Beyond journalism: Theorizing the transformation of journalism

TLDR

Journalism has long been viewed as a stable, professionalized field, yet recent scholarship questions the assumed core and consistency of its inner workings. This article contests the conventional self‑presentation of journalism—its occupational ideology, culture, routines, and structures—within the context of its shift toward a post‑industrial, entrepreneurial, and atypical work paradigm. The authors propose a dialectical framework that integrates individualist and institutional perspectives to transcend traditional conceptions and encompass the diverse practices that constitute contemporary journalism.

Abstract

Journalism has enjoyed a rich and relatively stable history of professionalization. Scholars coming from a variety of disciplines have theorized this history, forming a consistent body of knowledge codified in national and international handbooks and canonical readers. However, recent work and analysis suggest that the supposed core of journalism and the assumed consistency of the inner workings of news organizations are problematic starting points for journalism studies. In this article, we challenge the consensual (self-)presentation of journalism - in terms of its occupational ideology, its professional culture, and its sedimentation in routines and organizational structures (cf. the newsroom) in the context of its reconfiguration as a post-industrial, entrepreneurial, and atypical way of working and of being at work. We outline a way beyond individualist or institutional approaches to do justice to the current complex transformation of the profession. We propose a framework to bring together these approaches in a dialectic attempt to move through and beyond journalism as it has traditionally been conceptualized and practiced, allowing for a broader definition and understanding of the myriad of practices that make up journalism.