The Professional In the Age of the Amateur: Higher Education and Journalism On-the-job (original) (raw)
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Professionalism is a concept that centers on specialization of labor and control of occupational practice. It has traditionally been used to describe and define individuals who are affiliated with an occupational community that has managed to secure a certain measure of autonomy and jurisdiction over an area of expertise and has a claim to a public service ethos. In this review essay, we consider the changing professional status of journalism. Whether or not journalism is " truly " a profession, it is clear that a discourse of journalistic professionalism plays a crucial role in legitimizing the journalistic occupation. Consequently, this essay explores different approaches towards the professionalization of journalism and positions this discussion within two interrelated contexts: first, it investigates the ramifications of the current crisis in western news media on journalistic professionalism. Next, the essay probes the professional standing of journalism in view of the development of new digital technologies that are reshaping essential aspects of journalistic work. We conclude that journalism has lost some of its cohesion and fragmented into tribes of professionalism practiced by a diverse set of actors. Studying journalism and journalists Journalism studies aims to explore journalistic practices, norms, routines, and values while situating them within larger social frameworks. That is, scholars of journalism do not only investigate the way in which journalists conduct their work but also offer insights regarding the complex relations between how journalists think about their work and how they actually execute it. Moreover, many studies of journalism aspire to frame journalistic work as a product of the norms, values, and institutions of the societies in which journalists work while also considering the potential impact journalists have (or might have) on societies and their institutions. We review this literature with a special emphasis on the extent to which journalism operates as a cohesive profession. The examination of journalistic work and its meaning has been operationalized through a multitude of research strategies and methodologies. Based on the three traditional foci of communication research (text, reception, and production), the exploration of journalists and journalism has been answered through the analysis of texts produced by journalists (Bird & Dardenne 2008); via investigations of the opinions and perceptions of media consumers regarding journalistic values and practices and the social status of journalists (e.g., Tsfati, Meyers & Peri 2006); and by observing journalists and interviewing them (e.g., Tuchman 2002). In general, it is possible to define three basic arguments that characterize studies of journalism: first, news items exist because journalists apply mutually agreed upon work procedures in order to observe, portray, and interpret occurrences. These reported occurrences do not have any real time or space limits: those limits are imposed as the occurrences unfold due to normative, budgetary , and technological considerations and constraints. Second, occurrences are not inherently
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