Buzz

Throughout our research visits, we found that it is particularly important to consider sonic atmospheres, not only because hearing is a prominent sense, but also because the newsroom’s inhabitants repeatedly refer to sound. Specifically, sonic atmospheres play a key role in seeking the ‘right’ kind of environment for journalistic work: some journalists prefer silence, while others thrive in a context of buzz, and these inclinations call for a different engagement with space. This is not merely a matter of sensory preference: as we found in our research, it is also related to normative understandings of what journalism is or should be. 

In understanding the role of sound, we draw on the concept of ‘feeling right’ from Pink, Mackley and Morosanu (2015). They suggest that ‘one thing that humans (almost) universally seek to do (or hope for even if they never achieve it), is to make the environment around us feel “right” enough for us to be able to comfortably go about our everyday business’ (ibid., p.355). In studying how homely atmospheres can be ‘productive of forms of wellbeing,’ Pink, Mackley and Morosanu (2015, p.354) seek to find out what people do to make their homes feel right – which often corresponds with sentiments of homeliness, comfort, love, family life and relaxation. 

In the newsroom, there are also continuous attempts by its inhabitants to ensure their workspace feels right: for an editorial staff writer we interviewed, it doesn’t feel right to sit down and chill on a sofa at work. Instead, she looks for places at work where she feels she can relax. Similarly, it feels right for the visual editors to dress up a sculpture of one of the newspaper’s founders – if only to navigate their engagement with history or simply have a bit of fun at work and find a way to go about their everyday business.  

We found that, in this newsroom, sound plays a significant role in the journalists’ perception of when their workspace feels right. Our first research visit started slowly, without commotion or much turmoil. It is half-past 9 in the morning, and most journalists are quietly working behind their desks, when we stumble upon a handful of self-printed A4s, emphatically demanding, ‘No phone calls here.’ The posters are stuck on multiple walls in a poorly lit section of the newsroom, in close proximity to the desks of the publication’s visual editors. We suspect the notices to be a direct response to a confined form of noise pollution, or an agitating occurrence or two. We plan on researching this in more detail yet are offered an explanation soon thereafter. While the online news editor is giving us a tour of the newsroom’s third floor and shares his thoughts and feelings about the various rooms and spatial details, he gives his explanation as to why the posters have been put up: 

‘This is really nice. There’s an open connection with the area downstairs. Sometimes, the people upstairs come up to me and say, “if there’s important news, I can hear you shout!” So, during those moments, people working upstairs can hear me… if there’s something exciting going on.’ 

He continues:

‘Yesterday, there was a rare accident with a lift in [a university hospital]. Fourteen people were in the lift when it crashed… it fell down… probably at intervals, but they still fell down six floors (…) that’s big news, so that’s when there’s lots of excitement. All of a sudden, there’s a buzz in the newsroom. And I also heard that people working on the second floor can be disturbed by things like this. I don’t know if you’ve already seen it, but all the way downstairs, there’s a sign saying, ‘no phone calls,' and I think it’s because the sound travels upstairs if you’re on a phone call over there, which isn’t pleasant. People probably think they can phone someone without disturbing anyone else, but the sound moves upwards and is picked up by those working upstairs.’

This story of the posters’ origins aligns with the online news editor’s general perception of the newsroom. He perceives a certain sonic atmosphere that he attributes to the acoustics of the newsroom: it is an open workspace where sound travels without much interruption. At times of important news, this leads to ‘buzz,' which not only refers to the presence of audible excitement among the editorial staff but also represents his norm for what journalism is. As he explains:

‘The newsroom is noisy and dynamic. It's the first thing you notice in the morning. It's quiet when I leave my car, but when I walk through the entrance, there’s an immediate cacophony of sounds. There are always people talking, and there's always buzz. I really like it because I think it’s part of journalism, but there are also colleagues who struggle with this because they can’t get away from the noise. But that's not something I struggle with. In fact, I like it. There's always noise.’

This echoes Patrick Eisenlohr’s (2018, p.51) argument that sonic practices such as speech and vocal sounds ‘produce tangible atmospheres that fill spaces between their sources and felt-bodies, enveloping and suffusing them.’ In this specific instance, the news editor perceives and articulates a sonic atmosphere of buzz, which intersects with his norms of journalism and the use of the newsroom. In short, the buzz feels right to him – precisely because of his understanding of what journalism should be. This informs how he navigates through the newsroom, as well as how he contributes to making a sonic atmosphere that is in line with his perception of the journalistic practice. That is, the affordances of the open workspace advance what he considers to be the crux of journalism: buzz, dynamism, and a cacophony of sounds. 

For the online news editor, the transference of (vocal) sounds seems to be conducive as to whether a newsroom feels ‘right’ for the journalistic practice. This in part because of his role: he continuously engages in conversations and discussions with staff writers and other departments of the organisation, so as to ensure a swift and efficient collaboration. Constant communication seems to be key to his role as an online news editor, and moments of buzz correspond most directly to his incentives to collectively fill the publication’s website with the news items. This is exactly why the open workspace resonates with his journalistic practice.