Camilla Mehlsen appointed new fellow at the journalism programmes at SDU
She will study personality-based news reporting as a fellow at the journalism programmes.
Media analyst and author Camilla Mehlsen is the next recipient of the Fyens Stiftstidendes Fellowship and thus also the recipient of half a million Danish kroner and a six-month stay at the journalism programmes at the University of Southern Denmark.
Camilla Mehlsen will investigate personality-based news reporting.
- In today’s media landscape, some journalists, correspondents and news anchors become more famous than the news organisations they work for. But how can we work more strategically and practically with personality-driven journalism – sometimes also described as news influencers – so that we can engage more with the users while ensuring the journalistic quality? I’m looking forward to investigating this in my fellowship project.
- It’s my ambition to provide inspiration on how personality-driven journalism can reach users, particularly the younger generations, who often turn off the news flow, says Camilla Mehlsen.
Insight into personality-driven news reporting
The project will collect experiences of and develop knowledge about personality-driven news reporting through interviews, focus groups and surveys, and the outcome will include a handbook, a series of workshops and a conference.
Camilla Mehlsen is a media analyst, member of the Media Committee, lecturer and author of a number of books on digital media development – and her new book Opmærksomhedstyveriet (Informations Forlag, 2024) has just come out.
She is the nineteenth fellow at the journalism programmes at SDU, and Camilla Mehlsen will start the fellowship in August 2024 and finish it in 2025.
The consequences of news influencers
The Fyens Stiftstidendes Fellowship is funded by den Fynske Bladfond, and the Board of the journalism programmes at SDU is responsible for the appointment. Camilla Mehlsen was selected from a field of 27 applicants whose interests spanned many exciting topics.
Christian Jensen, chair of the Board and editor-in-chief of Politiken, comments on the selection:
- Camilla Mehlsen has unique insight into both the positive and negative consequences of the increasingly personalised news dissemination of the digital age, which takes place not least through news influencers. It is our hope that the project will help the entire industry improve their understanding of the new opportunities of this development for publishing media.
Former Fellows
Former fellows include: Ida Ebbensgaard (2023–2024), Gerd Maria May Hertz (2022–2023), Malte Jørstad (2021–2022), Anders C. Østerby (2020–2021), Andreas Marckmann Andreassen (2019–2020), Line Vaaben (2018–2019), Pierre Collignon (2017–2018), Jan Birkemose (2016–2017), Aslak Gottlieb (2015–2016), Nikolai Thyssen (2014–2015), Pernille Tranberg (2013–2014), Charlotte Aagaard (2012–2013), Kurt Westh Nielsen (2011–2012), Jesper Tynell (2010–2011), Jakob Elkjær (2009–2010), Per Knudsen (2008–2009), Mette Davidsen-Nielsen (2007–2008), Jens Olaf Jersild (2006–2007).