Book Review: Global Journalism Practice and New Media Performance, by Y. Kalyango Jr. and David H. Mould (Eds.).

Y. Kalyango Jr. and David H. Mould (Eds.). Global Journalism Practice and New Media Performance. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. 262 pp.Understanding how journalism is traditionally practiced in the United States and in certain counties may not be a novel topic today for journalism and mass communication educators. However, how traditional journalism is practiced in a new media environment where both separately or jointly perform their due function has become an intriguing issue in recent years. This is a vital issue in countries, such as Armenia, El Salvador, Guyana, Kyrgyzstan, Suriname, and Yemen, which are not conventionally or frequently seen in our field's literature.This volume, edited by Kalyango and Mould, professors at Ohio University, well addresses the "role of journalism practice and media education" in both "new and traditional media" amid the "political, economic and cultural contexts" (fourth cover) in 16 countries or regions-China, Colombia, Ghana, India, Jordan, Palestine, Russia, Taiwan, Turkey, the United States, and the abovementioned. From a global perspective, the editors and chapter contributors aim to elaborate the "key debates concern core journalistic values: how to remain relevant as the main arbiter of reliable, accurate, independent sources, and verified news and information" in a new media ecosystem and how to tackle the challenge facing both the "basic journalistic principles" (p. 1) and "the journalistic obligation to enable media platforms as a forum for public debates, criticism, and compromise" (p. 1).Chapters are grouped into three sections-journalism practice (in the United States), new versus traditional media, and journalism practice and media performance (outside of the United States). Section I begins with global media educators' evaluation of U.S. journalism practice concerning "a broader question"-"How will we know what [colleagues in foreign countries] think about U.S. journalism and how it compares with the journalism they have taught and practiced in their own countries" (p. ix). The core journalistic values and professional model upheld in the U.S. system may not be universally applied according to a focus group where participants provided an "outsider's view." This chapter serves as the starting point, as the editors stated, for the demonstration of "how traditional values in the practice of professional journalism in other parts of the world" (p. 4) can be localized and interpreted.The eight case studies included in Section II are organized and fleshed out by the competition and co-existence of traditional and new media as sources of information, as well as their roles shaped by political, economic, cultural, and/or societal conditions. Concerning several nations barely seen in research, for example, Suren Deheryan provides the latest information about the development of telecommunication infrastructure, and analyzes the increase in Internet access in Armenia. Although still facing challenges in establishing credibility, online and social networking media have influenced the practice of traditional news media and news agencies, and more importantly, brought changes to the government, electoral processes, and e-commerce in this mountainous country. …