751/

4  VISIONS OF PAST AND PRESENT? TRAVEL JOURNALISM FEATURES… 

85

three posters is striking. There are very strong visual references in all three posters to Egypt’s heritage—as a tourist destination it is framed entirely through a relatively small number of ancient sights. This presents the consumer/would be tourist with very clear visual clues as to what tourism in Egypt, and by extension the broader region of the Middle East, has to offer. Architectural, cultural and geographical antiquities are foregrounded in these posters with elements of modernity minimized—Cook’s luxurious steamer is present in the earliest poster—perhaps to an extent reassuringly so. However, it is interesting to note that as the posters evolve through to the 1950s, the emphasis on Egypt’s ancient past is amplified rather than toned down. This is very much in keeping with the views of the early travellers on Cook’s tours for whom such trappings of western modernity seemed to threaten the stability of the unchanging orient (Gregory, 2001, p.  125). Likewise, it is interesting to note that these representational tropes also appear to be in circulation in travel journalism of this period. For example, an travel article from The New York Times includes a quotation from Rashad Murad, the director-general of the Egyptian State Tourist Association who states that the country has three advantages over other popular tourist destinations: ‘Climate, antiquities that can be found nowhere else and costs lower than those of most European countries’ (25th May, 1958). Likewise, an earlier article in the paper dating from 1935 strongly foregrounds the trope of the rich and ancient history of the past being accessible in the present: ‘She has a past, but not a dead one, for it is the background of the enlivening scenes of this twentieth century. No museum of dead things in this Egypt of today but a theatre of life’ (10th March).

Analysing British Travel Journalism on the Middle East In order to examine the ways in which this representational trajectory might be traced through to, or indeed broken by, British travel journalism, it is important to note that historically there have been a number of critically acclaimed travel writers who have written across both genres. For example, Eric Newby was the travel editor at The Observer from 1964–1973 (George, The Guardian, 23rd October 2006). Similarly, critically acclaimed travel writers such as Norman Lewis, Jan Morris, William Dalrymple and Colin Thubron have all written travel, and indeed other

86 

B. COCKING

forms, of journalism. In a sense, this is an illustration of the literary influences that make up part of the constituent elements of the genre of travel journalism. It is also an indication of the deep rooted representational channels through which stylistic influences have historically ebbed and flowed between the genres. One of the principal ways in which these ebbs and flow occur can be seen in the ways in which travel journalism often recalls or even re-enacts earlier journeys and explorations—often in ways that call on our collective knowledge of Europe’s colonial past. For example, The Telegraph offered its readers the opportunity to join William Dalrymple on a 12 day tour of Delhi (Dalrymple, The Telegraph, 24th July, 2014). Seemingly here readers could potentially experience several layers of recall and re-enactment. In addition to presumably literally following in Dalrymple’s footsteps around Delhi, they would seemingly also be engaged in a literary re-­ enactment of Dalrymple’s travel writing on the city—which itself is redolent with historic detail and instances where the past and present merge. Another way in styles and influences wash between the genres is in evidence through the common practice many newspapers have of interviewing travel writers about their preferred holiday destinations and activities. ‘My hols: Award-winning writer Robert Macfarlane’ is illustrative of this. Underneath the catchy/entertaining subheading ‘The writer has abseiled into an abyss and had a near miss with a vulture—but a tentmate’s pants posed the biggest risk’ discussion of his favoured holiday destinations and activities blur with insight into (and to an extent, critique of) his approaches to writing, choices of subject matter and latest literary projects (Macfarlane, ‘My hols: Award-winning writer Robert Macfarlane’, The Times 8th May 2016). In this way, if “immediacy” is a stock in trade signifier of mainstream news, “authenticity” is the principal representational strategy of travel journalism (Fürsich & Kavoori, 2001, p. 157). Travel journalism is a varied and far ranging genre and this strategy is deployed in manifold ways. However, primarily its principal function is to mobilize the commercial intentions of travel journalism, that is, to construct the travel experience as a personalized, rather than mass, and unique, rather than homogenous, one. Frequently, this takes the form of enticing the tourist-consumer with opportunities to engage with aspects of the past, for example, the cultural, architectural or artistic heritage of a travel destination and in this sense can act as a conduit to older, travel writing (and often colonialist) discourses.

4  VISIONS OF PAST AND PRESENT? TRAVEL JOURNALISM FEATURES… 

87

In their article, titled ‘Mapping a critical framework for the study of travel journalism’ (2001), Fürsich and Kavoori outline three contextual frameworks in which the study of travel journalism is located: periodization, power and identity, and experience and phenomenology (pp. 154–155). Periodization is defined in terms of modernity and postmodernity and provides a basis on which to locate the broader cultural and social development of both travel and tourism ‘within the historical development of western societies’ (2001, p. 155). The framework of power and identity is examined in relation the concept of cultural imperialism and, in particular, Mary Louise Pratt’s seminal Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation (1992). Pratt’s principal line of enquiry centres on exploring how ‘travel writing produced ‘the rest of the world’ for European readerships at particular points in Europe’s expansionist trajectory?’ (1992, p.  5). Pratt’s characterization of the discursive construction of travel writing is instructive methodologically to Fürsich and Kavoori and others (see, e.g., Santos, 2006; Cocking, 2009, Day Good 2013) who have sought to explore ‘the representational practices of travel journalism’ (2001, p. 161). ‘Experience and phenomenology’ is identified as a form of research which provides a means of analysing and categorising the ‘dynamics of tourist and host interactions’ in order to formulate ‘typologies of tourists/tourism and tourist experiences’ (2001, p.  164). Campbell (1988), Mills (1991), Hulme (1992), along with others such as Grewal (1996), Duncan & Gregory (1999) and Fowler (2007) have also focused on the analysis of ‘tropes, conceptual categories, and logical operations available for the purposes of representation’ (Spurr, 1993, p. 3). The examination of representational strategies of travel journalism in the context of the ways in which they might be located in broader cultural, historical and political discursive frames also resonates methodologically with the approach taken by Said in this study of orientalism (1991). For Said, the concept of orientalist discourse was predicated on the examination of a range of ‘texts’ who, though disparate and drawn from a wide range of genres, displayed in their representational strategies ‘a similar intent, and a similar effect’ (1991, pp. 2–3, 22–23, 94). That said, it is not possible to adopt Said’s methodological position in its entirety. In part this is because there has been a great deal of debate as to the character of orientalist discourse. That Said conceived of orientalism in a way that emphasized its discursive unity at the expense of its heterogenic characteristics, ‘that he allowed little room for variation, change, ambivalence, [and] that he essentialized the Orientalists’ (Prakash, 1995, p. 206). Given that the

88 

B. COCKING

focus here is on examining the potential for discursive shifts and changes in contemporary travel journalism on the Middle East, it is important to take account of what Behdad, writing on the nature of orientalist discourse, calls the ‘micropractices…strategic irregularities, historical discontinuities, and discursive heterogeneity’ (1994, p.  13). Indeed, Behdad’s refiguring of orientalism is productive here in that he calls for ‘genealogical understanding’ that treats ‘discourses and events as discontinuous practices…by addressing the micropolitics of Europe’s relations to its Others’ (1994, p. 13). In this way, discourse is conceived of as an uneven exchange of power and attention is given to the variation and disjuncture of discursive formations (Wodak, 2013, p.  303). This facilitates taking account of the epistemological influences that bear upon discursive formations. Further, in terms of the focus of this chapter, in taking account of broader epistemological influences, this approach accommodates consideration of the broader, societal patterns of leisure consumption and commercialization which contextualize the production of travel journalism. The broadsheet travel journalism articles under consideration here are ‘Sailing the Nile’ by Ed Cummings (The Observer, 29/04/2018), ‘Wildest dreams: a family camping trip in Oman’ by Fiona McAuslan (The Guardian, 08/12/2017), ‘Everything you need to know about skiing in Lebanon’ by Stephanie d’Arc Taylor (The Independent, 01/02/2019), ‘Little Petra: exploring the tastes and traditions of “the real Jordan”’ by Hazel Southam (The Observer, 18/06/2017) and ‘This Red Sea city offers beaches, ancient ruins and stunning landscapes—and now is the perfect time to go’ by Sunny Fitzgerald (The Telegraph, 01/03/2019). All of the newspapers have extensive travel sections and these articles were accessed from the newspapers’ websites. The readership of these newspapers is, typically, middle class, affluent and aspirational. They tend to spend more than the UK average on leisure time. Certainly, it is possible to identify in these travel articles instances representational strategies resonating those typically found in earlier nineteenth century ‘Arabist’ travel writing. For example, ‘Sailing the Nile in Style’ describes the pyramids at Giza in richly romantic language: ‘Under the burning sun, the monuments, the sky, the sand and the yellow-brown admin buildings all seem to have been made from the same substance, as if the architecture were simply dusty air crystallized into solid form’ (Ed Cumming, The Observer, 29th April, 2018). In this prose there is a strong sense of Egypt being cast as an ancient and unchanged world—and the presence of this mode of representation in this article attests to its

4  VISIONS OF PAST AND PRESENT? TRAVEL JOURNALISM FEATURES… 

89

symbolic power. A power acquired historically through the repetition of this motif across ‘Arabist’ travel writing and further channelled through tourism promotional material and travel journalism. Likewise, Sunny Fitzgerald’s article headed ‘This Red Sea city offers beaches, ancient ruins and stunning landscapes—and now is the perfect time to go’ contains a sense of wonderment as the author provides the reader with access to architecture and cultural practices and traditions dating back over 1000  years  BC.  Describing walking through the old town of Aqaba, Fitzgerald exhorts the reader to Engage your senses on a stroll through old town Aqaba’s colourful souqs (markets). Begin with the fruit and vegetable market at the southern end of Raghadan Street. Sample seasonal produce like loz—green almonds best enjoyed with a dash of salt—before moving north to the savoury scents of the spice souq near Zahran Street (1st March, 2019).

There is also a passing reference to ‘sweeping Arabian sands of cinematic legend’ in Fiona McAuslan’s article in The Guardian (8th December, 2017). Even more fleetingly there is a mention of the ‘barren desert’ in Lebanon in Stephanie d’Arc Taylor’s article in The Independent (1st February, 2019). However, the latter is an ironic metaphoric reference used as a point of contrast in introducing the reader to the realities of a Lebanese skiing holiday. It is also the case that this sample of travel journalism contains attributes typically associated with the genre of travel journalism. Certainly, the narratives are buoyant and optimistic and the language tends to be rich and dramatic (Hamid-Turksoy et  al., 2014, p.  749). For example, the opening standfirst of ‘This Red Sea city offers beaches, ancient ruins and stunning landscapes—and now is the perfect time to go’ is uplifting and strong, making use of superlatives and clichés in a way that is characteristic of contemporary professional travel journalism: ‘If you like your beach holiday with a splash of adventure and Middle Eastern culture, head to Aqaba — Jordan’s sunkissed city on the Red Sea with easy access to the lunar-like landscapes of Wadi Rum and the ancient architectural wonders of Petra’ (Fitzgerald, 1st March, 2019). Similarly, its ‘what to see and do’ list structure also follows a well-established convention of travel journalism in where travel writers are established as the experts or ‘cultural brokers’, interpreting and categorizing holiday experiences for their readers/ consumers (Santos, 2004, p. 123).

90 

B. COCKING

New and Divergent Modalities Nonetheless, it is significant to note that the articles focused on here contain accounts of tourist destinations and experiences in the Middle East that are quite varied in the ways in which they are presented and are, consequently, relatively ‘open’ interpretatively. Ongoing conflicts across the Middle East, such as the war in Syria and heightened tensions over Palestine, along with terrorist attacks such as the 2005 bombings in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt and the 2015 suspected bombing of a Russian passenger plane brought down in the Sinai peninsula continue to attract high profile coverage in British, and indeed most Western, news media. This has impacted on consumer confidence in the region and some destinations have in recent years experienced a significant drop in tourist visitors (see, e.g., Gieger, ‘The lonely pyramids of Giza: Egyptian tourism’s decline’, Aljazeera.com, 8th June, 2017). Given this context it is perhaps not surprising that most of the articles selected here address the issue of personal safety. For example, Cumming’s article ‘Sailing the Nile in style’ makes a direct reference to the bombing of the Russian passenger plane in 2015 and subsequent British Foreign office’s ban on direct flights to Sharm el-­ Sheikh. Similarly, Hazel Southam’s piece ‘Little Petra: exploring the tastes and traditions of ‘the real Jordan’—she quotes a local tour guide who estimates that tourist footfall is down approximately 80% due to the war in neighbouring Syria (18th June, 2017, The Observer). However, looking across the region as a whole, tourist visitors have, despite some years where figures declined, increased threefold in less than 20 years, rising from 30 million in 1998 to 90 million in 2014 (World Bank, 2019). Clearly, in discussing issues of personal safety, these articles are demonstrating an awareness of the potential lack of consumer confidence in tourism destinations throughout the Middle East. Yet, in all instances the readers’ potential fears and concerns are not pandered to. Rather, they are addressed through the overwhelmingly positive portrayal of destinations and local people. In one sense it could be argued that such positivity is very much the life blood of travel journalism, after all it is what ‘sells’ destinations. In Southam’s article, the reference to tourist trade being down 80% is not presented in a way that plays upon readers’ potential fears that Jordan might be dangerous due to its proximity to Syria. Rather, the fact that tourist trade has declined dramatically is presented positively—as constituting the very reason for visiting Jordan. The tour guide Southam refers to goes on to say: ‘Tourism isn’t just coaches and the site of Petra…With

4  VISIONS OF PAST AND PRESENT? TRAVEL JOURNALISM FEATURES… 

91

this you have the chance to get to know the local people. And without the locals, this is just another place’ (18th June, 2017). Cummings points out that the current relatively low number of tourists visiting Egypt ‘along with a depressed Egyptian pound (and presumably depressed owners of Egyptian pounds), mean it is a good time to visit, and hotels that might be out of reach are now extremely affordable’ (29th April, 2018). Similarly, d’Arc Taylor’s article on skiing in Lebanon tackles preconceptions about the destination and personal safety head on in the opening standfirst: No offence, but you’re probably wrong about Lebanon… Think it’s dangerous? You’re many times more likely to be robbed back home, pretty much regardless of where you’re from. Think they don’t like Westerners? Lebanese faces light up when you say “America” or “UK”… Think it’s a barren desert? You’ll happily be proved wrong by Lebanon’s lushly forested valleys, waterfall-fed swimming holes and snow-capped peaks (1st February, 2019)

Further, in Southam’s article, for example, her interactions with the tour guides are presented as being on a more equal footing than is often typical in contemporary travel journalism—and considerably more so than is characteristic of the genre historically. For instance, Southam describes helping one tour guide wash and groom his favourite horse (18th June, 2017). On another occasion she describes the preparations that she engages in with her guides prior to camping out overnight on a sand dune: A family of camels grazes nearby. Dinner is jointed chicken and homemade kebabs cooked over a fire, plus a salad and melon. What’s nice is being involved in the food preparation—I went to the market before Friday prayers to buy provisions and to choose what we would eat that evening. The covered market in Wadi Musa is where the locals shop (18th June, 2017)

Throughout the article there is a strong sense of the tourist (travel journalist) and tour guide interacting together in order to create the tourist experience, doing so in ways that suggest it is not just an experience for the tourist. Arguably, this challenges the historical and conventional power dynamics of tourism in which locals are essentially operating business models predicated on providing services for tourists (Cheong & Miller, 2000; Cohen, 1985). It is certainly the case that forms of tourism have evolved and developed in ways that challenge and/or reconfigure this

92 

B. COCKING

traditional power dynamic—such as volunteer tourism. Nonetheless, it is interesting to note the extent to which Southam goes to demonstrate not only a more egalitarian form of engagement with locals but also to indicate to the reader all that is beneficial and pleasurable about attempting to experience aspects of local life. In this specific instance, certainly it is the case that Southam’s article is promoting a tourism experience whose brand identity is based on the aim of showing tourists ‘“the real Jordan, where people of all faiths live together and that welcomes visitors from all walks of life”’ (18th June, 2017). The tourism company, ‘A Piece of Jordan’ is run by a husband and wife team, who originally met as Jordanian tour guide/UK tourist, respectively and no doubt their experiences of tourism in the region have helped shape the specific tourism experience they offer: Their enterprise started out as a local project, but has evolved into something bigger—a commitment to changing the perception of Jordan by offering a true cultural understanding of what it’s like to live here, rather than just appreciate its ancient sites (18th June, 2017)

This theme of changing perception is also central to McAuslan’s article ‘Wildest dreams: a family camping trip in Oman’. As with the other articles central amongst these preconceptions is the issue of personal safety. The spectre of concerns about terrorist attacks and conflict zones seem to loom but as with Cumming’s and Southam’s articles, here they are addressed explicit and in places playfully. For example, McAuslan describes ‘marvelling at the sunrise from atop a nearby peak, our campsite was being raided. Once we got back down we caught the culprits, a herd of mountain goats, red-handed’ (8th December, 2017). Later in the article the issue of personal safety is addressed more directly with McAuslan reassuring the reader that ‘with little crime, and no natural predators, [desert camping in Oman] is also a safe option, so my partner and I had no qualms about taking our seven-year-old son’ (ibid). Further, like Southam’s article perceptions are challenged through the practice of different or seemingly out of context tourist practices—after all the central premise of McAuslan’s article places the ostensibly benign activity of a family camping holiday in the unexpected desert landscape of Oman. Here too, we are offered the opportunity to engage with a destination and its people in ways that lie outside established tourist-local dynamics. For McAuslan, ‘camping also offers a completely different view

4  VISIONS OF PAST AND PRESENT? TRAVEL JOURNALISM FEATURES… 

93

of the country from the one peddled by the tourist board and most tour operators’ (8th December, 2017). It is an experience which affords the opportunity to see and engage with different aspects of the country’s landscapes. Unlike, Southam’s experience in Jordon, this is not so strongly predicated on a symbiotic relationship between tourist and tour guide. In McAuslan’s article the tour guides are figured in a more conventional dynamic, one of providing the expertise to take the tourists to the camping locations, help establish camp and provide food. This dynamic nonetheless facilitates McAuslan’s group experiencing Oman from a very different perspective to the more prevalent tourism of luxury hotels and shopping malls which the country is investing heavily in: ‘That evening we pitched our tent on a spit of white sand between the sea and a lagoon complete with a flamboyance of flamingoes. It’s easy to spend a few days here, swimming in the warm sea, bird watching and even turtle spotting’ (8th December, 2017). Again somewhat in contrast with the established conventions of upbeat hyperbolic travel narratives, McAuslan’s article describes two potentially dangerous incidents. On one occasion despite the expertise of their tour guide their party got lost in the desert and are directed by some Bedu tribesmen to a tarmac road. This event is not dramatized nor is it presented as being the cause of great concern or alarm. Rather, it is simply presented sparingly and straightforwardly—the reader is not presented with an account of seemingly logistically flawless but enchantingly ‘other’ experience, but rather the reality that things do on occasion not go to plan. On another occasion they spend 2 h digging their car out of mud on a salt flat in 41 degree heat. Here again conventional assumptions are thrown off balance. McAuslan conveys a sense of the danger of the situation but this does not appear to over shadow the whole experience. Instead, anxiety and concern are countered by adventure and excitement, particularly in terms of how the incident is seen through the eyes of her 7 year old son: In the end, it was worth the two hours in the beating sun it took to dig the cars out. Not least because the car wheels spinning and spraying great gouts of mud, combined with the drama of finally breaking free, were a gift to a boy bent on adventure. As a parent, it was my one anxious moment. We set up sunshades in the car and kept him cool with endless drinks and by dousing his sun hat in melted ice (8th December, 2017)

94 

B. COCKING

Certainly, there is a level of sincerity—perhaps even honesty—here that is unexpected and at odds with the representational conventions associated with contemporary travel journalism. The seamless positivity of the latter typically allows little room for reflecting on anxious moments which in the context of the realities of tourism experiences do indeed occur. Across the travel journalism discussed here there has been a strong emphasis on personal safety (Cumming, d’Arc Taylor McAuslan and Southam). Several of the articles are also framed around alternative/new tourism practices (d’Arc Taylor, McAuslan and Southam). Then there are instances such as the one above which reflect on those anxious or uncomfortable moments that are always present to varying degrees in the day to day reality of all tourism experiences but are not characteristic of the representational building blocks of contemporary travel journalism. Clearly, the articles discussed here do not provide a comprehensive assessment of the state or condition of the descriptive modalities of British travel journalism on the Middle East. They do not provide an empirical basis on which to identify a wholesale representational shift in travel journalism. Rather, what they do provide is an indication, a glimpse as to the representational possibilities such travel journalism can, on occasion, afford. Are these glimpses, though, an example of the genre of travel journalism adjusting its modes of representation to the politics and international relations of the Middle East in much the same way Pratt has argued travel writing tends to be a product of the politic context in which it was conceived (1992, p. 4)? Is this just a case of travel journalism evolving representational strategies in order to promote consumption and sell tourism experiences? Certainly, the underlying imperative of professional travel journalism is to encourage consumption—of tourism experiences and, indeed, the newspapers in which such content is produced. It seems impossible to imagine travel content being constructed in ways that might actively discourage readers. In this sense, these glimpses of somewhat unexpected or unconventional forms of representation must, at least at some level, also serve commercial purposes. Given the widespread and sustained news media coverage of conflicts, wars and terrorist attacks across the Middle East, there is no doubt personal safety is an issue for holiday makers. Clearly, the emphasis on personal safety in the articles discussed here, no doubt endeavours to address these concerns and ultimately promote specific destinations—along with encouraging newspaper sales and directing web traffic. That said, even if we are to see these representational strategies as being primarily nothing more than commercial drivers, such articles are

4  VISIONS OF PAST AND PRESENT? TRAVEL JOURNALISM FEATURES… 

95

no doubt contributing to the ways in which we imagine the Middle East. Further, if for example, we come to recognize Lebanon as a potential skiing destination or Oman as an option for family camping holidays, this does indeed represent a degree of transformation. One that perhaps amounts to an incremental shift in the ways in which such countries are popularly imagined.

Tourism Practices and TripAdvisor If the emphasis on practising alternative tourism experiences and reflecting on issues of personal safety are indicative of incremental shifts in travel journalism, where are these modes of representation coming from and where are they going to? The intention here is to turn to Trip Advisor in order to assess whether there are traces of interaction between professional travel journalism content and tourism practices. Specifically, to examine the user generated reviews of the destinations focused on in the newspaper travel journalism discussed above in order to explore whether there instances of representational ‘flows’ between the two formats. Trip Advisor was selected over other holiday and tourism review sites simply because it is the most widely used with 390 million unique visitors per month (Tripadvisor.co.uk, 13th January, 2017). Like many online review sites, Trip Advisor has been subject to criticism and ongoing controversy over ‘fake’ reviews and the potentially detrimental impact of such reviews on tourism businesses (Filieri, Alguezaui, & McLeay, 2015; Fong, 2010). Aside from issues of veracity, the sheer volume of reviews on Trip Advisor means that it provides a very good indication of how tourism practices are evolving and, most importantly, how users are writing about them. Consequently, given the aim of exploring potential ‘flows’ of representation, the focus here is on examine the representational strategies in play in a selection of online user reviews. It was possible to find user generated reviews of all of the destinations in the newspaper travel journalism discussed above with the exception of Siq al-Barid in Beidha of ‘little Petra’, the focus of Southam’s article (Little Petra: exploring the tastes and traditions of ‘the real Jordan’, The Observer, 18th June, 2017). Nonetheless, as is to be expected, there is a large variety of tourism experiences on Petra itself that have been extensively reviewed on Tripadvisor.co.uk. The site uses a likert scoring system where reviewers score destinations from one to five stars with one star being the lowest. There are no commercial incentives for tourists to post reviews on Trip

96 

B. COCKING

Advisor’s website. Perhaps as consequence of the combination of these two factors the reviews posted on Trip Advisor tend to be quite polarized. For any given destination the vast majority are very positive, whilst a much smaller number are extremely negative. There are very few that are average. Clearly, enthusiasm and frustration motivate users to post reviews (Ghazi, 2017, p. 6). By contrast, there is little to motivate a user to leave an ‘average’ review as such reviews are likely to be of less significance to other users planning trips. It is no doubt an obvious point but the reviews tend to be very short in comparison to the narratives of professional travel journalism and what is most immediately apparent in terms of the use of language and tone is that it is very much aimed at fellow consumers. Consequently, a great deal of information can be gained about, for example, Egyptian tipping etiquette, the additional cost of wifi on Nile cruise ships or the best restaurants in Aqaba for those on gluten free diets. The language used to convey such information is usually straightforward and perfunctory: ‘By far the best food we had in our trip in Jordan. Attention to details, quality of ingredients, nice atmosphere’ (‘Khubza & Seneya’, Tripadvisor.co.uk, 2019). Clearly, these elements of style and structure are characteristic of Trip Advisor reviews in general rather than being associated with reviews of specific destinations. Nonetheless, they give an indication of the format, the narrative framework, of Trip Advisor reviews and this has a bearing on the structure and content of reviews of specific destinations. Given this, reading through the positive (five star) online user reviews of Nile cruises in Egypt, camping in the Wahiba Sands, Oman, Petra and Aqaba (both in Jordan) it also becomes apparent that the language used in the positive reviews often resembles that typically found in professional travel journalism. That is, the tone is invariably upbeat and the reviews tend to make use of hyperbolic, if somewhat clichéd language. For example, in the section on Aqaba one reviewer wrote: ‘Upon arrival in Amman we had a wonderful lunch and then toured the city. We visited the old Citadel, Public Markets, Roman Theater and the new City’ (‘Via Jordan Travel Day Tours’, Tripadvisor.co.uk, 2019). This description very much mirrors the style associated with professional travel journalism. Again, it is highly likely that this is a feature common to the vast majority of reviews on Trip Advisor rather than being associated with specific destinations. Nonetheless, there are instances where this echoing of the representational strategies of travel journalism becomes infused with popular cultural perceptions that are clearly associated with particular destinations and regions.

4  VISIONS OF PAST AND PRESENT? TRAVEL JOURNALISM FEATURES… 

97

For example, a great many of the reviews of both Nile cruises and Petra make reference to the history of the region. In many cases this is somewhat clichéd and premised on accessing an unchanged past. For example, one review of the Wadi Rum in Jordan writes that ‘formations look like weeping rocks, the vast expanse of the desert is breathtaking and humbling. Truly, a most incredible work of divinity…it gives you the feeling of going back in ancient times, or being transported into a different world’ (‘Wadi Rum Protected Area’, Tripadvisor.co.uk, 2019). Reviews such as this one seem to draw on popular imaginings of the Arabian peninsula, often recalling the film Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962). In this sense, as with professional travel journalism on the Middle East, the representational spectre of earlier ‘Arabist’ travel writing casts a long shadow. Indeed, a great deal of the tourism experiences offered play upon 18th and nineteenth century ideas about the region, its people and its landscapes. Reading through the reviews of left by visitors to Petra, Jordan or Wahiba Sands, Oman, for example, it is clear that activities such as visiting camel tours and spending a night at a ‘traditional’ Bedu camp are firmly established tourist experiences and constituent elements of many, if not most, tourists’ expectations. For example, a review of a ‘glampsite’ in the Wadi Rum, Jordan describes an ‘early morning camel ride into the desert to sip tea brewed over an open fire by a local Bedu and watch the sun rise was also a highlight’ (‘Discovery Bedu’, Tripadvisor.co.uk, 2019). Indeed, these tourism practices are so strongly associated with the region that they are fundamental ‘must do’ activities—what Culler refers to as ‘sign systems’ that tourists acquire in order to interpret and derive meaning from the actualities of their tourism experiences through (1990, p. 107). Whilst perhaps not as explicitly framed as in some of the travel journalism articles (in particular, McAuslan and Southam), there do appear to be some instances where reviewers reflect upon their experiences as being different to more prevalent forms. For example, one review of a visit to Petra writes of their tour guide that ‘From the very beginning, it was clear that this was much more than just a job for him. He is passionate, enthusiastic and incredibly knowledgable [sic] about Petra and enjoys sharing this with others’ (‘Via Jordan Travel Day Tours’, Tripadvisor.co.uk, 2019). Clearly, this is not of the same order as McAuslan’s or Southam’s articles which are accounts of unexpected activities and alternative tourism practices that seem to reconfigure the tourist/tour guide dynamic. Nonetheless, there is a sense in reviews such as this one (and others) that the interactions with tour guides are more than a simple service transaction: that this

98 

B. COCKING

is not solely about income but about the value of culture and history. Another reviewer comments of their tour guide that ‘you can hear his passion about the place and its history’ (‘Via Jordan Travel Day Tours’, Tripadvisor.co.uk, 2019). It is also worth noting that there are lots of reviews of skiing in Lebanon. Whilst they do not appear to explicitly discuss the ‘alternative’ or ‘unexpected’ nature of this tourism experience, it is nonetheless, implicit to the extent that this form of tourism is clearly gaining popularity and the number of reviews on Trip Advisor are testimony to this. In this sense, conceivably the notion of skiing in Oman is more ‘unexpected’ to readers of The Independent than it is to Trip Advisor users looking for new/out of the ordinary ski destinations—perhaps this accounts for the ways in which d’Arc Taylor frames her article very explicitly around the unexpected aspect of skiing in Lebanon.

Conclusion This chapter has sought to trace the origins of specific representational tropes on the Middle East from their origins in British and European travel writing of the 18th and nineteenth century, through the emergence of mass tourism in the region, to present day professional travel journalism and user generated reviews on TripAdvisor. It is clear that certain tropes, specifically ‘Arabist’ forms of representation, remain prevalent and are recycled in contemporary travel journalism. It is also clear that these tropes are dominant in reviews on Trip Advisor—evidently they often form the basis of tourists’ activities and practices and they frequently frame the descriptive accounts reviewers construct of their experiences. Alongside these dominant forms, there appear to be glimpses of different or alternative ways of representing some tourism experiences in the Middle East, such as those described by d’Arc Taylor, McAuslan and Southam. Based upon new and emerging tourism practices—such as skiing in Lebanon or family camping trips in Oman—these articles are indicative of an incremental shift in the ways in which such destinations are popularly imagined. In terms of the Trip Advisor reviews of these destinations, it is clear that certain representational strategies wash back and forth between travel journalism, online reviews and, indeed, the actualities of tourism practices themselves. Certainly, online reviews make widespread use of modes of representation that draw from earlier, ‘Arabist’ forms of travel writing. It is also evident that the more emergent forms of representation identified in travel journalism on the Middle East seem to resonate with some aspects

4  VISIONS OF PAST AND PRESENT? TRAVEL JOURNALISM FEATURES… 

99

of the reviews sampled on Trip Advisor. In terms, then, of where these modes of representation come from and where they appear to be going— it is clearly not possible to identify precise origins and destinations. There do, though, appear to be traces of specific forms of representation that can be identified in travel journalism and online reviews. In this sense, it is not so much a case of mapping representational trajectories but identifying the tidal ‘wash’ with which modes of representation flow between travel journalism, online reviews and tourism practices.

References Adelson, R. (1995). London and the invention of the Middle East: Money, power and war, 1902–1922. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. Aune, M. G. (2005). Early modern travel journalism after orientalism. Journal of Early Modern Cultural Studies, 5(2), 120–138. Behdad, A. (1994). Belated travelers: Orientalism in the age of colonial dissolution. Cork: Cork University Press. Blunt, A. L. (1879). A pilgrimage to Nedj, the cradle of the Arab race. A visit to the court of the emir and “our Persian campaign”. London: John Murray. Brendon, P. (1991). Thomas cook: 150 years of popular tourism. London: Secker and Warburg. Burton, R. F. (1855-1856). Personal narrative of a pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans. Burton, R. F. (1860). The lakes of Central Africa, a picture of exploration. London: Longman, Green, Longman and Roberts. Campbell, M. B. (1988). The witness and the other world: Exotic European travel writing, 400–1600. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Canton, J. (2013). Oriental expressions: British visions of Arabia from a colonial to a post-colonial world. In M. Farr & X. Guegan (Eds.), The British abroad since the eighteenth century, volume 2: Experiencing imperialism. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Cheong, S., & Miller, M. L. (2000). Power and tourism: A Foucauldian observation. Annals of Tourism Research, 27(2), 371–390. Chirol, V. (1902-1903). The Middle Eastern Question. The Times, October 14, 17, 20, 25, 27; November 10, 12, 20, 24; December 15, 23, 25, 26, 30, 1902; January 14, 17; March 4, 30; April 21, 24, 1903. Chirol, V. (1903). The middle eastern question or some political problems of Indian Defence. London: John Murray. Cocking, B. (2007). Writing the end. Journeys, 8(1), 57–76. Cocking, B. (2009). Travel journalism. Journalism Studies, 10(1), 54–68.

100 

B. COCKING

Cohen, E. (1985). The tourist guide: The origins, structure and dynamics of a role. Annals of Tourism Research, 12, 5–29. Culcasi, K. (2010). Constructing and naturalizing the Middle East. Geographical Review, 100(4), 583–597. Culler, J. (1990). ‘The semiotics of tourism’ in framing the sign: Criticism and its institutions. Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. Cumming, E. (2018, April 29). Sailing the Nile in style. The Observer. Retrieved June 19, 2019, from https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2018/apr/29/ sail-the-river-nile-egypt-in-style-cairo-luxor d’Arc Taylor, S. (2019, February 1). Everything you need to know about skiing in Lebanon. The Independent. Retrieved June 19, 2019, from https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/middle-east/lebanon-ski-beirut-mzaar-holiday-travelmiddle-east-a8756606.html D’Arvieux, L. (1718). The Chevalier d’Arvieux’s Travels in Arabia the Desart, written by himself and published by Mr. De la Roque. To which is added a general description of Arabia by Sultan Ishmael Abulfeda. Done into English by an eminent hand. Illustrated with copper plates. London: B.  Barker, C.  King and J. Brown. Daher, R. F. (2006). Reconceptualizing tourism in the Middle East: Place, heritage, mobility and competitiveness. In R. F. Daher (Ed.), Tourism in the Middle East: Continuity, change and transformation. Clevedon: Channel View Publications. Dalrymple, W. (2014, July 24). William Dalrymple on Delhi. The Telegraph. Retrieved August 30, 2019, from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/asia/india/delhi/articles/William-Dalrymple-on-Delhi/ Davison, R. H. (1960). Where is the Middle East? Foreign Affairs, 38(4), 665–675. Day Good, K. (2013). Why we travel: picturing global mobility in user-­generated travel journalism. Media, Culture & Society, 35(3), 295–313. Discovery Bedu. (2019). Tripadvisor.co.uk. Retrieved August 30, 2019, from https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g303973-d7082901r444360632-Discovery_Bedu-Wadi_Rum_Al_Aqabah_Governorate.html Doughty, C. M. (1888). Travels in Arabia deserta. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Duncan, J. & Gregory, D. (Eds.) (1999). Writes of passage: Reading travel writing. London: Routledge. Filieri, R., Alguezaui, S., & McLeay, F. (2015). Why do travelers trust TripAdvisor? Antecedents of trust towards consumer-generated media and its influence on recommendation adoption and word of mouth. Tourism Management, 51, 174–185. Fitzgerald, S. (2019, March 1). This red sea city offers beaches, ancient ruins and stunning landscapes  – and now is the perfect time to go. The Telegraph. Retrieved June 19, 2019, from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/middle-east/jordan/articles/aqaba-jordan-city-break-guide/

4  VISIONS OF PAST AND PRESENT? TRAVEL JOURNALISM FEATURES… 

101

Fong, A. (2010). The influence of online reviews: Case study of TripAdvisor and the effect of fake reviews. Journal of Digital Research and Publishing, 106–113. Fowler, C. (2007). Chasing tales: Travel writing, journalism and the history of British ideas about Afghanistan. Amsterdam; New York: Rodpi. Fürsich, E., & Kavoori, A. (2001). Mapping a critical framework for the study of travel journalism. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 4, 149–171. George, E.  M. (2006, October 23). ‘Eric Newby’. The Guardian. Retrieved August 30, 2019, from https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/oct/23/ guardianobituaries.booksobituaries Ghazi, M. (2017). Guests’ motives to write positive and negative hotel reviews on trip advisor. Journal of Tourism and Hospitality, 6(3), 1–9. Gieger, D. (2017, June 8). The lonely pyramids of Giza: Egyptian tourism’s decline. Aljazeera.com. Retrieved August 30, 2019, from https://www.aljazeera.com/ indepth/features/2017/04/lonely-pyramids-giza-egyptian-tourism-falling-170418050241421.html Gordon, T. E (1900). The problem of the Middle East. Nineteenth Century, 47, 277, 413–424. Graulund, R. (2009). From (B) edouin to (a)borigine: The myth of the desert noble savage. History of the Human Sciences, 22(1), 79–104. Gregory, D. (2001). Colonial Nostalglia and cultures of travel: Spaces of constructed visibility in Egypt. In N. AlSayyad (Ed.), Consuming tradition, manufacturing heritage: Global norms and urban forms in the age of tourism. London and New York: Routledge. Grewal, I. (1996). Home and harem: Nation, gender, empire and the cultures of travel. Durham and London: Duke University Press. Hamid-Turksoy, N., Kuipers, G., & Van Zoonen, L. (2014). Try a taste of Turkey. Journalism Studies, 15(6), 743–758. Held, C. C. (2005). Middle East Patterns: Places, People and Politics, (4th edition). Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press. Hout, S. C. (2000). Grains of utopia: The desert as literary oasis in Paul Bowles’s the Sheltering Sky and Wilfred Thesiger’s Arabian Sands. Utopian Studies, 11(2), 112–136. Howe, N. (2000). Deserts, lost history, travel stories. Southwest Review, 85(4), 526–539. Hulme, P. (1992). Colonial encounters: Europe and the native Caribbean, 1492–1797. London: Routledge. Hunter, F. R. (2004). Tourism and empire: The Thomas Cook & son Enterprise on the Nile, 1868–1914. Middle Eastern Studies, 40(5), 28–54. Jacobs, J. (2010). Re-branding the Levant: Contested heritage and colonial modernities in Amman and Damascus. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, 8(4), 316–326. Kabbani, R. (1986). Europe’s myth of the orient. London: Macmillan.

102 

B. COCKING

Khubza & Seneya. (2019). Tripadvisor.co.uk. Retrieved August 30, 2019, from https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g298101-d15602030Reviews-Khubza_seneya-Aqaba_Al_Aqabah_Governorate.html Koppes, C.  R. (1976). Captain Mahan, general Gordon, and the origins of the term “Middle East”. Middle Eastern Studies, 12(1), 95–98. Lawrence of Arabia. (1962). [film], David Lean. Dir. United Kingdom: Horizon Pictures. Macfarlane, R. (2016, May 8). My hols: Award-winning writer Robert Macfarlane. The Times. Retrieved August 30, 2019, from https://www.thetimes.co.uk/ article/my-hols-robert-macfarlane-rr7k90qtx McAuslan, F. (2017, December 8). Wildest dreams: A family camping trip in Oman. The Guardian. Retrieved June 19, 2019, from https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/dec/08/oman-camping-mountains-deserts-beaches Melman, B. (2002). The middle east – Arabia: “The cradle of Islam”. In P. Hulme & T. Youngs (Eds.), The Cambridge companion to travel writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Mills, S. (1991). Discourses of difference: An analysis of women’s travel writing and colonialism. London: Routledge. Nash, G. (2006). Politics, aesthetics and quest in British travel writing on the Middle East. In T.  Youngs (Ed.), Travel writing in the nineteenth century: Filling the blank spaces. London: Anthem Press. Nasser, N. (2006). A historiography of tourism in Cairo: A spatial perspective. In R. F. Daher (Ed.), Tourism in the Middle East: Continuity, change and transformation. Clevedon: Channel View Publications. Niebuhr, C. (1792). Travels through Arabia and other countries in the East, Robert Heron (trans), Edinburgh. Prakash, G. (1995). Orientalism now. History and Theory, 34(3), 199–212. Pratt, M. L. (1992). Imperial eyes: Travel writing and transculturation. London: Routledge. Said, E. (1991). Orientalism. London: Penguin. Santos, C.  A. (2004). Framing Portugal: Representational dynamics. Annals of Tourism Research, 31(1), 122–138. Santos, C. A. (2006). Cultural politics in contemporary travel writing. Annals of Tourism Research, 33(3), 624–644. Southam, H. (2017, June 18). Little Petra: Exploring the tastes and traditions of “the real Jordan”. The Observer. Retrieved June 19, 2019, from https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/jun/18/little-petra-exploring-real-jordan-desert Spurr, D. (1993). The rhetoric of empire: Colonial discourse in journalism, travel writing and Imperial administration. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Tidrick, K. (1989). Heart beguiling Araby: The English romance with Arabia. London: I.B. Tauris & Ltd.

4  VISIONS OF PAST AND PRESENT? TRAVEL JOURNALISM FEATURES… 

103

Tripadvisor.com. (2017, January 13). Retrieved August 30, 2019, from https:// www.tripadvisor.com/TripAdvisorInsights/w828 Via Jordan Travel Day Tours. (2019). TripAdvisor.co.uk. Retrieved August 30, 2019, from https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g298101d2077700-Reviews-Via_Jordan_Travel_Day_Tours-Aqaba_Al_Aqabah_ Governorate.html Wadi Rum Protected Area. (2019). TripAdvisor.co.uk. Retrieved August 30, 2019, from https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g303973-d1555385R e v i e w s - Wa d i _ R u m _ P r o t e c t e d _ A r e a - Wa d i _ R u m _ A l _ A q a b a h _ Governorate.html Wodak, R. (2013). Critical discourse analysis. In C. Seale, G. Gobo, G. Gubrium, & D. Silverman (Eds.), Qualitative research practice. London: Sage. World Bank. (2019). Retrieved August 30, 2019, from https://data.worldbank. org/indicator/ST.INT.ARVL?locations=ZQ

CHAPTER 5

Looking West: Representations of Cultural Difference and Patterns of Consumption in ‘Eastern’ Travel Journalism

Introduction The previous chapter focused on British newspaper based travel journalism and examined its representation of holiday destinations in the Middle East. This reveals something of the ways in which travel journalism interacts with popular culture, in this case Britain’s colonial past ‘echoing’ through contemporary travel accounts of the Middle East. Yet such considerations also gesture towards a further line of enquiry. What of travel journalism produced in non-western regions of the world? How are cultural differences represented and how are the practices of tourism and the patterns of consumption on which it is founded understood and engaged with by non-western readerships? These questions will be explored in this chapter in the context of Malaysian travel journalism, focusing in particular on content from the country’s three largest English language newspapers, the New Straits Times, The Star and the Malay Mail. Consideration will be given to the ways in which travel content in these newspapers represent tourist destinations, particularly Western tourist destinations. Drawing on the analysis undertaken in the previous chapter, the intention here is to examine the ways in which such representations interact with broader discursive circuits, the Malaysian cultural and geopolitical imperatives that help inform and perpetuate popular perceptions of tourism and tourism destinations. In so doing, the attention will also be given to how these newspapers ‘model’ tourist activities and practices for their readers to identify with and consume. © The Author(s) 2020 B. Cocking, Travel Journalism and Travel Media, https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59908-7_5

105

106 

B. COCKING

The Rise of Global Tourism In recent decades there has been a massive growth in upward mobility across Asia, parts of Africa and other regions such as South America and Eastern Europe which has led to a huge growth in tourism and associated industries. It is clear that tourism is no longer practiced only within the Global North or from “the West to the rest”…The economic success of many emerging economies has expanded the upper middle class in these countries, resulting in more people who value the experiences of foreign travel and have the extra money to spend on travel (Hanusch & Fürsich, 2014, p. 4).

This expansion in the global travel industry has seen China establishing the largest travel market for outbound travel, with Chinese tourists spending more than tourists from any other country and other emerging markets recording significant increases in growth over the last year, such as ‘Vietnam (+28%), Argentina (+26%), Egypt (+19%), Spain (+17%), India (+16%), Israel and Ukraine (both +12%), Qatar and Thailand (both +11%)’ (‘Chinese tourists spent 12% more in travelling abroad in 2016’, 2017). Underlining the commercial significance of the growth of tourism in emerging and non-­ Western countries, a report commissioned by Mastercard on outbound tourism in the Asia Pacific region found that in 2016 11.9 million Malaysians travelled abroad, amounting to 38% of the population (‘Malaysia to record highest outbound travel ratio in AsiaPacific by 2021, Mastercard predicts’, MalayMail, 2017). The report found that in emerging economies outbound travel tended to be less economically stratified, with outbound trips being made by households with a much greater variance of income than in countries classed as having developed economies such as Japan (Choongand & Wong, 2017). Of the countries identified as emerging economies, outbound travel in Malaysia is growing at the fastest pace in the region: Total outbound trips will grow close to 3 times faster than total household growth (3.5 percent versus 1.3 percent) over the forecast period resulting in a ratio of outbound trips to households that is projected to reach 198.7 percent in 2021 from 178.4 percent in 2016 (highest among the emerging markets and 4th highest overall after Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan) (ibid)

5  LOOKING WEST: REPRESENTATIONS OF CULTURAL… 

107

This is very much in keeping with the current Malaysian government’s economic strategy which identifies tourism as one of the country’s 12 ‘National Key Economic Areas’ (NKEAS), driving ‘Malaysia towards high-income status and global competitiveness’ (Malaysia in the Global Competitiveness Report, 2017). Despite a terrorist attack in Puchong in June 2016 and recent falls in the country’s currency, the ringgit, the tourism industry in Malaysia continues to show extremely rapid growth. The ministry for Tourism’s marketing slogan ‘Malaysia, truly Asia’ draws upon the country’s ethnic and cultural diversity and promotes ‘green’ tourism and environmental protection. Their website states, ‘No other country has Asia’s three major races, Malay, Chinese, Indian, plus various other ethnic groups in large numbers. Nowhere is there such exciting diversity of cultures, festivals, traditions and customs, offering myriad experiences’ (Malaysia Truly Asia, 2017).

Travel Journalism and its Others Like all forms of journalism, travel journalism can be understood as discursive in its construction and function (Fürsich & Kavoori, 2001, 154). That is, it is socially constitutive of, as well as socially conditioned by, the historical moment (Wodak & Meyer, 2009). Certainly, the discursive strategies of travel journalism have garnered a good deal of scholarly interest (Santos, 2004; Voase, 2000). Predominantly, though, the focus has been on how Western, particularly British and American, travel journalism discursively constructs its others (Buzinde, Yoo, & Peterson, 2014, HamidTurksoy, Kuipers, & Van Zoonen, 2014 Cocking, 2009; Fürsich, 2002). This no doubt reflects the fact that travel journalism research is still in its early stages of development. It also reflects a primary tendency across the broader subject area of journalism studies to focus on journalism content and production throughout Europe and North America (Hanitzsch, 2007, p. 370). This emphasis, one which arguably establishes the discursive and professional practices of Western journalism as normative, a standard bearer, has precipitated continued calls to circumvent this hegemonic position which views ‘the rest of the world as a forgotten understudy’ (Curran & Park, 2000, p. 2, see also; Couldry, 2007, Thussu, 2009). In many areas of journalism studies this has been met with significant developments in the endeavour of internationalizing the field of enquiry ‘that has been historically organized around analytical concepts, epistemologies, arguments, and evidence developed in the United States and Western

108 

B. COCKING

Europe’ (Waisbord & Mellado, 2014, p. 362). For example, Hanitzsch’s ‘worlds of journalism’ 2012–2016 research project has sought to further understanding of ‘the professional orientations of journalists, the conditions and limitations under which journalists operate, and the social functions of journalism in a changing world’ (Hanitzsch, 2017). This project has produced a wealth of data about the working practices of journalists and in drawing together researchers from 45 countries worldwide has made a significant contribution to internationalizing the subject area. Nonetheless, there is concern that large scale comparative research projects such as this (see also, Löffelholz & Weaver, 2008; Weaver & Willnat, 2012; Willnat, Weaver, & Choi, 2013) are premised on a ‘universal notion of journalism’, producing a self-affirming form of ‘“global” journalism that is as aspirational as it is universal among working journalists’ (Deuze & Witschge, 2018, p. 4). Travel journalism has not yet been the focus of a large scale international research project. Perhaps as a consequence, this issue of establishing a ‘consensual core’ of the genre in ways that obfuscates falling back on Western hegemonic perspectives of the profession or which excludes ‘marginalized and minority voices, practices, and forms of journalism’ has not been contested in quite the way as it is in other areas of journalism. Nonetheless, the subject area has, since its infancy, recognized that it should open up lines of enquiry that seek to ask: what is the range of travel journalism texts produced in the Third World? What are the indigenous models for framing travel? What are the kinds of oppositional strategies for constructing travel destinations that do not adhere to the discursive strategies of western texts? (Fürsich & Kavoori, 2001, p. 162)

And yet remarkably few studies have sought to address these lines of enquiry. One is Raman and Choudary’s evaluation the representational strategies of Indian user generated travel blogs in the context of more conventional strategies deployed in the travel features in published in The Times of India and The Hindu. In an ‘attempt to bring in non-Western, yet “global” texts into a space of study that has largely concentrated on travel writing from the global North’, they find that whilst the market forces to which the newspapers are subject ‘have a homogenizing influence on the content’, the blogs are more ‘transcendental (emphasizing discovery and distance from the ordinary or mundane)’ [original

5  LOOKING WEST: REPRESENTATIONS OF CULTURAL… 

109

emphasis] (2014, p. 129). However, in so doing Raman and Choudary are primarily concerned with the comparison between professional and user generated content in the context of India’s rapidly transforming media technology landscape rather than, as is the intention here, examining the extent to which such representational strategies replicate or differ from established Western conventions. A second study which focuses on non-Western travel journalism is Bao’s study of Chinese travel journalism (2014). Bao examines the seismic cultural and economic transformation that has occurred in China over the last 30 years in which ‘the media followed the government rhetoric and saw tourism expansion as a “logical component of its post-Cultural Revolution normalization strategy” (Richter, 1989, p.  26)’ (2014, p.  135). This has led to ‘unprecedented institutional and technological changes of the Chinese media system and a boom in tourism development’ precipitating a massive expansion in travel journalism content across all media platforms (2014, p. 134). In the last decade, with the Chinese media industry becoming increasingly market driven, Western travel content and publishers have been able to gain a foothold—for example, Lonely Planet Traveller China Edition which was launched under licence in 2012. In this way, travel journalism has played a significant role in perpetuating and popularizing the government’s more outward looking, international perspective. In charting these developments, Bao posits that Chinese travel journalists tend to represent developed, Western destinations in a romanticized way: Many portrayals of developed countries are full of praise for the affluence, prosperity, the clean environment, good quality of life…Such mixed feelings revealed in travel journalism are closely related to a specific historic re-telling of the rise and fall of the Chinese empire in the past. They are reflections of a narrative about another journey—the enduring journey of the Chinese nation… (Bao, 2014, p. 147)

Analysing Non-Western Travel Journalism Bao’s assessment of the representational strategies of contemporary Chinese travel journalism as being underpinned by a popular (re)imagining of China’s cultural, historical and political international relations is, of course, also indicative of the fact that imperialism is not solely Western, nor is it one directional. As Appadurai suggested cultural ‘scapes’ shape

110 

B. COCKING

the dynamic interchanges of difference and power on ‘a stage characterized by radical disjunctures between different sorts of global flows and the uncertain landscapes created in and through these disjunctures’ (1993, p. 287). Bao’s findings also resonate with studies of the representational strategies of western travel writing and travel journalism. The difference being, though, that such a perspective has been predominately made by scholars in the West, writing about the West’s interactions with its ‘others’ not from scholars writing about the West as the ‘other’. For example, a principal theme of Mary Louise Pratt’s seminal work Imperial Eyes (1992) is the interplay between the representational motifs of European travel writing and the historical and political context in which they were produced—‘how travel books written by Europeans about non-European parts of the world created the imperial order for Europeans “at home” and gave them their place in it’ (3). Likewise, Corinne Fowler’s Chasing Tales: travel writing, journalism and the history of British ideas about Afghanistan (2007) argues that during Operation Enduring Freedom British news correspondents tended to re-evoke ‘travel narratives and histories ­ of those early nineteenth-century Anglo-Afghan encounters as a means of (re)familiarizing British news audiences with the region’ (22). Similarly, one of three contextual frameworks Fürsich and Kavoori (2001) outline as being applicable to the study of travel journalism is concerned with its representational characteristics. These are periodization, power and identity, and experience and phenomenology (2001, pp.  154–155). Whilst periodization is concerned with locating the cultural and social practices of travel and tourism ‘within the historical development of western societies’ (2001, p. 155), experience and phenomenology seeks to formulate ‘typologies of tourists/tourism and tourist experiences’ (2001, p.  164). The issue of power and identity is addressed through the concept of cultural imperialism and in this regard draws on Pratt’s discursive approach in order to facilitate the study of ‘the representational practices of travel journalism’ (2001, p. 161). This is instructive for the purposes of this chapter in that it indicates that whilst discourse analysis is undoubtedly a Western construct by no means does it intrinsically reinforce Western hegemony. Rather discourses should be seen as tactical elements or blocks operating in the field of force relations; there can exist or even contradictory discourses within the same strategy…[Power is] a multiple and mobile field of force relations wherein far-reaching, but never completely stable, effects of domination are produced (Foucault, 1980, p. 100)

5  LOOKING WEST: REPRESENTATIONS OF CULTURAL… 

111

It also indicates that the examination of Malaysian travel journalism from a discourse analysis perspective would be productive, not only in terms of revealing the themes and discursive tropes that characterize such content but also in illuminating their resonance with Malaysia’s cultural and historical heritage. Further, this necessitates consideration of Malaysian travel journalism’s discursive production in the broader context of leisure consumption and commercialization. Which regions and destinations are promoted? What kinds of tourism practices are interpellated to readers/ consumers? To what extent do such practices reflect the broader cultural and economic climate of Malaysia, the perspective with which it views itself and its place in the world? In this sense, it is important to consider whether and how ‘images of a western “other” are incorporated by the “others” themselves’ (Fürsich & Kavoori, 2001, p. 162). The Malaysian newspapers selected, the New Straits Times, The Star and the Malay Mail were chosen principally because of their status as the most authoritative, widely read and well-established English language daily newspapers in Malaysia (Imm, 2014, p. 169). The Star is the most recently established title, first published in 1971. It has been published in tabloid format since its inception and its news coverage and content is typical of that associated with ‘tabloid style’ and is considered ‘right wing’ in its political perspective (wiki/Barisan_Nasional). The Star produces both a printed daily version and an online version. It has by far the largest readership of the English language newspapers in Malaysia with its printed edition selling 248,000 copies per day in 2016 and its online edition attracted over 110,000 subscribers (‘The Star is top circulated English daily’, thestar.com, 2016). The Star has a dedicated travel section which is located within a lifestyle supplement to the main paper, marketed as Star2 and Star2.com online. The Straits Times has been in print since 1845, the oldest surviving English language newspaper in the country, it was re-launched as the New Straits Times in 1974 (wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Straits_Times). Like The Star it is also considered ‘right wing’ in its political perspective (wikipedia. org/wiki/Barisan_Nasional). Originally produced in broadsheet format, the New Straits Times adopted a tabloid format in 2004, though like other broadsheets (such as The Times in the UK) that have also adopted the tabloid layout, this change is principally about format size (ibid). Its news coverage, sections and features remain characteristically ‘broadsheet’ in style and content. Since 2010 the paper has produced an online version financed via a pay-wall model. The digital version and printed versions of

112 

B. COCKING

the newspaper have a combined daily circulation of approximately 50,000  in 2016 with the online paper attracting just over 6000 unique visitors, with the overall circulation down significantly from the previous year (66,000) despite a moderate rise in e-paper subscriptions (‘The Star is top circulated English daily’, thestar.com, 2016). In printed form the paper produces a weekly travel section, originally titled Travel Times it is now promoted as JOM! (meaning Let’s Go! in Malay language) and it remains Malaysia’s only dedicated travel and tourism newspaper supplement with content being shared on its online edition (wikipedia.org/ wiki/New_Straits_Times). The Malay Mail, like the New Straits Times, is a very long established newspaper, tracing its origins back to 1896 (wikipedia.org/wiki/Malay_ Mail). Originally a mid-morning daily newspaper, by the 1990s it had morphed into tabloid format, competing with, and ultimately losing market share to, The Star. Its “tabloid” style content lead to its suspension in 2005 for ‘reports and photographs in the paper’s November 4–5 issue focusing on sex and sexual issues were contrary to values practised by Malaysians’ (‘Malay Mail’, revolvy.com). Its owners, Media Prima Berhadwas sold the newspaper in 2009 to Redberry Group who continued to produce the paper until briefly suspending its circulation prior to a major re-launch in January in 2012 as a morning paid daily paper along with an online edition (‘The Malay Mail ceases publication, to be back in Jan’, thestar.com, 2011). The relaunch sought to position the newspaper as an upmarket, liberal tabloid by including ‘more comprehensive coverage of national, foreign, business, lifestyle, entertainment and sports news and wider coverage of community news’ in an effort to broaden the appeal of the newspaper across Malaysia’s rapidly growing middle class (Jaya, ‘The Malay Mail: See You in January 2012’, 2011). By 2015 its online edition was attracting 550,000 unique visitors per month, a figure which does not include mobile or overseas readers (‘Malay Mail Online one of top five English news portals in Malaysia’, 2015). The circulation of its printed edition is currently around 100,000 copies per day (wikipedia. org/wiki/Malay_Mail). The Malay Mail has a dedicated travel section and like the New Straits Times and The Star, it is primarily aimed at the same affluent, urban middle class demographic. In terms of style and content, these three newspapers straddle the tabloid-broadsheet axis and in this sense comparing them affords a cross-section of Malaysian travel journalism content and the patterns of consumption and associated cultural values such content promotes.

5  LOOKING WEST: REPRESENTATIONS OF CULTURAL… 

113

Star2.com With advertising and links running continuously down the right hand side of the page, The Star’s online travel site looks conventional with its style and layout mirroring the travel web pages of tabloid and mid-market newspapers from other regions of the world. British readers would find the format and navigation very similar to the MailOnline travel pages, for example. What is also apparent immediately apparent is that the lead feature is on a “home” destination—Sarawak, one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Clearly, leading with a feature on a ‘home’ destination does occur in newspapers from other regions of the world, however, Star2.com appears to contain a considerable amount of Malaysia based travel features, including features on Borneo, Malaysian city sites and Penang street food. This appears consistent with Malaysia’s ministry of tourism strategy to promote regional and environmental tourism along with the country’s reputation for duty free shopping as a means of ‘empowering the nation’s economy’ (Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Malaysia, n.d.). This is further emphasized by the lead feature whose headline ‘Sarawak has it all—diversity, nature and adventure’ (Yoga, 31st August, 2017) makes explicit reference to the core values of the Malaysian ministry of tourism and culture. This headline is positioned over a large photograph of a traditional longboat travelling up a river with thick jungle on both banks and a mountain range in the background swathed in mist and cloud. The image typifies a commonly held perception of Sarawak— the impression being built is of the wildlife, forests and peoples of the region as unchanged and in a continuous link with the past. In this sense it is not surprising to note that the image was supplied by the Sarawak Tourism Board. The impression of Sarawak has unchanged and linked to the past is reinforced within the opening lines of the feature: For those in the know, this is a place of history, mystery, romance and exotic adventures. For those who don’t, well, it’s been said it’s Asia’s best kept secret. That’s Sarawak, the largest state in Malaysia and arguably its most exotic. (Yoga, 31st August, 2017)

In bringing the past into the present, the feature evokes a strong sense of authenticity. This particular travel experience is not framed as luxurious leisure time any more than it is a good value break. Instead, we are encouraged to buy into the ultimate authentic travel experience, where the

114 

B. COCKING

traveller will encounter incredible cultural and ecological diversity. In addition to the 27 ethnic groups living in Sarawak, the state is also home to ‘the world’s largest flower, the Rafflesia (that can grow to the size of a coffee table), squirrels and snakes that fly, deer the size of cats…’ (Yoga, 31st August, 2017). The reader is being presented with an opportunity to consume an experience where the past survives unchanged in the present: The Iban, a warrior tribe of old, are the largest demographic within Sarawak. Headhunters and pirates from centuries ago, the Iban are also some of the most hospitable people you will find in the state… You can experience this by spending the night in one of their longhouses, listening to legends that go back to the Stone Age. (Yoga, 31st August, 2017)

This sentiment is further in evidence in the photographs that accompany the feature. The themes of nature, history, heritage and cultural diversity are explicit in images of the rivers and jungles of Sarawak, tribes people in traditional dress, longboats and the obligatory photograph of an Orang Utan. There are no images of roads, buildings of any kind, indeed, any aspect of modern, global living. That is except the presence of white, Western tourists in some of photographs of traditional tribal dances and ceremonies. This evokes a sense of stepping back in time, resonating with early colonial accounts, such as that of Sir James Brooke, the self-proclaimed first ‘white rajah’ of Sarawak (Barley, 2013). Bearing a similarity to MacCannell’s notion of authenticity, the tourists are presented not only as witnessing ‘life as it is really lived’ but as participating, as being permitted to share what in MacCannell’s terms are ‘back stage’ regions with locals (1973, p. 592). Whilst this is in keeping with the feature’s portrayal of native tribes people as welcoming and friendly, it is somewhat surprising to see white, Western tourists in these photographs. Clearly, The Star is accessible online globally and it is evident from the Malaysian ministry of tourism and culture that a key aspect of their strategy to develop tourism rests on attracting tourists from across the Asia Pacific region. Presumably, this informed the Malaysian Tourism Board’s decision to produce these photographs in this way. Yet, the largest demographic group of The Star’s readership is middleclass urban Malaysians (Jaya, The Star 2016). Like all promotional material, travel journalism typically makes a very direct appeal to its target demographic and in this sense the inclusion of white, Western tourists in this feature would seem to run counter to this. However, it is apparent from looking at the other features in Star2.com that they also all

5  LOOKING WEST: REPRESENTATIONS OF CULTURAL… 

115

make use of photographs supplied by tourism boards, hotels or tourism agencies. This is becoming an increasingly common practice in print and online travel journalism in order to reduce production costs. Certainly, this is a primary factor in the decision to use the photographs from the Malaysian Tourism Board in the Star2.com’s lead feature on Sarawak. There is considerable variation in the destinations included in the other features on the Star2.com’s travel pages, including features on The Rubens Hotel, near Buckingham Palace London, a diving holiday in Borneo, a family oriented holiday in Western Australia, a walking tour of Kuala Lumpur’s Independence square, Dataran Merdeka, and a weekend break in Venice beach, California. Like the lead feature, this mix of Malaysian and overseas based travel features are first-hand accounts, ‘upbeat…happy stories that encourage the reader to travel’ very much in keeping with the dominant characteristics of the genre (Hamid-Turksoy et  al., 2014, p. 749). In terms of narrative structure and ‘use of formulaic, mainly positive vocabulary’, the travel journalism of Star2.com is very much typical of the genre—or to be precise the characteristics associated with Western travel journalism (ibid, see also Santos, 2004). Star2.com also features some ‘report’ based content focusing on issues such as tackling travel sickness in children and tips on avoiding stress and anxiety whilst travelling. The overall mix of content is not dissimilar to that on other mid-market newspaper travel websites, such as Newscorp Australia’s Escape.com.au (http://www.escape.com.au/). Additionally, the combination of ‘home’ and overseas destinations featured here is with that found in most Western newspapers. In this sense Pratt’s observations about European travel writing producing ‘conceptions of itself in relation to something it became possible to call “the rest of the world”’, which has been applied to Western travel journalism is pertinent here (1992, p. 5. See also Fürsich & Kavoori, 2001; Cocking, 2009). The features infer a sense of assumed knowledge on the part of the reader, that as a predominantly middle class Malaysian readership they will come to the text epistemologically equipped, cultural, politically and socially. This is particularly evident in the features on staying near Buckingham palace in London and the walking tour of Kuala Lumpur’s Independence square, Dataran Merdeka. For example, the feature on The Rubens hotel opens with; ‘While I was having my Royal Afternoon Tea (say that with a stiff upper lip) in London in early May, I was expecting to do my fair share of people-­ watching. Or rather “royals-watching” or watching people watching royals’ (Yoga, The Star2.com, 31st August

116 

B. COCKING

2017). This opening sentence is so laden with British cultural stereotypes that its meaning would be entirely lost without an understanding of them. Moreover, the fact that it assumes such knowledge of its readers is also indicative of Malaysia’s colonial past, its cultural heritage—the ways in which through the social and cultural imaginary frames itself and its relation to “the rest of world” (see, e.g., Milner & Kasim, 2018 p. 387–388). Similarly, the feature on the walking tour in Independence Square requires of the reader an awareness of Malaysian popular culture and history; ‘KL has gone through several rites of passage: A tin boom in the mid-19th century, a devastating fire, a major flood, the Japanese occupation, and over a century of British rule’ (Chester, Star2.com 2017). New Straits Times JOM! The travel pages of the New Straits Times (JOM!) also lead with a feature on Sarawak; ‘Taking Punjabi Cuisine to Sarawak’. Destinations within Malaysia dominate here, with far fewer oversea destinations featured here than in comparison with Star2.com. JOM! principally focuses on travel and sits within a ‘lifestyle’ section of the New Straits Times and there are several features that link food and travel together. The lead feature, for example, focuses on MasterChef Asia finalist Jasbir Kaur’s endeavours to establish the first Punjabi restaurant in Sarawak. Kaur comments, ‘Since there is no Sarawak Punjabi food scene, I’m making one’ (Tasnim Lokman, New Straits Times, 27th August, 2017). Throughout this feature and the others included here, there is an emphasis on promoting and celebrating cultural diversity, promoting what the Malaysian ministry of tourism and culture refer to as ‘arts, culture and heritage towards enhancing national unity based on the National Cultural Policy’ (Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Malaysia, n.d.). As is befitting of the newspaper’s broadsheet market orientation and news values, the features are well researched and more highbrow than the content of Star2.com. The features of JOM! are also longer in word length and don’t have photographs inserted into the body of text, rather each article includes single scrolling ban of images above the headline. Following the lead feature is one on the Gunung Mulu National Park also in Sarawak. Titled, ‘GO: Mulu, a land frozen in time’ the feature is headed by a photograph of a road passing through lush, rainforest and stretching off towards some mist covered foothills. The image mirrors the tone of the feature, providing visual evidence that few aspects of the

5  LOOKING WEST: REPRESENTATIONS OF CULTURAL… 

117

modern world have encroached on this region. This is further reinforced by scroll bar of photographs which reveals images of pit vipers, hammer headed flat worms, traditional long boats riding river rapids and jungle treks. The photographs are attributed to the author of the feature—they are high quality and have a much less generic feel to them than the tourism board derived photographs typically used in the Star2.com’s travel pages. Despite these stylistic differences, it is clear that this feature also seeks to frame its destination through the representational trope of authenticity. Like the Sarawak feature on Star2.com, here Mulu is presented as ‘a beautiful and wild place, remote and inaccessible, untouched and sparsely populated’ (Corpuz, 2017, p. 452). This tourist experience is predicated on the opportunity to see the ‘real’ Mulu, to find oneself encountering the ‘realm of “truth”, “reality” and “intimacy”’ of the ‘back stage’ region (Lau, 2010: 480). Where nature is accessible, un-­mediated—not something ‘put on’ or constructed for our engagement but rather something that we will no doubt happen upon Mulu also offers a bag of treats for those interested to encounter birds, insects, amphibians and other smaller animals. In the four days I spend at the national park, trekking various trails, I am lucky enough to spot the brightly coloured hammerhead worm (bipalium), an adorable and swiftmoving pygmy squirrel, isopods, a juvenile pit viper, and the gorgeous Rajah Brooke birdwing butterfly (Trogonoptera brookiana) …to name a few, and many of which are endemic to Mulu. (Nova Renata, New Straits Times, 24th August, 2017).

Clearly, this feature, and the others included on JOM!, are first person narratives. In this sense, like those on Star2.com, they are very much in keeping with the established (Western) characteristics of the genre; ‘a hybrid mass mediated genre which seeks to provide aesthetically pleasing narratives that satisfy readers’ desire for otherness’ (Santos, 2006, p. 626). Again, in keeping with this style of writing, here the representation of Mulu as an unspoilt ‘other’, a region to escape modern life, is the interpellation of a pattern of consumption. Again, in keeping with the conventions of this style of writing, the piquing of desire necessarily involves the reader ‘buying in’, emotionally and, ultimately, financially. Further, it is interesting to note that in making considerable use of personal impressions, the author explicitly positions herself as Malaysian and by implication identifies the reader as such too. Framing the destination as easily overlooked yet richly

118 

B. COCKING

interesting and compellingly near can be seen, as with some of the features on Star2.com, as a further illustration the country’s promotion of ‘home’ tourism: MY trip to Mulu is an afterthought. Like many Malaysians, I often think about yonder places such as Europe and Australia first when planning a trip. I’ve taken for granted the fact that for decades, Borneo has been attracting ­thousands, if not millions, of tourists and researchers alike to our lush rainforest and azure seas…Luckily, Mulu is a mere 50-minute flight away from Kota Kinabalu (via MASwings) (Nova Renata, New Straits Times, 24th August, 2017).

Interestingly, such stock in trade positivity is countered by some passages which seek to reveal some of the more negative aspects of travelling in Mulu. Having established Mulu as a naturalist paradise, Renata goes on to outline some of the draw backs of visiting the national park. In addition to there being no ATM machine, ‘what’s negative is that town still relies on individual gensets for electricity (there’s usually no electricity during the day, until 6 pm), water supply is pumped in from the river, and network [mobile phone] coverage is virtually nonexistent’ (Nova Renata, New Straits Times, 24th August, 2017). Certainly, it is possible to view these perceived negative points as positive attributes, one which help affirm the framing of Mulu as a refuge from urban living. Such passages can be seen as indicative of the New Straits Times’s news values, its status as a broadsheet and its commitment to such core journalistic values as balance, objectivity and impartiality. Perhaps this is no more than a veneer of broadsheet values deployed cynically to provide an impression of balance that helps reassure the reader as to the author’s integrity, ultimately driving consumption of the featured tourism experience. Nonetheless, it is extremely rare in Western travel journalism content to find passages that stray beyond a format which is ‘hyperbolic, full of adjectives, notably devoid of critique or cynicism’, however mild (Hamid-Turksoy et  al., 2014, p. 750). Certainly, the explicit use of the term ‘negative’ is noteworthy, something of a representational ‘fold’ in the genre’s established significatory structures. Of the other features listed on JOM!, the overwhelming majority also focus on destinations within Malaysia, amongst them the reader encounters villages on the Sungai Pahang river mouth, the forests of the Cameron Highlands and the flora and fauna of Pangkor Island. In addition to these

5  LOOKING WEST: REPRESENTATIONS OF CULTURAL… 

119

convention first person narratives, like the Star2.com, JOM! also includes some reports, such as one on Carbondale, Illinois USA which was very near the point of greatest duration of a recent total solar eclipse and another titled ‘It’s getting hot in here’ focusing on post-Brexit changes to border control in the UK and Europe. As is typical of travel journalism, the content on JOM! reveals something of ‘the author’s culturally specific “ways of seeing” the world’ (McGregor, 2000, p. 28). And by extension, it is revealing of the assumptions its authors make of their readership. That is, it serves in the endeavour of perpetuating the ‘ordering of knowledge of the world’, producing a ‘topography of the foreign’ and, in this case, the ‘home’(1999: 9). The features of this episteme are very much in line with the Ministry of Tourism and Culture and its development of ‘home’ tourism and the promotion of ecology, diversity and sustainability.

Malay Mail In contrast to the emphasis placed on ‘home’ tourism in the The Star2.com and the New Straits Times Jom!, the Malay Mail leads with a more sensationalist, travel cum celebrity/lifestyle feature on a Ryan Zhu, a Chinese actor who plans to spend 1 month living at Helsinki airport, Finland (Malay Mail, 29th September 2017). The intention behind this project ‘described as part Truman Show, part Tom Hanks’ film The Terminal’ is to promote the airport as intercontinental travel hub, ‘the fastest connection between Asia and Europe’ (ibid). In contrast to the more traditional travel narrative, such as feature on the Mulu national park in the JOM!, here the personal and the reflective are absent. There is no allure of authenticity nor does it purport to take us purport to take us ‘back stage’ (MacCannell, 1973). Instead, the tone is more explicitly promotional, reading like public relations content, with the accompanying publicity derived photographs adding to this impression. The feature is an exemplar of marketing and consumption characteristics of this genre of journalism (Hanusch, 2010: 78). These characteristics are present here in the absence of the other representation strategies associated with travel journalism, such as its portrayal of other cultures. Rather, in typical tabloid style the feature draws the reader’s attention through a mixture of entertainment, celebrity gossip and information. Alongside the promotion of Helsinki airport as a fast and efficient ‘hub’ connecting Asia to Europe, the article frames Finland, and more broadly Scandinavia, as a potential tourist destination. In this sense, the region is brought—seemingly anew—to the readers’

120 

B. COCKING

‘geo-cultural map’ of tourist experiences and possibilities. Interestingly, this is established by evidencing the region’s status as a well-perceived and established destination for European tourists. Again, no details are given on specific destinations but rather the region as a whole is endorsed and presented as one for readers to consider on the basis of European travel media construction of Scandinavia as a significant and worthy destination: ‘National Geographic Traveller UK placed Helsinki third on its top 10 “Cool List 2017,” while the US edition of the magazine included Finland in its list of 21 “Must-see” places for 2017′ (Malay Mail, 29th September, 2017). As an infotainment piece of travel journalism, it affords no insights into tourist experiences readers might consume, yet the premise seems to be that tourism is practised globally and the global awareness of its consumers overrides the specificities of their cultural and political baggage: if it is good enough for the nebulously conceived ‘European tourist’, it is good enough for the readers of the Malay Mail. Other travel articles featured in the Malay Mail’s travel section are similarly ‘tabloidesque’ in style and content. The emphasis is very much on the blending of infotainment, celebrity and ‘list’ formatted content. For example, below an article headed ‘New theme park modelled after “Hunger Games”, “Mad Men” to open in Times Square’ is ‘What to see and do in Barbados—a guide to popular activities and attractions’ (Malay Mail, 29th September 2017). Part of the travel section’s destination extensive ‘guides’ series, the article is in ‘list’ form and contains numerous adverts for flights and hotels to Barbados. As is typical of this style of travel feature, the author is entirely absent and in this sense the reader is not invited to imaginatively experience locations and activities. Rather, lacking a narrative arc the reader’s interest is caught through entertainment, novelty, grandeur and the lure of the exotic. In contrast with the more objective perspective of features in JOM!, like the Star2.com, the language used here befits its marketing purpose, it is extremely positive and uplifting: Taking place every Friday evening in the quaint little fishing town of Oistin is the fish fry. A local hub of socializing and eating, these weekly gatherings revolve around a huge grill of fried fish and meat. An assortment of tuna, swordfish, marlin, mahi-mahi, flying fish, chicken and pork fill the air with sizzling smells; while guests enjoy the laidback sounds of relaxed reggae beats (Malay Mail, 29th September 2017)

5  LOOKING WEST: REPRESENTATIONS OF CULTURAL… 

121

Further, whilst JOM! and The Star2.com feature content which seems to engage with and be influenced by the ‘home’ focused policies of the Malaysian ministry of tourism, the Malay Mail adopts a much more cosmopolitan perspective—this is ‘21st Century global tourism…diverse, individualized and characterized by unprecedented freedom and variety’ (Day Good, 2013, p. 296). Its ‘Guides’ series is extremely comprehensive featuring approximately 311 destinations worldwide. Some of this content is provided by writers identified as ‘local guides’ and is credited with bylines; however, the vast majority of this content is unattributed yet has clearly been produced in association with the international hotel booking website hotels.com. Along with hotels.com banner that features on each destination guide page on the Malay Mail’s travel site, the information on each destination is identical on both sites. This is an interesting arrangement, presumably borne out of hotels.com effectively paying for advertising space. In many respects it represents a natural progression towards blended content necessitated by the economic dynamics of the newspaper industry, where the development of online content necessitates a reliance on advertising revenue over copy price (Hanusch, 2012, p. 70). Nonetheless, from a reader’s perspective it is by no means immediately obvious that the content of these guides has been produced ‘out of house’, that it is ‘advertorial’ public relations content that it may not be subject to the editorial standards that underpin content published elsewhere in the newspaper. As with the lead feature, the underlying assumption here seems to be that the global nature of tourism facilitates the homogenous promotion of tourism products across the world. It is not clear yet whether this business model does in fact consistent with the consumption of practices and experiences of tourism. Like the travel sections of British tabloids, the Malay Mail features travel ‘reports’ and more aspirational content. Report based articles such as ‘Jamaica expects tourism boost as hurricane batters rest of Caribbean’ and ‘European airport fees have doubled over the last decade, finds report’, are not primarily about promoting specific destinations as much as they about the presentation of serving the consumerist rights of the paper’s readers (Malay Mail, 29th September 2017). Articles such as these are typically much less closely allied to the tourism industry than other forms of travel journalism, they are not the direct product of advertising revenue but rather seek to identify with the concerns and issues readers face, thus building their trust and maintaining their consumption of what they perceive as their paper (see Conboy, 2006, p. 12). More aspirational features

122 

B. COCKING

such as ‘Get a tour of NYC… with Sarah Jessica Parker, Ansel Elgort’ entertain readers, drawing their interest vicariously and again serve primarily to facilitate their ‘buy in’ to the newspaper rather than the consumption of the tourist experience featured in the article (Malay Mail, 29th September, 2017).

Conclusion It is clear that there are some significant differences in the travel content found on the three newspapers’ websites. An aspect of this is to be expected in as much as the travel sections of each newspaper largely conform to the market orientation and news values of each brand. The Malay Mail and the Star2.com are tabloid newspapers in both format and the style of content, and the language they use is consistently positive and, in focusing on more overseas destinations, arguably they are more aspirational than the more balanced, critical and “home” focused broadsheet style of JOM!. These stylistic differences belie a more substantive difference in the modes of representation deployed in each publication. The content in the Malay Mail and Star2.com is presented through a more globalized, cosmopolitan lens. However, there are some differences between the two newspapers. The Star2.com seems assumes its readership is well versed in overseas travel, is familiar with European and American destinations and such locations are presented in an enticingly exotic way. Discursively, this ‘way of seeing’, or to use Urry’s term, this ‘tourist gaze’ is not one that ‘others’ these destinations (2005). That is, the focus on Star2.com on destinations such as London, Croatia or Western Australia does not appear to be born out of the ‘ideological production of neocolonialism’ in reverse (Spivak, 1988, p. 210). Rather, this particular representation of Western destinations as exotic serves more as a means of constructing them as markers of aspiration, ‘must do’ tourist experiences for the Star2.com’s middle class Malaysian readership. Whilst, this aspirational aspect is also very prevalent in the Malay Mail, this paper tends to frame its content in a more celebrity/entertainment dimension. In contrast with the Star2.com’s ‘must do’ call to its readers, the Malay Mail’s content appeals more as ‘must read’ light-hearted entertainment. Whilst the New Strait’s Times’s JOM! is essentially aimed at the same demographic, rather than exoticizing overseas destinations, the focus is on overlooked but culturally interesting Malaysian destinations. The modes of representation deployed are quite different. Here, naturalist and

5  LOOKING WEST: REPRESENTATIONS OF CULTURAL… 

123

primitivist modes of representation frame destinations by their cultural heritage and rich ecology. The urban, city setting is the implied location of the reader, with destinations such as the Mulu national park are cast as easily accessible spaces where one escape metropolitan modernity. Others like Tanjung Api, a village that flanks the Sungai Pahang river mouth are presented as opportunities to catch last glimpses of a fading primitive way of life ‘slowly being swept away by the waves of development’ (E.S. Tung, ‘DO: Fond Hope For Tanjung Api’, JOM! 24th August, 2017). Such sentiments resonate with what Forsdick—in the context of twentieth century French travel writing—has referred to as ‘ethnographic mourning’ (2005, p. 12.) There is a sense of aspiration here too, driving the readers’ interest in these travel features. However, in contrast to Star2.com and the Malay Mail its cultural capital is less about the ‘must see’ status and the display of established, and largely overseas, destinations and more about a form of cultural capital derived from being attuned to the mindful simplicity of nature and culture closer to home. Nonetheless, underlying the difference discursive frames adopted by the Star2.com, the Malay Mail and JOM!, ultimately, like all professional travel journalism, is the promotion of specific forms of consumption. Primarily, this takes the form of encouraging readers to consume tourism experiences, however, it also involves the vicarious interest readers may take in such features—an interest which contributes to their continued purchase of the newspaper. In encouraging readers to consume tourist experiences, these features not only reflect dominant discourses in circulation but facilitate readers’ engagement in particular touristic practices and forms of behaviour. Nonetheless, whilst the Star2.com and the Malay Mail position tourism as a global, cosmopolitan practice, JOM! draws upon much more explicitly Malaysian discourses on tourism, regionality and environmentalism. Finally, this raises some further implications in terms of the study of travel journalism and in particular the continued calls to internationalize it. Clearly, it is vital that scholars continue to explore travel journalism beyond the West. However, whereas in others areas of journalism scholars have advocated de-westernizing the episteme, such an endeavour seems misplaced in the case of travel journalism. Travel journalism is a form of journalism with a high market orientation (Hanitzsch, 2007, p. 375; see also Hanusch, 2010). Ultimately, it is its characteristic promotion of forms of consumption, of tourism experiences, which shape the modes of representation used to portray destinations along with its continual interplay

124 

B. COCKING

with cultural, social and political discourses that frame its production. This is the globalized, universal core of travel journalism. Looking beyond established Western content is productive not because it somehow takes us beyond these globalized, often heterogeneous patterns of leisure time consumption. Clearly, Malaysia is a very multicultural and multi-lingual nation. Yet, in some respects, these newspapers ‘flatten’ this diversity through the promotion of tourism as an attractive, globalized commodity. The fact that all three newspapers are published in English perhaps also contributes to the impression that some aspects of cultural difference are toned down rather than celebrated. Nonetheless, it is significant to note that local/national tourism experiences are proudly promoted through refigured western discursive strategies. Drawing influence from the Malaysian Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture there is a strong sense that traditional, pre-modern places and cultural practices are an integral aspect of modern Malaysian national identity. There is a sense that these attributes of the country should be preserved, not merely as a sanctuary for wealthy, modernity weary western tourists, but as important aspects in the evolution of distinctly Malaysian tourism practices. This is instructive in contributing to an understanding of how a country like Malaysia constructs an image of itself in the context of global tourism. In this respect, the examination of travel content in newspapers like the Star2.com, the Malay Mail and JOM! reveals how established discourses of aspiration, luxury, nature and primitivism are refigured in the promotion of distinctly Malaysian tourism practices and perceptions of the world.

References Appadurai, A. (1993). Disjuncture and difference in the global cultural economy. In B.  Robbins (Ed.), The Phantom Public Sphere (pp.  269–295). Minnesota: Minnesota University Press. Bao, J. (2014). Going with the flow: Chinese travel journalism in transition. In F. Hanusch & E. Fürsich (Eds.), Travel Journalism. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Barisan Nasional. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barisan_Nasional Barley, N. (2013). White Rajah. London: Hachette. Buzinde, C.  N., Yoo, E.  E., & Peterson, C.  B. (2014). Authorizing others: Portrayals of middle eastern destinations in travel media. In F.  Hanusch & E. Fürsich (Eds.), Travel journalism: Exploring production, impact and culture. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

5  LOOKING WEST: REPRESENTATIONS OF CULTURAL… 

125

Chester, C. (2017, August 28). Colonial history on free Dataran Merdeka walk. thestar2.com. Retrieved December 3, 2017, from https://www.thestar.com. my/lifestyle/travel/2017/08/28/colonial-histor y-on-free-dataranmerdaka-walk Chinese tourists spent 12% more in travelling abroad in 2016. (2017). World tourism organisation. Retrieved December 3, 2017, from http://media.unwto. org/press-release/2017-04-12/chinese-tourists-spent-12-more-travellingabroad-20162016 Choongand, D., & Wong, Y. H. (2017). Mastercard future of outbound travel in Asia Pacific (2016 to 2021) report. Retrieved December 3, 2017, from https:// newsroom.mastercard.com/asia-pacific/files/2017/01/Mastercard-Futureof-Outbound-Travel-Report-2016-2021-Asia-Pacific1.pdf Cocking, B. (2009). Travel journalism: Europe imagining the Middle East. Journalism Studies, 10(1), 54–68. Conboy, M. (2006). Tabloid Britain constructing a community through language. New York: Routledge. Corpuz, R. (2017). “Wild Borneo”: A study of visitor perception and experience of nature tourism in Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. In V.  T. King, Z. Ibrahim, & N. H. Hassan (Eds.), Borneo studies in history, society and culture, Asia in transition (Vol. 4). Singapore: Springer. Couldry, N. (2007). Researching media internationalization: Comparative research as if we really meant it. Global Media & Communication, 3(3), 247–271. Curran, J., & Park, M. J. (2000). Beyond globalization theory. In J. Curran & M.  J. Park (Eds.), De-Westernizing Media Studies (pp.  3–18). London, Routledge. Deuze, M., & Witschge, T. (2018). Beyond journalism: Theorizing the transformation of journalism. Journalism, 19(2), 165–181. Forsdick, C. (2005). Travel in twentieth century French and francophone cultures: The persistence of diversity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Foucault, M. (1980). In C. Gordon (Ed.), Power/knowledge. New York: Pantheon. Fowler, C. (2007). Chasing Tales: Travel writing, journalism and the history of British ideas about Afghanistan. Amsterdam-New York: Rodopi. Fürsich, E. (2002). How can global journalists represent the “other”? A critical assessment of the cultural studies concept for media practice. Journalism, 3(1), 57–84. Fürsich, E., & Kavoori, A. P. (2001). Mapping a critical framework for the study of travel journalism. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 4(2), 149–171. Good, K. D. (2013). Why we travel: Picturing global mobility in user-generated travel journalism. Media, Culture and Society, 35(3), 295–313. Hamid-Turksoy, N., Kuipers, G., & Van Zoonen, L. (2014). Try a taste of Turkey: An analysis of Turkey’s representation in British newspapers’ travel sections. Journalism Studies, 15(6), 743–758.

126 

B. COCKING

Hanitzsch, T. (2007). Deconstructing journalism culture: Toward a universal theory. Communication Theory, 17(4), 367–385. Hanitzsch, T. (2017). Worlds of journalism, 2012–2016. Retrieved December 3, 2017, from http://www.worldsofjournalism.org/ Hanusch, F. (2010). The dimensions of travel journalism. Journalism Studies, 11(1), 68–82. Hanusch, F. (2012). Travel journalists’ attitudes toward public relations: Findings from a representative survey. Public Relations Review, 38(1), 69–75. Hanusch, F., & Fürsich, E. (Eds.). (2014). Travel journalism exploring production, impact and culture. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Imm, T. S. (2014). Exploring the Malaysian english newspapers corpus for lexiographic evidence. Kajian Malaysia, 32(1), 167–185. Jaya, P. (2016, October 17). Most Star readers are middle class. The Star. Retrieved December 3, 2017, from https://www.pressreader.com/malaysia/ the-star-malaysia/20161017/281745563911196 Jaya, The Malay Mail: See You in January, 2012 (2011, November 15). Retrieved December 3, 2017, from https://dinmerican.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/ the-malay-mail-see-you-in-january-12-2012/ Lau, R. (2010). Revisiting authenticity a social realist approach. Annals of Tourism Research, 37(2), 478–498. Löffelholz, M., & Weaver, D. H. (2008). Global journalism research. Malden, MA: Blackwell. MacCannell, D. (1973). Staged authenticity: Arrangements of social space in tourist settings. American Journal of Sociology, 79(3), 589–603. Malay Mail. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Malay_Mail Malay Mail Online one of top five English news portals in Malaysia. (2015, September 30). Retrieved December 3, 2017, from https://www.malaymail. com/news/malaysia/2015/09/30/malay-mail-online-enters-top-5-englishnews-sites-in-malaysia/978783 Malay Mail, revolvy.com. Retrieved December 3, 2017, from https://www.revolvy. com/page/Malay-Mail Malaysia in the Global Competitiveness Report. (2017). Retrieved December 3, 2017, from http://www.mpc.gov.my/pemudah/wp-content/uploads/ sites/21/2017/01/GCR_2015-2016_29.9.2015.pdf Malaysia to record highest outbound travel ratio in Asia-Pacific by 2021, Mastercard predicts. (2017, January 24). MalayMail. Retrieved December 3, 2017, from http://www.themalaymailonline.com/travel/article/malaysia-torecord-highest-outbound-travel-ratio-in-asia-pacific-by-2021-ma Malaysia Truly Asia. (2017), Retrieved December 3, 2017, from http://www. tourism.gov.my/campaigns/view/malaysia-truly-asia McGregor, A. (2000). Dynamic texts and tourist gaze: Death, bones and Buffalo. Annals of Tourism Research, 27(1), 27–50.

5  LOOKING WEST: REPRESENTATIONS OF CULTURAL… 

127

Milner, A., & Kasim, S. M. (2018). Beyond sovereignty: Non-Western international relations in Malaysia’s foreign relations. Contemporary South-East Asia, 40(3), 371–396. Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Malaysia. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2017, from http://www.motac.gov.my/en/profile/policy Pratt, M. L. (1992). Travel writing and transculturation. Abingdon: Routledge. Richter, L. K. (1989). The politics of tourism in Asia. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Santos, C.  A. (2004). Framing Portugal representational dynamics. Annals of Tourism Research, 31(1), 122–138. Santos, C. A. (2006). Cultural politics in contemporary travel writing. Annals of Tourism Research, 33(3), 624–644. Spivak, G. (1988). The post-colonial critic, interviews, strategies, dialogues. New York: Routledge. Straits Times. Retrieved December 3, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/New_Straits_Times The Malay Mail ceases publication, to be back in Jan. (2011, November 15), thestar.com. Retrieved December 3, 2017, from https://www.thestar.com.my/ news/nation/2011/11/15/the-malay-mail-ceases-publication-tobe-back-in-jan The Star is top circulated English daily. (2016, December 5). thestar.com. Retrieved December 3, 2017, from http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2016/ 12/05/the-star-is-top-circulated-english-daily/ Thussu, D. (Ed.). (2009). Internationalizing media studies. London: Routledge. Tung, E. S. (2017, August 24). Fond Hope for Tanjung Api. New Straits Times. Retrieved December 3, 2017, from https://www.klik.com.my/item/document/7241873/nst%2D%2D-thu-08-2017-life-times-240101-a-all Urry, J. (2005). The tourist gaze (2nd ed.). London: Sage. Voase, R (2000) Explaining the blandness of popular travel journalism: Narrative, cliché and the structure of meaning. Tourism 2000: Time for Celebration, 2–7 September 2000, Sheffield Hallam University. Waisbord, S., & Mellado, C. (2014). De-westernizing communications studies: A reassessment. Communication Theory, 24(4), 361–372. Weaver, D.  H., & Willnat, L. (2012). The global journalist in the 21st century. London: Routledge. Willnat, L., Weaver, D. H., & Choi, J. (2013). The global journalist in the twentyfirst century. Journalism Practice, 7(2), 163–183. Wodak, R., & Meyer, M. (Eds.). (2009). Methods for critical discourse analysis. London: Sage. Yoga, S. S. (2017, August 26). At the Palace. thestar2.com. Retrieved December 3, 2017, from https://www.pressreader.com/malaysia/the-star-malaysia-star2/ 20170826/281543701052179

CHAPTER 6

Selling it ‘Green’: Travel Journalism, Trump and the US National Monuments

Introduction The previous two chapters examined cross cultural representations, from an East to West perspective and then from a West to East perspective. The intention of this final chapter of this book is to move away from the exploration of cross-cultural representations in order to consider the political dimension of travel journalism. Specifically, the genre’s engagement with the politics of environmentalism and sustainability. As McGaurr has found, the perception of travel journalism as little more than marketing content does not take account of occasions where it is possible to ‘locate particular examples of international travel journalism in the context of broader local and international political discourse’ (2010, p.  51). Such examples are perhaps indicative of circumstances where the professional values of the journalism industry (i.e., objectivity, balance, holding power to account etc.) become more explicitly foregrounded in travel journalism. McGaurr’s study focused on travel journalism that ‘mediates environmental conflict over forestry practices in Australia’s island state of Tasmania’ (ibid). The conflict between logging companies and the Tasmanian tourist board’s promotion of sustainable forms of tourism drew attention from a small number of high profile travel journalists, including A.A. Gill, who published print and web based articles and features raising awareness issue (p. 51–53). McGaurr’s study of this content found that its dual endeavour of promoting Tasmania and raising awareness of the environmental issues the region faces seemed to necessitate the intermingling of the traditional © The Author(s) 2020 B. Cocking, Travel Journalism and Travel Media, https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59908-7_6

129

130 

B. COCKING

representational characteristics of the genre with ‘investigative news techniques’ (p. 55). In such instances, a more critical tone, one more typically associated with political reporting than travel journalism, appears to be present. McGaurr finds that this seems to be a conscious dimension of the working practices of the travel journalists included in her study, in that they appear to have observed some genre protocols in their travel articles despite including criticisms of Tasmanian forestry practices, suggesting, perhaps, that they choose to make a pragmatic distinction between the tourism organisation providing them with assistance and the government funding that organization (p. 56).

In this way, travel journalism appears under certain circumstances, such as the influence of political discourse and the international news agenda, to make use of discursive conventions from different journalistic, media, and arguably literary genres (Spurr, 1999, p. 9). For McGaurr, this ‘interdiscursive’ potential in travel journalism, specifically, the potential for the genre to articulate and harness the interdependent relations between global and local, cultural and capital, environmental and political resonates with Beck’s vision of cosmopolitanism (p. 58). The interdependent nature of these relations ‘arises in a climate of heightened global threats, which creates an unavoidable pressure to cooperate’ and from this pressure results: ‘a shared space of responsibility and agency’ (Beck, 2006, p. 23). Consequently, Beck argues that the ideology of cosmopolitanism has journeyed from its philosophical origins to become the defining feature of a new era, the era of reflexive modernity, in which national borders and differences are dissolving and must be renegotiated in accordance with the logic of a “politics of politics”. This is why a world that has become cosmopolitan urgently demands a new standpoint, the cosmopolitan outlook, from which we can grasp the social and political realities in which we live and act. Thus the cosmopolitan outlook is both the presupposition and the result of a conceptual reconfiguration of our modes of perception (p. 2)

In examining the ways in which travel journalism has the capability to meld different narrative tones and harness different discursive elements, McGaurr shows how Beck’s conception of cosmopolitanism provides a

6  SELLING IT ‘GREEN’: TRAVEL JOURNALISM, TRUMP… 

131

productive theoretical framework for examining not only the genre’s potential to raise awareness about the specific issue of environmental conflict in Tasmania but in more general terms its ability to intercede in political debate. The coverage of environmental politics by mainstream news media outlets has received a considerable amount of academic attention (see, e.g., Cottle, 2000, 2003; Castells, 2004; Hansen & Cox, 2015; Lester, 2006, 2007; Hackett, Forde, Gunster, & Foxwell-Norton, 2017). However, beyond McGaurr’s study of travel journalism and environmental conflict in Tasmania, there has been little consideration of the potential in travel journalism to respond to environmental politics and the international news agenda. By way of exploring this further, this chapter focuses on a major environmentally focused news story that emerged from US President Trump’s administration during 2017 and 2018. On 26th April 2017, President Trump’s office issued two executive orders to review the size and status of 27 (of 129) ‘national monuments’ (Whitehouse.gov). A status assigned to areas of land deemed to contain ‘historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest’ that are consequently protected by the 1909 Antiquities Act (16 U.S.C. § 431 § 432, and § 433. U.S. Code collection). The review of the national monuments identified in the executive orders was undertaken by Interior Secretary, Ryan Zinke. A draft memo was leaked to The Washington Post and published on 17th September 2017. It recommended modifying the management of a total of ten national monuments in order to ‘permit “traditional uses” now restricted within the monuments’ boundaries, such as grazing, logging, coal mining and commercial fishing’ (Elperin, 2017). Further, it advocated reducing the size of four national monuments— Utah’s vast Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, Nevada’s Gold Butte and Oregon’s Cascade-Siskiyou—by an unspecified amount. The memorandum caused a great deal of controversy and debate. In addition to concern over the potential damage such changes in usage could cause at national monument sites, its recommendations were widely perceived as an attack on environmentalism, for which the Trump administration would ‘face intense legal pushback from environmentalists, who will test to what extent the Antiquities Act can be used to reduce the footprint of national monuments, rather than expand it’ (Hart, 2017). The final report, released on 5th December 2017, also questioned prevailing forms

132 

B. COCKING

of conservation which Zinke framed as standing in the way of historical entrepreneurial and commercial uses of the lands: When landscape areas are designated and reserved as part of a monument, objects and large tracts of land are overlain by a more restrictive management regime, which mandates protection of the objects identified. This has the effect of narrowing the range of uses and limiting BLM’s [Bureau of Land Management] multiple-use mission…Such action especially harms rural communities in western states given that these towns have historically benefited and been economically sustained by grazing, mining and timber production on nearby public lands (Zinke, 2017, p. 7)

Previous administrations have also reduced the size of national monuments (Secretary Zinke Recommends Keeping Federal Lands in Federal Ownership). Arguably the most significant aspect of the report was the recommendation to drastically reduce the size of two national monuments located in the state of Utah; the 1.4 million acre Bears Ears site by 85% and the 1.9 million acre Grand Staircase-Escalante site by 50% (Nordhaus, 2018). In so doing, areas such as these are now accessible to commercial mining, energy and real estate companies with the process seemingly involving little regulatory procedure: A prospector for uranium, gold or other minerals would merely have to hammer poles in the ground or build rock piles demarcating the area they would like to claim, an archaic-seeming approach derived from an 1872 law. For oil and gas it is a lengthier process that, in theory, could see land auctioned off on EnergyNet, a website dubbed “the eBay for public lands”, later this year (‘Former national monuments shrunk by Trump to be opened for mining claims’, The Guardian, 2nd February, 2018)

The opening up of lands for environmentally sensitive activities such as mining has attracted widespread coverage and condemnation and no doubt further fuelled by the media profile of President Trump, this controversy received significant worldwide coverage throughout 2017 and the first half of 2018. For example, the day after the publication of Zinke’s report, in the UK, the Independent ran the headline: ‘If Obama cured cancer Trump would bring it back, says former Clinton staffer; Former aide lashes out after Mr. Trump cuts the size of an Obama-era monument’ (Shugerman, The Independent, 6th December 2017). Fall-out from Zinke’s report continued to unfold throughout 2018 sustaining a high

6  SELLING IT ‘GREEN’: TRAVEL JOURNALISM, TRUMP… 

133

level of news media coverage. One of the most controversial aspects to emerge from Zinke’s recommendation to cut the size of four national monuments centred on Grand Staircase-Escalante site in Utah. Speculation that the 46% cut in size of this national monument was in part motivated by the interests of Utah legislator, Mike Noel, who owned 40 acres of land within the original boundaries of the Grand Staircase-Escalante. As executive director of Kane County Water Conservancy District, Noel had been a vocal advocate for a proposed $2 billion water pipeline development known as the Lake Powell pipeline. The revised boundaries make the construction of the pipeline considerably easier and would facilitate the delivery of ‘water to sites in Kane County that include Noel’s property’ (Elperin & Rein, 2018). However, the Department of Interior’s deputy inspector general Mary Kendall wrote to David Bernhardt (Zinke’s deputy) on 21st November 2018 indicating that her investigation found ‘no evidence that Noel influenced the DOI’s proposed revisions to the [monument’s] boundaries’ (Wallace, 2018). However, Chris Saeger, director of the Western Values Project (an advocacy group promoting land conservation across the Rocky Mountain West), has ‘criticized the Interior Department for not releasing the full investigative report’ (Friedman, 2018). Subsequently, Zinke resigned from office on 15th December 2018 following a further investigation into whether the sale of land owned by Zinke in White Fish, Montana to the Chairman of oil company, Halliburton, David Lesar, constituted a conflict of interests (Eilperin, Dawsey, & Fears, 2018). Consequently, the nature and scale of this news story was such that it provides an opportunity to make a fuller assessment of the extent to which travel journalism engages with environmental politics and the mainstream news agenda. This will involve consideration of the ways in which environmental and political discourses manifest themselves in travel journalism. Specifically, the intention is to focus on ways in which the representational practices of other forms of journalism, such as political reporting, interject in the narrative structure of travel journalism on the national monuments story. How does the presence of such representational practices interact with the underlying commercial pressures and endeavours of travel journalism to promote destinations? Further, McGaurr’s view that travel journalism can function as a conduit for cosmopolitan perspectives and concerns provides a productive way of assessing the potential political and cultural value of the genre (2012, p. 45). In such instances travel journalism must seemingly move beyond the oft repeated claim that it is nothing

134 

B. COCKING

more than ‘soft’ public relations derived content which serves no purpose beyond the promotion of travel as a form of consumerism (Hanusch, 2009, p.  624). However, what are the conditions under which travel journalism might function in this way? What of does the business model of travel journalism and its reliance on the tourism industry—to what extent does this facilitate or hinder its cosmopolitan potential? Is its cosmopolitan potential dependent upon an alignment or perhaps even a tension between political policy and the genre’s ability to ‘sell’ us destinations? Is, as McGaurr also wonders, the potential of travel journalism to be seen as form of cosmopolitanism really little more than an articulation of a ‘banal’ form of the concept (2012, p. 45)? Is it not so much about raising concern as it is about the articulation of environmental concerns ultimately serving as a device for consumption?

Method of Analysis These lines of enquiry were explored in a sample of travel journalism drawn from a search of the Nexis newspaper database. The search parameters were set to include all national and regional newspapers in America across a date range of 1st January 2017 to 31st December 2018. The search excluded newswires. The date range encompassed the initial announcement of the national monuments review, the leaking of Zinke’s draft memorandum and its publication in The Washington Post on 17th September 2017 as well as the publication of the finalized report on 5th December 2017. Clearly, this was an ongoing and evolving story—indeed, the ramifications of the cutting in size and changes in land management of national monuments will continue to provoke debate. Similarly, it is likely that the actions of companies with, for example, energy or mining interests who engage in the acquisition of previously untouchable land will continue to be considered highly newsworthy for years to come. Nonetheless, this date range is sufficiently broad as to provide a detailed insight into the ways in which travel journalism responded to and engaged with the national monuments story. The inclusion of all American newspapers which are indexed on the Nexis database provided a basis on which to not only empirically quantify the extent of coverage this story obtained throughout all sections of each paper but also to assess the extent to which the national monuments story featured in their travel sections. Looking across this broad range of newspapers helps facilitate consideration of the

6  SELLING IT ‘GREEN’: TRAVEL JOURNALISM, TRUMP… 

135

relationship between the business model of each newspaper and the kinds of coverage given to this news story. The range of newspapers in this sample also spans the socio-economic spectrum of the American newspaper market place, and in so doing provides a basis from which to assess whether social stratification is an active dimension in the kinds of coverage each newspaper gave to the national monuments story. Given that this range of newspapers crosses America geographically, it will also be possible to examine whether there are instances where the proximity of a newspaper to prominent and/or controversial elements of the national monuments story—such as the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante sites in Utah—appears to correlate with the quantity and focus of the coverage it gives the story. Consequently, this necessitated employing a mixed methodological approach. The initial empirical survey of all the newspaper content produced in the date range. This gives an indication of the extent to which travel journalism responds to major environmental news stories, providing insight into different newspapers views of the relevance of the national monuments story to readers of their travel pages. This was followed by the textual analysis of, what amounted to, a smaller sample of articles drawn from newspapers’ travel sections which focused on the national monuments story. This involved consideration of the ways in which travel journalism draws on ‘inter-discursive’ practices, such as employing modes of representation typically found in political and/or investigative journalism, in its coverage of the national monuments story. In so doing, this second phase of the analysis provides a basis on which to further examine the cosmopolitanism dimensions and potentialities of travel journalism. The Nexis database search draws from 81 national and regional newspapers across America. Over the period of 1st January 2017 to 31st December 2018 these newspapers published 2785 articles that featured the words ‘Trump’ AND ‘National Monuments’. Given that The Washington Post published a leaked draft version of the Zinke report, it is perhaps not surprising that it features in the upper end of the table, having published 131 articles on the national monuments story (see Table  6.1 below). However, five newspapers produced more content on this news story, including a regional paper from the state of Maine, the Bangor Daily News (195) and The New York Times (254). It is perhaps not surprising that The Washington Post and The New  York Times produced a lot of

136 

B. COCKING

Table 6.1  Top 20 (of 81) newspapers by coverage of the national monuments story Newspaper 1. The salt Lake tribune 2. The Deseret morning news (Salt Lake City) 3. The New York times 4. Bangor daily news (Maine) 5. The Washington post 6. Las Cruces-sun news (New Mexico) 7. Chico-Enterprise record (California) 8. The spokesman review 9. Dayton daily news (Ohio) 10. The St Louis post-dispatch (Missouri) 11. The mercury news (California) 12. San Gabriel Valley tribune (California) 13. The East Bay times (California) 14. The yellow sheet report 15. The Bismarck tribune 16. The Inland Valley daily bulletin (Ontario, CA) 17. The McClatchy tribune 18. The San Bernardino sun (California) 19. Redlands daily facts (California) media news

Number of articles in all sections of each newspaper 610 275 254 195 131 102 90 52 51 42 40 38 38 34 33 32 31 31 27

content on this news story given their liberal, pro-environmentalism and explicitly anti-Trump stance, and the fact that they that they have the largest national (and indeed, international) readerships of all US newspapers. Likewise, given the controversy surrounding the slashing in the size of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monument sites in Utah, it is not surprising that the state’s leading paper The Salt Lake Tribune published nearly more than three times the number of articles on the national monuments story than any other newspaper (610) (Table 6.1).

Representations of the National Monuments News Story in Travel Journalism As is to be expected the number of newspapers that featured content on the national monuments news story in their travel sections was significantly smaller, with coverage appearing in the internationally renowned, The New  York Times (16) and The Washington Post (3), along with two

6  SELLING IT ‘GREEN’: TRAVEL JOURNALISM, TRUMP… 

137

Table 6.2  Content on national monuments in travel pages Newspaper New York times The Washington post The salt Lake tribune St Paul’s Pioneer Total

Number of articles on national monuments in travel pages 16 3 1 1 21

regionally based newspapers, the St Paul Pioneer (Minesota) and The Salt Lake Tribune (Utah) also publishing one article each (Table 6.2). It should be noted that the total of 21 includes 5 variants of other articles. Of these, four articles are cases of copy being very lightly revised for different editions, such as printed and online versions, whilst the fifth has been much more substantially reworked. Like The New York Times and The Washington Post, the St Paul Pioneer and The Salt Lake Tribune produce both print and digital editions and all four newspapers are long established, originating in 1851, 1877, 1849 and 1871 respectively. Similarly, all four newspapers are what might be described as ‘papers of record’, with established reputations for accurate, authoritative and investigative journalism; The New  York Times has won 125 Pulitzer prizes, The Washington Post 65 whilst the St Paul Pioneer and The Salt Lake Tribune winning four and three Pulitzer prizes respectively (https://www.pulitzer.org/). All three newspapers are aimed at a middle class, affluent and educated readership. The New York Times has the second highest circulation figures of across all US nationals (behind USA Today) with a daily readership of 483,701 whilst The Washington Post has a readership of 254,379 (https://www.cision.com/ us/2019/01/top-ten-us-daily-newspapers/). The web edition of The New York Times generated 2.33 million paid subscriptions in 2017 with The Washington Post attracting 1 million digital subscribers (https:// money.cnn.com/2017/09/26/media/washington-post-digital-subscriptions/index.html). By contrast, St Paul Pioneer and The Salt Lake Tribune are inherently more regional and national in their focus. Recent figures from 2013 indicate that The St Paul Pioneer has a daily circulation of approximately 208,280, whilst its web based edition attracted 2.6 million unique visitors per month (https://www.minnpost.com/twin-cities-business/2013/05/strib-pipress-post-circulation-gains-see-online-growth/). Similarly, figures from 2014 indicate that The Salt Lake Tribune had a

138 

B. COCKING

weekday print circulation of approximately 80,818 with its web edition attracts in the region of 2.9 million unique visitors per month (http:// archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=57949237&itype=CMSID). The sample size of travel journalism covering the national monuments story is, expectedly, very small. Nonetheless, in quantifying the coverage of the national monuments story by month across all sections of all US newspapers and comparing it to the by month travel journalism coverage, it is possible to identify some correlations. In keeping with the typical news cycle of newspapers the bulk of the content on this news story appeared in the days immediately before and after the three key dates in the national monuments news story, that is, Department of Interior released a list of monuments under review under the President’s Executive Order 13792, issued 26th April 2017, the publication of Zinke’s leaked draft memorandum on 17th September 2017 and the publication of his final report on 5th December 2017—see Fig. 6.1. Clearly, the small sample size of the travel journalism content precludes the possibility of making a definitive judgement as to the extent to which it was responsive to the 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50

Jan-17 Feb-17 Mar-17 Apr-17 May-17 Jun-17 Jul-17 Aug-17 Sep-17 Oct-17 Nov-17 Dec-17 Jan-18 Feb-18 Mar-18 Apr-18 May-18 Jun-18 Jul-18 Aug-18 Sep-18 Oct-18 Nov-18 Dec-18

0

Fig. 6.1  By month coverage of the national monuments story across all US newspapers listed on Nexis

6  SELLING IT ‘GREEN’: TRAVEL JOURNALISM, TRUMP… 

139

7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Jan-17 Feb-17 Mar-17 Apr-17 May-17 Jun-17 Jul-17 Aug-17 Sep-17 Oct-17 Nov-17 Dec-17 Jan-18 Feb-18 Mar-18 Apr-18 May-18 Jun-18 Jul-18 Aug-18 Sep-18 Oct-18 Nov-18 Dec-18

0

Fig. 6.2  By month travel journalism coverage of the national monuments story

mainstream news media’s presentation of the unfolding developments in the story. Nonetheless, it is interesting to note that, though they appear to lag 2–4 weeks behind, the instances of travel journalism coverage broadly correspond with the peaks in the coverage of the story across all the sections of the newspapers (Fig. 6.2). Despite the differences in national/international and regional/national focuses of the newspapers, all four have discreet travel ‘sections’. The content produced in each travel section is typical of professionally produced, newspaper published travel journalism, which Hanusch and Fürsich note is characterized by the ‘blending of information with advice and guidance as well as with entertainment and relaxation’ (2014: 10). Likewise, the vast majority of the travel content found in all four newspapers is in the style of the traditional travel narrative—it is written in the first person with the emphasis on enabling the reader to see through the author’s eyes and imagine themselves in the location. Mike Seeley’s ‘Landscapes, Art and Aliens’ in The New York Times is indicative of this narrative form: As I blazed my own trail on foot, I heard nothing, save for a few chatty insects and the wind. Beyond me was sky and rock and unkempt desert. I

140 

B. COCKING

felt as small as a granule of sand, dwarfed by the natural world. Sinking into the earth seemed a real possibility, and a profound reminder that this ground was not meant for tires or sneakers, but for paws and hooves (22nd April, 2018)

This type of content tends not to ‘create new representations but rather fall on previously established organizing narratives…these narratives are shared among popular cultural products providing frames of reference that confirm and legitimize representations’ (Santos, 2004: 123). In terms of this sample of travel journalism, the national monument sites are framed within long established cultural narratives that cast them among the last remaining natural environments of the nation. There is a sense that these spaces are remnants of the American frontier—not so in terms which evoke the rich and romanticized myths of the Wild West or, indeed, those which critique the colonialist violence of European settlers and, later, US territorial acquisition. Rather, simply that these are frontier zones, spaces of liminality through which America’s past can be accessed: Back at the creek, I took a short detour to visit the eponymous homestead of this portion of the trail. Here lies the old foundation of a cabin, where its resident raised goats and made cheese circa 1938. On the shady slope from what remains of this homesteader’s claim, I stuck my hands into the cool rushing creek (Tsui, B, ‘After Wildfires, a Trail of Rebirth’ in The New York Times, 30th July, 2017)

Intrinsic to the construction of the national monuments as frontier zones, is their characteristic unchanging wilderness. It is no doubt the case that national monuments have historically been perceived as somewhat second class—the ‘lesser stones to be juxtaposed with the crown jewels of the…expansive and monumentally scenic national parks’ (Rothman, 1986, p. 45). However, in this sample of travel journalism then tend to be presented as less managed and more ‘wild’ than national parks. These are some of the few remaining places of real adventure. James Card writes of his exploration of the Golden Butte national monument: ‘I saw only two other vehicles and not a single person. The possibility of nobody coming along to help you for a very long time is real’ (‘Breathtaking Beauty’, The New  York Times, 30th July 2017). The distinction between managed nature and ‘real’ wilderness is further elaborated upon by Stephen Nash writing of his through the Grand Staircase-Escalante national monument:

6  SELLING IT ‘GREEN’: TRAVEL JOURNALISM, TRUMP… 

141

This was the last area of the continental United States to be mapped, Mr. Miller told me. Trailheads may be signed, but the trails themselves usually aren’t. They are not maintained, and often they aren’t on maps, either. “The visitor experience is intentionally different from what people expect at a national park,” he said. “The Grand Staircase is really a wild place. It’s easy to get in trouble, if you’re not prepared.” (‘Quiet Trails and Questions at 3 U.S. Monuments’, The New York Times, 17th December 2017)

In this way, articles evaluate locations and instruct their readers as to the tourism practices of specific locations, providing them with a sense of what to do and, crucially in commercial terms, how to do it. For example, Dina Mishev’s article in The Washington Post ‘An Appetizing time in Utah’ is premised on a driving, hiking and culinary tour in and around the Grand Staircase-Escalante national monument site and her mix of adventure, culture and consumer advice typifies much of the content in this sample: I figure if I hike about two miles down the canyon from the trailhead on the Burr Trail Scenic Backway and then retrace my route, I’ll have just enough time to drive back to Boulder, check in at the Boulder Mountain Lodge— which is the only lodging “downtown”—and shower before dinner (Mishev, The Washington Post, 27th May 2018)

A by-product of content of this kind arguably is that it acts as an intermediary between the tourism industry and their potential customers. As noted in Chapter 4 a secondary function of such material is its potential to provide entertainment and vicarious pleasure to the reader as part of the newspapers’ content ‘package’ designed to encourage their continued consumption of the newspaper. It is important to note that The New York Times has a strict policy of not publishing ‘articles that grow out of trips paid for or in any way subsidized by an airline, hotel, tourist board or other organization with an interest, direct or indirect, in the subject of an article’ (nytimes.com). By contrast, the other newspapers—like the majority of newspapers—do rely on content that is subsidized by commercial organizations and/or derived from public relations material. The New York Times’s travel section submission policy no doubt facilitates giving coverage to politically sensitive issues. This can perhaps help account for the fact that it produced more travel journalism features on the national monuments story than any other paper. However, though the paper is not economically constrained by a

142 

B. COCKING

dependency on the tourism industry for travel content, this does not appear to result in it presenting such content in substantially different ways. It seems to be a case of a greater quantity of similar rather than more differentiated content. One point of difference, though, is that the smaller regional papers make much more fleeting and neutral references to the review of the national monuments. The article from the St Paul Pioneer simply states: ‘Trump takes rare step to reduce 2 national monuments in Utah’ (O’Rourke Hayes, L, ‘5 family travel destinations for the new year’ 15th December, 2017). Similarly, The Salt Lake Tribune refers to the Bears Ears national monument in Utah as being ‘…now part of the recent review ordered by the Trump administration’ (Wharton, 2017). This is perhaps not surprising—like most Western countries, America’s regional press has declined dramatically in recent decades as advertising revenue transitions from print to more far reaching and lucrative digital media formats (Power, Vera Zambrano, & Baisnee, 2015, p. 41). The commercial pressures on papers like the St Paul Pioneer and The Salt Lake Tribune are compounded by the fact that their readerships are concentrated in relatively small and geographically bounded areas. They cannot afford to alienate sections of the communities they serve. The fact that these papers produced one travel article each in the date range of this sample with each article only containing very brief references to the national monuments review, could be perceived as an indication that they contribute little, if anything, to the idea that travel journalism can engage with broader, political discourses. However, brief those these references are, they are nonetheless references to a story that was very prominent in America’s mainstream domestic news coverage throughout 2017 and 2018. Indeed, the fact that a brief reference can be made without recourse to a more detailed explanation is an indication of how well established this story had become in the eyes of public. Whilst these references may have little empirical value they are situated within content that frames its promotion of particular tourism experiences through broader discursive strategies—such as nostalgia for wilderness and enthusiasm for outdoor adventure. Consequently, these articles can be seen as indicative of a more indirect way in which travel journalism can engage politically—in this case in the endeavour of conveying a sense of concern for the environment. The content from The New York Times and The Washington Post makes much more detailed references to the Trump administration’s review of the national monument. The first person, traditional narrative structure of

6  SELLING IT ‘GREEN’: TRAVEL JOURNALISM, TRUMP… 

143

the majority of this content not only invites us walk in the travel journalists’ footsteps as they explore the localities of different national monuments it also engages us with the ramifications of Zinke’s report. Walking in the travel journalists’ footsteps the reader encounters the physical environment of national monuments. There is a strong sense of loss here, of how the wilderness, the history and the culture of these places will change irrevocably. For example, Tsui’s article ‘After Wildfires, a Trail of Rebirth’ in The New  York Times opens with: ‘This week, we visit three national monuments (more than two dozen are under review by the Trump ad-ministration and could be made smaller and opened to logging and mining)…’ (30th July 2017). Indeed, several of the articles in this sample are predicated on encouraging readers to visit national monuments before their size is reduced and/or the management of land use changed. Often, descriptions of the nature, of the heritage of these places are interlaced with ones less typical of travel journalism that borrow narrative devices and representational techniques from news and political reportage (see, e.g.; Buozis & Creech, 2018, p.  1434). Nash in the second paragraph example below shifts to a more ‘hard news’ style of what Tuchman (1978) refers to as ‘facticity’. This has the effect of reinforcing the cultural value and environmental status of the national monuments through the dramatic juxtaposition of passages with passionately showcase their natural beauty and heritage with those which fearfully warn of the legislation that will take this away: For two decades, monument status has protected this mostly uninhabited high-desert region where ancestral Native American rock art and ruins are on view, backcountry hiking is accelerating in popularity, kayakers ply the Escalante River, rock climbers ascend towers and canyon walls, and the fossils of newly discovered species of dinosaurs are unearthed every few years. The geology is durable, but national monuments may no longer be. President Donald Trump appeared in Salt Lake City on Monday to proclaim that he will cut this one to half its current size, opening the other half to mining, drilling, motorized recreation and various industrial uses. An adjacent national monument, the 2,000-square-mile Bears Ears, will shrink by 85 percent (Nash, S ‘Quiet Trails and Questions at 3 U.S. Monuments’, The New York Times, 17th December 2017)

There is a very palpable sense of loss and outrage in articles such as Nash’s. There is a very deeply held feeling that the recommendations

144 

B. COCKING

arising from Zinke’s report will cause irreversible environmental harm. In part at least, this outrage is no doubt borne out of the fact that Zinke’s report does not discuss the environmental consequences of its recommendations: the report does not contain any scientific data on the environment. Nor does the report offer any empirical evidence to support its central claim that reducing the size of specific national monuments would aid their local economies. Rather, the motivations for the review of the national monuments and the justification for Zinke’s recommendations are presented in terms of his report being attuned to a groundswell of local opinion. That the designation of national monument status is not in the interests of local residents; whereas the report is indicative of the Trump administration (re) engaging public opinion: Opponents of monuments primarily supported rescinding or modifying the existing monuments to protect traditional multiple use, and those most concerned were often local residents associated with industries such as grazing, timber production, mining, hunting and fishing, and motorized recreation. Opponents point to other cases where monument designation has resulted in reduced public access, road closures, hunting and fishing restrictions, multiple and confusing management plans, reduced grazing allotments and timber production, and pressure applied to private landowners to sell their land encompassed by or adjacent to a monument (Zinke, 2017, p. 3)

Alongside expressions of loss and outrage, some of the articles in this sample also engage in these broader discussions about the land management and uses of national monument sites. Indeed, Seeley’s article echoes some of Zinke’s claims regarding a lack of clarity of the designation and land management of some national monuments. Seeley describes asking a local shop owner how ‘to access the grounds of the 704,000-acre [Basin and Range, Nevada] national monument, which is roughly twice the size of Los Angeles. He told me I’m “about the second” person to ever make this request of him in the 2 years since President Obama signed an order protecting the land’ (‘Landscapes, Art and Aliens’ The New York Times, 22nd April, 2018). Evidently, not only is there a lack of clarity over the management and accessibility of this national monument but, more fundamentally, the national monument status of this land is seemingly of little interest to the general public. Many of the articles in this sample acknowledge the historical decline in traditional industries in national monument areas. For the most part, though, such activities are framed as being detrimental to the natural

6  SELLING IT ‘GREEN’: TRAVEL JOURNALISM, TRUMP… 

145

environment. For example, James Card’s article ‘Breathtaking Beauty’ acknowledges that there was once a settlement on the hillside of Gold Butte: ‘At one time, this spot had a post office, store, saloon and hotel. An estimated 2000 miners lived here—mostly in tents—during its peak in 1908…The boom died off in 1910’ (The New  York Times, 30th July, 2017). However, this comes amidst describing the abundance of nature in the desert. In this sense, it is a salutary illustration of the power of nature to overcome historical human incursions rather than an acceptance of need to derive commerce from the land. Writing about Cascade-Siskiyou national monument in Oregon, Courtney Sherwood notes that ‘timber once employed 80,000 people statewide, but that’s fallen to 5300 jobs as wood harvests have moved abroad, the sector has grown more efficient and environmental restrictions have limited logging both inside and outside the monument’ (‘Lillies and Loggers at Cascade-Siskiyou’, The New York Times, 17th December 2017). In this region traditional trades such as logging have given way to forms of employment which service the burgeoning tourism industry, in the form of ski resorts, hotels and restaurants. In essence this debate about how to manage and use land strikes at the very heart of Trump’s vision of America. It is an indication of his administration’s acknowledgement of communities left unemployable as they are outmoded by the forces of global capitalism. The Zinke review clearly sought to frame itself in a way that drew heavily on Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ election winning slogan. Clearly, this resonates with certain sections of communities. Sherwood quotes Tom Mallams, the Klamath County Commissioner, who in a discussion on Oregon Public Broadcasting radio program on the Cascade-Siskiyou monument argued that ‘“Tourism jobs are not family wage jobs,”…“Timber jobs are family-­ wage jobs”. (‘Lillies and Loggers at Cascade-Siskiyou’, The New York Times, 17th December 2017). Certainly, it is possible to see this as symptomatic of broader debates about globalization, the ‘gig’ economy and the changing nature of employment. However, in the more localized context this ‘argument that would appear to pit one endangered species, the logger, against countless others in the expanded Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument’ creating a deep local divide evidenced by the of ‘Dueling “NO SISKIYOU MONUMENT” and “YES MONUMENT!” signs posted at restaurants and rental cabins’ (Sherwood, ‘Lillies and Loggers at Cascade-Siskiyou’, The New York Times, 17th December 2017).

146 

B. COCKING

Conclusion As indicated above, Zinke’s report fails to include an empirical evidence to support the view that national monument designation is stifling local economies. It is also worth noting that the articles in this sample do not provide any data to support the counter view that tourism generated in and around national monuments is making a positive contribution to local economies. Whilst local voices on both sides of this debate are present in these articles, ultimately, the economic aspects of this debate are passed over with precedence given to the view that Zinke’s recommendations are detrimental to the environment. Here again there is no recourse to scientific data rather this is framed dramatically with descriptions of the rich cultural heritage of the landscape being juxtaposed with stark references to drilling and logging. In the majority of the articles under consideration here this sentiment is melded into the first person, ‘walking in the footsteps’ of the journalist traditional travel narrative structure. Indeed, whilst this structure is most commonly deployed as a means of promoting tourist activities and associated forms of consumerism, it is evident how strikingly effective this narrative structure is in engaging the reader with the ramifications of Zinke’s report. The representational tropes that enable the reader to imaginatively wander the ‘red-rock canyons, craggy cactuses, stacks of boulders, and Lilliputian forests’ of, for example, the Basin and Range national monument can be equally effective in engaging the reader with imagining what might be taken away (Seely ‘Landscapes, Art and Aliens’ The New York Times, 22nd April 2018). In this way, perhaps the lack of recourse empirical evidence to dispute the recommendations of Zinke’s report suggests that the real battle ground of this debate is not confined to consideration of how best to develop thriving local economies or the most effective forms of land management. Rather, it seems that these articles, and by implication the readers they are aimed at, view these issues in more deeply riven ideological terms. This is presented as an attack on liberal, predominantly middle class values—values that embraced land conservation, that embrace discourses of environmentalism. An attack being metered out in the name of the working class, rural conservatives—communities Trump has framed as being politically disenfranchised under the Obama administration. This is explicitly evident in Seely’s article ‘Landscapes, Art and Aliens’, where Patrick Donnelly, the Nevada state director for the Center for Biological

6  SELLING IT ‘GREEN’: TRAVEL JOURNALISM, TRUMP… 

147

Diversity, is quoted as asking: ‘But do you think public landscape art is a factor for the Trump Administration? If anything, that would motivate them to deregulate [the land] to piss off the liberals’ (The New York Times, 22nd April, 2018). Similarly, in Nash’s article ‘Heated Politics, Precious Ruins’ there is an explicit sense of forces at work to destabilize the prevailing acceptance of environmental discourse. Nash recounts a protest in 2014 staged by recreational A.T.V (all-terrain vehicles) riders—some were bearing assault rifles—over access to Recapture Canyon, located within Bears Ears national monument site. One of the principal organizers was Mr. Lyman, the county commissioner. He spent 10 days in jail as a result. Mr. Lyman still holds office, and was one of the anti-monument dignitaries who met several times with Mr. Zinke. The Native American representatives had about an hour with Mr. Zinke at the end of his four-day listening tour, and the nonprofit Friends of Cedar Mesa representative got 35 minutes. Parts of Recapture Canyon have recently been reopened to A.T.V.s. (The New York Times, 30th July, 2017)

Articles such as those discussed here are still engaged in the creative and commercial endeavour of promoting specific travel experiences. In this sense, it is possible that the intervention of these articles in the mainstream news agenda could be seen as not being motivated by the journalistic endeavour of holding power to account but rather as seizing on a major news story precisely because of the commercial opportunities it affords. It is, however, not possible to disentangle these motivations with any certainty and to attempt to do so is to ignore the financial logic of print based travel journalism. Its ability to engage in the mainstream news agenda is foregrounded on the commercial opportunities that such an engagement might afford. After all, travel journalism is content produced in order to promote locations and tourism experiences for consumption by readers and/or for their entertainment and vicarious enjoyment. This is not to suggest that such content can only be banal, opportunistic and not ‘worthy’ but rather it is important to understand articles such as the ones discussed here in terms of the economic motivations under which they are produced. Travel journalism can engage with major news stories such as the national monuments story, but it does so from within the confines of the ‘high market orientation’ of the genre. This engagement occurs in several ways. In the articles from the St Paul Pioneer and The Salt Lake

148 

B. COCKING

Tribune it is possible to see the discursive positioning of content as conveying a more subtle, indirect form of concern about land use reform and environmental damage. The articles in The New  York Times and The Washington Post are indicative of a more explicit, more direct form of engagement. Typically, first person, traditional travel narrative structures were deployed, engaging readers with the national monuments debate as well as the broader political and environmental discourses this debate was borne out of. In such moments it is possible to see the ways in which modes of representation more characteristic of news and current affairs journalism become melded in amongst descriptive techniques designed primarily to convey to us senses of place, culture, history and people. Drawing on Wolfsfeld’s study of the relationship between media sources and antagonists in situations of political conflict (1997), McGaurr notes that travel journalism can in relation to environmental issues convey: “constructive” criticism of […] policies if, from a media-branding perspective, it is presented as being in the best interests of readers and—in the long run—the destination itself. This framing enables powerful travel media institutions that brand themselves as honest, environmentally responsible and/or discerning an opportunity to circulate politically charged meanings and symbols within a cosmopolitan discourse that is still compatible with their own participation in the tourism industry (2015, p. 20)

Consequently, the travel content of all four newspapers very much reflects the political stance of each newspaper and its readers buy into this political perspective. It is on these terms that such content is indicative of an avowedly cosmopolitan tendency in travel journalism—it raises awareness and facilitates ‘social reflexivity’ (McGaurr, 2010, p. 60). In this way, the perspective of the travel journalism sampled here resonates with Beck’s work on ‘Cosmopolitan communities of climate risk’ (Beck, Blok, Tyfield, & Yueyue Zang, 2013). Clearly, Beck is principally referring to climate change on a global scale as a result of mass migration. However, his definition cosmopolitanism as emerging from ‘constellations of social actors, arising from common experiences of mediated climatic threats, organized around pragmatic reasoning of causal relations and responsibilities, and thereby potentially enabling collective action’ seems to encapsulate the intentions of the travel journalism discussed here (Beck et al., 2013, p. 2). This travel journalism can be seen as functioning as a counterpoint to the perception that the politics of Trump are about closing down social

6  SELLING IT ‘GREEN’: TRAVEL JOURNALISM, TRUMP… 

149

reflexivity. In this sense, it would seem travel journalism has cosmopolitan potential and can, under circumstances such as those discussed here, be intensely political. This is not advertorial, this is not neutral and balanced journalism; this is journalism that seeks to defend a clear set of ideological positions.

References 16 U.S.C. § 431 § 432, and § 433. U.S. Code collection. Cornell University Law School Retrieved June 3, 2018. Beck, U. (2006). Cosmopolitan Vision. Cambridge: Polity Press. Beck, U., Blok, A., Tyfield, D., & Yueyue Zang, J. (2013). ‘Cosmopolitan communities of climate risk: Conceptual and empirical suggestions for a new research agenda’ in. Global Networks a journal of transnational affairs, 13(1), 1–21. Buozis, M., & Creech, B. (2018). Reading news as narrative. Journalism Studies, 19(10), 1430–1446. Castells, M. (2004). The Power of identity (2nd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell. Cottle, S. (2000). Rethinking news access. Journalism Studies, 1(3), 427–448. Cottle, S. (2003). News, public relations and power. London: Sage. Eilperin, J., Dawsey, J., & Fears, D. (2018, December 15). Interior secretary Zinke resigns amid investigations. The Washington Post. Retrieved December 20, 2018, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/ interior-secretar y-zinke-resigns-amid-investigations/2018/12/15/4 81f9104-0077-11e9-ad40-cdfd0e0dd65a_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_ term=.161c36403777 Elperin, J. (2017, September 17). Shrink at least 4 national monuments and modify a half-dozen others, Zinke tells Trump. The Washington Post. Retrieved September 30, 2018, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/ health-science/shrink-at-least-4-national-monuments-and-modify-a-half-dozen-others-zinke-tells-trump/2017/09/17/a0df45cc-9b48-11e7-82e4f1076f6d6152_story.html?noredirect=on Elperin, J., & Rein, L. (2018, November 27). Interior watchdog clears Zinke in probe of Utah national monument. The Washington Post. Retrieved November 30, 2018, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/energy-environment/2018/11/27/ interior-watchdog-clears-zinke-probe-utah-national-monument/?noredirect=on Former national monuments shrunk by Trump to be opened for mining. (2018 February 2). The Guardian. Retrieved June 14, 2018, from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/02/former-national-monumentsshrunk-by-trump-to-be-opened-for-mining-claims Friedman, L. (2018, November 27). ‘Interior department watchdog clears Zinke of wrongdoing in national monument inquiry’. The New York Times. Retrieved

150 

B. COCKING

November 30, 2018, from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/27/climate/ interior-zinke-cleared-grand-staircase.html Hackett, R. A., Forde, S., Gunster, S., & Foxwell-Norton, K. (2017). Journalism and climate crisis public engagement. Media Alternatives, London: Taylor and Francis. Hansen, A., & Cox, R. (2015). The Routledge handbook of environment and communication. New York: Routledge. Hanusch, F. (2009). Taking travel journalism seriously: Suggestions for scientific inquiry into a neglected genre. In T.  Flew (Ed.), Communication, creativity and global citizenship: Refereed proceedings of the Australian and New Zealand communication association conference 2009. Brisbane, QLD: Queensland University of Technology. Hart, B. (2017, September 18). Leaked Memo: Secretary of the interior to recommend shrinking 4 national monuments. In: New York Magazine. Retrieved May 20, 2018, from http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/09/ memo-zinke-to-recommend-shrinking-4-national-monuments.html Lester, L. (2006). Lost in the wilderness? Celebrity, protest and the news. Journalism Studies, 7(6), 907–921. Lester, L. (2007). Giving ground: Media and environmental conflict in Tasmania. Hobart: Quintus. Machin, D., & Mayr, A. (2012). How to do critical discourse analysis: A multimodal introduction. London: Sage Publications. McGaurr, L. (2010). Travel journalism and environmental conflict. Journalism Studies, 11(1), 50–67. McGaurr, L. (2015). Environmental communication and travel journalism consumerism, conflict and concern. New York: Routledge. Nordhaus, H. (2018, February 2). What trump’s shrinking of national monuments actually means. National Geographic. Retrieved June 14, 2018, from https:// news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/12/tr ump-shrinks-bears-earsgrand-staircase-escalante-national-monuments/ O’Rourke Hayes, L, (2017, December 15). 5 family travel destinations for the new year. St. Paul Pioneer Press (Minnesota). Power, M., Vera Zambrano, S., & Baisnee, O. (2015). The news crisis compared: The impact of the journalism crisis on local news ecosystems in Toulouse (France) and Seattle (USA). In R.  K. Nielsen (Ed.), Local journalism: The decline of newspapers and the rise of digital media. New York: I.B: Tauris & Co. Rothman, H. (1986). Second-class sites: National Monuments and the growth of the National Park System. Environmental Review, 10(1), 44–56. Santos, C.  A. (2004). Framing Portugal representational dynamics. Annals of Tourism Research, 31(1), 122–138.

6  SELLING IT ‘GREEN’: TRAVEL JOURNALISM, TRUMP… 

151

Secretary Zinke Recommends Keeping Federal Lands in Federal Ownership, Adding Three New Monuments Retrieved June 14, 2018, from https://www. doi.gov/pressreleases/secretary-zinke-recommends-keeping-federal-landsfederal-ownership-­adding-­three-new. Shugerman, E. (2017, December 6). If Obama cured cancer Trump would bring it back, says former Clinton staffer; Former aide lashes out after Mr Trump cuts the size of an Obama-era monument. The Independent. Spurr, D. (1999). The rhetoric of empire: Colonial discourse in journalism, travel writing and Imperial administration. Durham and London: Duke University Press. Tuchman, G. (1978). Making news: A study in the construction of reality. New York: The Free Press. Wallace, G. (2018, November 27). Interior watchdog says Zinke did not improperly redraw monument’s border. CCN Politics. Retrieved November 30, 2018, from https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/27/politics/ryan-zinke-mike-noel-utahinspector-general-grand-staircase-escalante/index.html Wharton, T. (2017, May 2). ‘Four places to discover the other wild side of Las Vegas; Recreation Sandstone exhibits, rock art, alpine sanctuaries and a historic dam are among the glitz free attractions in the vicinity of Sin City’, The Salt Lake Tribune. Whitehouse.gov Retrieved June 14, 2018, from https://www.whitehouse.gov/ search/?s=presidential+executive+order+review+designations+under+ant iquities+act Wolfsfeld, G. (1997). Media and political conflict news from the Middle East. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Zinke, R. (2017). Final report summarizing findings of the review of designations under the antiquities act. Retrieved June 14, 2018, from https://www.doi. gov/sites/doi.gov/files/uploads/revised_final_report.pdf

CHAPTER 7

Conclusions

The introduction to this book includes a quotation from Professor Tim Youngs of Nottingham Trent University. Youngs, whose research has primarily focused on the study of travel writing, defines this literary genre as including: ‘discussion of works that some may regard as genres in their own right, such as ethnographies, maritime narratives, memoirs, road and aviation literature, travel journalism’ (Youngs, 2013, p. 3). This is interesting in that academics operating in the field of journalism studies have tended to differentiate between travel writing and travel journalism (Fürsich & Kavoori, 2001; Hanusch & Fürsich, 2014). Indeed, Youngs alludes to this here and certainly as has been discussed elsewhere in this book, the commercial drivers of travel writing and travel journalism are distinct. The former is premised on the consumption of an art form (a literary text), whilst the latter is typically not only about the consumption of journalistic content but also the consumption of tourism experiences. Perhaps more fundamentally, academics studying travel journalism from a Journalism Studies background see it primarily as a form of journalism, justifying the study of it by suggesting it should be studied like other forms of journalism. In this way, travel journalism is seen as being at some remove from the literariness of travel writing. However, as discussed in Chap. 3 ‘“itravel”: competing forms of travel writing in print based and user generated journalism’, the very nature of what travel journalism is and who produces it, is changing very fast. Likewise, it is clear that travel journalism is by no means impervious to popular cultural, literary, or © The Author(s) 2020 B. Cocking, Travel Journalism and Travel Media, https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59908-7_7

153

154 

B. COCKING

political influences—as Chap. 6 ‘Selling it “green”: travel journalism, Trump and the U.S National Monuments’ seek to explore. Clearly, it is useful and productive to define objects of study but given the rapidly evolving nature of travel journalism, perhaps Youngs’s comment is particularly prescient? If travel journalism can now be produced by amateurs and professionals; if it can include content produced by journalists who have not visited the destinations they are writing about as well as content produced online and outside of legal and professional requirements to be accurate and factually correct; if it exists across multiple platforms and if it can include written texts, video and still images, as well as audio—then what is travel journalism? Is there a danger that viewing it solely as a form of journalism might not take account of all the elements of its technological evolution or indeed acknowledge its referential origins and/or interplays—aspects of which are explored in Chap. 4 ‘Visions of Past and Present? Travel journalism features and TripAdvisor reviews of tourist destinations in the Middle East’? I recently presented a paper at academic conference series called ‘Borders & Crossings: an interdisciplinary conference of travel writing’. This was to be the third time that I had attended this conference. As the subtitle suggests, the conference draws in academics from a range of disciplines including literature, postcolonial studies, modern languages, history and geography. This has always led to some interesting and innovative perspectives being brought to the study of travel writing. However, at the most recent iteration of this conference I was struck by the ways in which what might be considered travel writing was shifting and evolving. ‘Travel journalism’ was listed as one of the sub-themes of the conference and there were papers on the ‘literariness’ of digital travel writing, travel blogging and travel guide book writing (such as the Lonely Planet series). As noted in the introductory chapter to this book, in common usage there is a lack of clarity over the terms ‘travel journalism’ and ‘travel writing’— compounded by the fact that these terms often seem to be used interchangeably. Certainly, the study of travel journalism emerged primarily within the academic discipline of journalism studies (Fürsich & Kavoori, 2001; Hanusch, 2009). However, at the Borders & Crossings conference it was interesting to reflect on the ways in which the study of what constitutes travel writing seems to be changing and developing. It was clear that for those who interested in the study of travel writing, travel journalism is not only a legitimate area of study but also one that is proving popular and productive. As the very nature of travel journalism continues to change

7 CONCLUSIONS 

155

and develop it will be interesting to see how different academic disciplines open up to it. As discussed in the opening chapters, in view of the rapidity of these changes and developments travel journalism is currently undergoing, the intention behind this book was not to ‘map the field’ or ‘take stock’. Hanusch and Fürsich’s book Travel Journalism: Exploring Production, Impact and Culture (Hanusch & Fürsich, 2014) provides an excellent overview of the study of travel journalism. Rather, the aim here was to make some interventions into specific areas of the study of travel journalism. Some of these interventions focus on quite well developed areas of the study of travel journalism, such as the exploration of the representational strategies evolving in the genre. This is addressed here in Chap. 3 ‘itravel’: competing forms of travel writing in print based and user generated journalism, for example, which seeks to explore whether user generated forms of travel journalism have developed different representational styles and tones. It finds a more personal—“me centric”—mode of address in travel blogs than in traditional print based travel journalism. Likewise, there is a strong focus in the literature on travel journalism on the genre’s representational power—its ability to bring images of the world ‘out there’ to us. This is often framed in the context of declining budgets for foreign correspondents and conflict reporters. Studies on this aspect of travel journalism have tended to focus on Western travel journalism and examined the ways in which it typically represents different parts of the world (Cocking, 2009, 2014; Hamid-Turksoy et al., 2014). However, travel journalism from other parts of the world is significantly less well explored in this respect. Chap. 5 Looking West: representations of cultural difference and patterns of consumption in ‘Eastern’ travel journalism seeks to explore how tourist destinations are represented in a selection of travel journalism from the three most popular online newspapers in Malaysia. This chapter makes an initial and exploratory assessment of the representational strategies found in non-Western travel journalism. This necessarily involved examining the forms of consumption promoted in this travel journalism. This chapter found quite a lot of diversity in the representational strategies deployed in Malaysian travel journalism. Well established European and American tourism destinations were presented as exotic markers of middle class cosmopolitan consumption. Whilst stay-­cation destinations in Malaysia were framed in terms of their rich cultural heritage and natural/‘green’ tourism ethos—this provides a strong sense that traditional, pre-modern places and cultural practices are very much

156 

B. COCKING

integral to how the country sees itself through the lens of global tourism. This chapter contributes to understanding how discursive strategies of travel journalism operate in a non-western context, providing an insight into how Malaysian travel journalism views and engages with the world. It also raises awareness of the ways in which Malaysian tourism practices sit within the country. In addition to the exploration of the representational characteristics, another issue that features strongly in the literature on travel journalism is its relationship with ‘hard’ news journalism and political reporting. As discussed in Chap. 1 ‘Introduction: Travel Journalism: forms and origins’ much of the discussion of this centres on justifying and legitimizing the study of travel journalism as a form of journalism beyond news. Beyond the justification for studying travel journalism lies the question of how, as a form of journalism beyond the news, might its constituent components be categorized? This is the focus of Chap. 2 ‘Making Tabloid Travel Journalism: values and visuality’ which seeks to explore the underlying ‘values’ of tabloid based travel journalism. A very significant and highly developed area of academic interest in news journalism centres on the selection of news stories—what Galtung and Ruge referred to in their foundational study as ‘news factors’ (1965, p.  80). Later studies have referred to the selection of news as being based upon ‘news values’ (see, e.g., Harcup & O’Neill, 2001, 2017). This notion of selection has been little explored outside of ‘hard’ news journalism and not at all in terms of tabloid travel journalism. Chapter 2, then, seeks to examine the issue of selection in contemporary British tabloid travel journalism. The intention is try to ascertain what the common elements or ‘ingredients’ are that characterize professionally produced, print based travel journalism. The list of ‘values’ that emerges is an attempt to define some of the core elements of travel journalism. This reveals elements of the narrative structure of travel journalism features and is also indicative of the ways in which the genre (re) produces ideological assumptions about tourist destinations and tourist practices. It finds that there are some variations in the ways in which tabloids produce travel journalism in comparison with broadsheet newspapers. In particular, it is apparent that some forms of tabloid travel journalism appear to use visual images are primary drivers of narrative. This is in significant contrast to broadsheet forms of travel journalism, where written text is the main means of engaging readers with visual images playing a more supplementary or supporting role. The greater emphasis placed on visual images in tabloid travel journalism is very much

7 CONCLUSIONS 

157

in keeping with the broader characteristics of tabloid journalism, where visual images are also used as powerful significatory tool. The visuality of tabloid travel journalism is also very much in keeping with the ways in which content from these newspapers circulates online in social media settings. In this way it can be seen as a further illustration of the ‘click bait’ news values of tabloid journalism. Tabloid based travel content also seemed to display a rather different form of engagement with the holiday experiences it focuses on. In comparison with broadsheet travel journalism there was much less of the author in the text. Indeed, there was very little (if any) information on how to travel to the destinations described or what to do when there. There was little sense of following in the author’s footsteps and consequently, the destinations appeared to be not so much promoted for active consumption by the reader as primarily presented as content for their entertainment: travel experiences as a form of aesthetic pleasure. Other chapters of this book have also sought to explore other less well-­ established areas of the study of travel journalism. For example, Chap. 4 ‘Visions of Past and Present? Travel journalism features and TripAdvisor reviews of tourist destinations in the Middle East’, seeks to examine the representational relationship between travel writing, travel journalism and tourism experiences—the latter as recorded in the form of user generated reviews on TripAdvisor. In this way, this chapter is not so much about the representational power of travel journalism as it is about examining the representational influences on travel journalism. It seeks to consider the ways in forms of representing the Middle East which originated in Victorian travel writing interact with more ‘open’ less ideologically and historically riven representational forms. It explores the ways in which modes of representation appear to ‘wash’ back and forth between ways of writing about tourist destinations and accounts of tourist practices. In so doing, it traces modes of representation from their ‘orientalist’ origins in nineteenth century travel journalism through their refraction in early twentieth century travel advertising and marketing to their current recycling in twenty-first century travel journalism and user generated reviews on TripAdvisor. Of particular significance are the ways in which specific modes of representation appear to ‘flow’ through to TripAdvisor reviews. This gives an indication of not only the how these modes of representation resonate with tourists—or rather readers of travel journalism turned consumers of travel experiences. In this way, they also give an indication of how these modes of representation shape and are brought to bear on the

158 

B. COCKING

practices of tourism. Tourists clearly use them in writing about their tourism experiences and it is clear from this that they put these modes of representation into practice too. Similarly, consideration of whether or not travel journalism can have a political dimension is also a very under explored aspect of the genre (with the exception of McGaurr, 2010). The political potential of travel journalism is considered in Chap. 6 ‘Selling it “green”: travel journalism, Trump and the U.S National Monuments’. The intention here was to examine a large scale political news story—one that’s focus was cognate to the interests promoted by travel journalism—and explore the extent to which travel journalism addressed the news story. In this instance the news story centred on the US President’s review of national monument sites and the subsequent resizing and selling off of land. The chapter compares coverage given in travel journalism features in all the US newspapers listed on the Nexis newspaper database with the coverage given in other sections of these newspapers. The sample of travel journalism features is small but what emerges strongly is the ways in which travel features on the national monuments controversy accommodate tones and forms of narrative that are characteristic of investigative journalism and political reporting. This seems to manifest itself in two ways. There are examples of travel content where this political critique and concern for the environment is made explicit and addressed in detail. In these instances, narrative elements more commonly associated with political reporting interplay with established representational practices of travel journalism. There are also examples where this dissent takes a much more subtle form—passing references to the ‘national monuments’ story are present in travel content that makes use of specific discursive strategies that by implication run counter to the intentions of the Trump administration’s initiative. For instances, the use of discursive strategies that frame the countryside as an unchanging wilderness or that promote it as open, accessible spaces for family activities and adventure. Building on McGaurr’s work and the influence of Beck’s concept of cosmopolitanism (Beck, 2006; Beck, Blok, Tyfield, & Yueyue Zang, 2013) this chapter finds a cosmopolitan potential in travel journalism to raise awareness about issues in instances when they correspond with the commercial drivers of the genre. Travel journalism, like all forms of media and indeed literature, is fast evolving. Its print form is still dominant and the history and narrative characteristics of this form casts a long shadow over the genre. However, whilst print travel journalism as a form has remained largely static since the

7 CONCLUSIONS 

159

post-World War Two boom in leisure time and consumption, the diverse, hybrid and manifold forms of travel journalism that have emerged in the last two decades would seem to suggest that future developments will come even more quickly. Given this, it seems important to bear in mind several things. Travel journalism is a significantly powerful and influential cultural form worthy of study. Importantly, books such as Hanusch and Fürsich’s have ensured that the justifications for its study and the battle for legitimacy have been strongly made and if anything this book is testimony to this. Rather, in the context of the rapid change and development of travel journalism it seems important that studies of it remain open to the interdisciplinary interventions. The ‘travel’ aspect of ‘travel journalism’ means that it is a considerably more open, diverse and diffuse form of journalism than many other forms—if indeed it can continue to be contained solely as a form of journalism. Certainly, by contrast, it seems much more possible to more clearly define and demarcate ‘news journalism’ than ‘travel journalism’—the ways in which individuals and indeed societies can and do engage with travel related content is much more multifarious. Specifically, the literariness and literary origins of travel journalism should not be overlooked particularly as the very notion of literariness becomes redefined in online digital contexts. Likewise, the visual elements of travel journalism and the visual potential that technology affords the genre also warrant more detailed exploration. Ultimately, this book has sought to intervene in these important lines of enquiry. It contributes new knowledge and understanding to travel journalism’s representational make up. It has done so by drawing upon theories and methods from Journalism Studies, Tourism Studies, Travel Writing as well as other cognate social sciences. Travel journalism will no doubt rapidly change over the next decade—it is hoped that this book signposts some potential directions of travel for future exploration.

References Beck, U. (2006). Cosmopolitan Vision. Cambridge: Polity Press. Beck, U., Blok, A., Tyfield, D., & Yueyue Zang, J. (2013). Cosmopolitan communities of climate risk: Conceptual and empirical suggestions for a new research agenda. Global Networks a journal of transnational affairs, 13(1), 1–21. Cocking, B. (2009). Travel journalism. Journalism Studies, 10(1), 54–68.

160 

B. COCKING

Cocking, B. (2014). ‘Out there’: Travel journalism and the negotiation of cultural difference. In F. Hanusch & E. Fürsich (Eds.), Travel journalism exploring production impact and culture (pp. 176–190). London: Palgrave Macmillan. Fürsich, E., & Kavoori, A. P. (2001). Mapping a critical framework for the study of travel journalism. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 4(2), 149–171. Galtung, J., & Ruge, M. H. (1965). The structure of foreign news: The presentation of the Congo, Cuba and Cyprus crises in four Norwegian newspapers. Journal of Peace Research, 2(1), 64–90. Hamid-Turksoy, N., Kuipers, G., & Van Zoonen, L. (2014). Try a taste of Turkey. Journalism Studies, 15(6), 743–758. Hanusch, F. (2009). Taking travel journalism seriously: Suggestions for scientific inquiry into a neglected genre. In T.  Flew (Ed.), Communication, creativity and global citizenship: Refereed proceedings of the Australian and New Zealand communication association conference 2009. Brisbane, QLD: Queensland University of Technology. Hanusch, F., & Fürsich, E. (2014). Travel journalism exploring production impact and culture. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Harcup, T., & O’Neill, D. (2001). What is news? Galtung and Ruge revisited. Journalism Studies, 2(2), 261–280. Harcup, T., & O’Neill, D. (2017). What is news? Journalism Studies, 18(12), 1470–1488. McGaurr, L. (2010). Travel journalism and environmental conflict. Journalism Studies, 11(1), 50–67. Youngs, T. (2013). The Cambridge introduction to travel writing. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.

Index

B Broadsheets, 2–4, 28, 29, 32, 34, 36–43, 46, 47, 59, 62, 63, 77, 88, 111, 116, 118, 122, 156, 157 C Cosmopolitanism, 130, 134, 135, 148, 158 Critical discourse analysis (CDA), 17, 30, 31 Cultural difference, 22, 39, 40, 63, 105–124, 155

L Lifestyle journalism, 15, 17, 32 M Malaysia/Malaysian, 2, 3, 22, 105–107, 111–118, 121–124, 155, 156 Middle East, 2, 21, 22, 77–99, 105, 154, 157

D Digital Nomad, 21, 65–69, 71, 72 Discourse, 17, 32, 39, 79, 86–88, 110, 111, 123, 124, 129, 130, 133, 142, 146–148

N National monuments, 2, 4, 22, 129–149, 154, 158 News agenda, 2, 4, 22, 34, 36, 130, 131, 133, 147 News values, 2–4, 14, 21, 28–47, 116, 118, 122, 156, 157

E Environmentalism, 22, 123, 129, 131, 146

O Orientalism, 79, 82, 87, 88 Orientalist, 78, 79, 81, 87, 88, 157

© The Author(s) 2020 B. Cocking, Travel Journalism and Travel Media, https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59908-7

161

162 

INDEX

‘Other’/otherness, 16, 17, 19, 20, 22, 29, 33, 39, 54, 77, 78, 81, 82, 88, 93, 107–111, 117, 122 P Political economy, 5, 13, 15–17, 28, 32, 33, 41 Politics, 7, 15, 22, 94, 129–131, 133, 148 Professional values, 12, 16, 20, 31, 32, 129 R Representation, 2, 3, 7, 14, 16–18, 20–22, 27, 29, 33, 54, 56, 57, 59, 62, 65, 66, 68–73, 77, 78, 80, 87, 88, 94, 95, 98, 99, 105–124, 129, 135–145, 148, 155, 157, 158 T Tabloid, 2, 4, 21, 27–47, 59, 65, 111–113, 119, 121, 122, 156, 157

Tabloidization, 27, 28, 34, 46, 47 Tourism, 1, 5–9, 13, 14, 16–19, 21, 22, 29, 32–34, 38–45, 53, 56, 57, 62, 64, 70, 72, 73, 78, 81–83, 85, 87, 89–99, 105–107, 109–121, 123, 124, 129, 130, 134, 141, 142, 145–148, 153, 155–158 Tourism industry, 5, 16, 17, 29, 32, 33, 39, 53, 62, 107, 121, 134, 141, 145, 148 Travel Hacking, 21, 65, 66, 68–71 Travel journalism, 1–22, 27–47, 53–73, 77–99, 105–124, 129–149, 153–159 Travel writing, 3, 7–14, 21, 22, 53–73, 77, 78, 80, 81, 86–89, 94, 97, 98, 108, 110, 115, 123, 153–155, 157, 159 V Visual images, 30, 37–41, 43, 47, 156, 157