This study examines the roots of journalistic imagination through interviews with 6 journalists in Taiwan. The researchers identified 10 indicators of imagination and categorized the roots into 3 groups: personality traits, academic background, and work experience. They found that personality traits, professional conduct, and academic background are the most critical roots for initiating imagination. Professional conduct, news sense, and work experience are crucial for conceiving imagination, while personality traits, academic background, and news sense influence transforming imagination. The researchers conclude that both intrinsic and extrinsic factors influence journalistic imagination and that interventions could help develop journalists.

1. 新聞想像的根源
Roots of Journalistic imagination
廖凱弘 & 梁朝雲
台灣大學生物產業傳播暨發展學系

2. Purpose of this study
 Keeble (2007) indicated that facts derived
from eyewitnesses form the foundation upon
which journalistic imagination can be
constructed and then on which a soulful
relationship with the audience can be built.
 Nuttall (2007) suggested that scene-by-
scene construction can help journalists
imagine and move a story forward moment
by moment and give it immediacy, and, thus,
maximize reader involvement.
 we propose the question: Where does the
journalistic imagination come from?

3. Indicators of imagination (Liao, 2014)
Indicator Definition
Novelty The ability to generate uncommon ideas.
Productivity The ability to generate ideas effectively.
Concentration The ability to formulate thoughts through focus.
Sensibility The ability to evoke feelings during the creative process.
Intuition The ability to generate immediate associations with a goal.
Effectiveness The ability to generate relevant and profound thoughts about the target.
Dialectics The ability to seek improvement by logically analyzing thoughts.
Exploration The ability to question the unknown.
Crystallization The ability to express abstract ideas by using concrete examples.
Transformation The ability to perform tasks by transforming information acquired
across multiple fields of knowledge.
創始想像
構思想像
轉造想像

4. Method
 Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with
six renowned journalists in Taiwan.
 The ages of these participants ranged from 36 to 51 years,
and they had been writing from 8 year to 26 years.
 Participant 1 and 2 worked at MAGAZINES; Participant 3
and 4 were from NEWSPAPERS; Participant 5 and 6 was
from RADIO STATIONS.

5. Roots of journalistic imagination (1/2)
Root
Indicator
Personality Academic
Background
Work
experience
Novelty ● ●
Productivity ● ● ●
Concentration ●
Sensibility ●
Intuition ● ●
Effectiveness ●
Dialectics ●
Exploration ● ●
Crystallization ● ●
Transformation ● ● ●

6. Roots of journalistic imagination (1/2)
 Personality “Since my childhood, I have always asked why … I cannot reject new
things … When I encounter difficulties, I ask questions and discuss them with
others … If it (the cat) bothered me, I felt distracted” (novelty, productivity,
concentration, and exploration; J2); “Perhaps it is my trait. I would persist on doing
what is at hand, and sometimes forget to eat until the task is done … I would use a
simple way to tackle complex concepts” (concentration and crystallization; J5)
 Academic background “I majored in History … I am always able to give boring
topics a fresh perspective … I am really good at drawing historical chronologies or
maps” (novelty and crystallization; J6); “I majored in Journalism … I have dreamed
of becoming a reporter since my childhood … I am interested in comparing the
significance of current events and historical ones” (productivity and transformation;
J3)
 Work experiences “My dad has operated a restaurant, and I was a good helper in
childhood. This experience taught me to pay attention to details, such as customer
emotion (sensibility; J3); “I can quickly grasp the key points, especially issues
regarding social welfare, because I have worked in this field for many years”
(intuition; J4)

7. Roots of journalistic imagination (2/2)
Root
Indicator
News
Sense
Professional
Conduct
Social
responsibility
Novelty ●
Productivity ●
Concentration ●
Sensibility ● ●
Intuition ● ●
Effectiveness ● ● ●
Dialectics ● ● ●
Exploration
Crystallization ● ●
Transformation ● ●

8. Roots of journalistic imagination (2/2)
 News Sense “Why has this event become disputed? It is because lawmakers
misuse it. I know the core value of public issues, and so I should make it
public … Telling a story is the most effective method of transmitting information
and calling for action in our society … In news writing, looking back upon the past
is a must; that is because when something has not been solved since then, we
must face with it” (dialectics, crystallization, and transformation; J2)
 Professional Conduct “I need to sort the news by topics, and select a headline
news among them immediately” (productivity; J5); or “As a journalist, to think fast
is a must, even if there are interruptions in the surroundings … I have worked on
social news for many years, and learned to empathize with people and select the
topics that are humane and warm, or are about underprivileged people … The
more questions I ask, the more clearly I understand what the facts support”
(concentration, sensibility, and dialectics; J4).
 Social responsibility “In the case of controversial news, I keep a balance among
distinct standpoints. I may use some humor to remind readers. If it is a live show,
I might let the interviewees use their own words in order to avoid any doubts
regarding the facts” (dialectics; J5)

9. Conclusion
 Personality traits, professional conduct, and academic background have
emerged as the three most critical roots of initiating imagination in
journalists. This result indicates that unique thoughts are generated based
on both intrinsic and extrinsic factors.
 Professional conduct, news sense, and work experience are particularly
crucial roots for developing conceiving imagination. This implies that
thoughts related to empathizing with people, gaining insights, and achieving
goals are primarily derived from extrinsic factors, especially work-related
factors.
 Personality traits, academic background, and news sense are especially crucial for the
creation of transforming imagination. This result indicates that both intrinsic and extrinsic
factors influence the crystallization of concepts and the transfer of thoughts.
 Our results identified professional conduct as a crucial root, which raises the possibility
that a variety of interventions can be designed for developing the “human resource” of
journalists. In this study, we discovered that prolific journalists enjoy human-interest stories
about the community of citizens wherein, in the words of Pauly (2011), our hopes for
humane, peaceful, and equitable social relations dwell.

10. Thank you for your listening. 