Journalistic identities beyond professionalism
Understanding journalistic identity is a key concern in making sense of journalists' norms and self-perception. Especially in a semi-democratic context like Ethiopia, where strong tensions exist between social and political actors, insight into journalistic identity is of interest because it could give us further knowledge of how journalists perceive their roles within the media organization and as members of the wider society. Investigating journalistic identity could, for instance, include questions like whether reporters and editors first and foremost see their allegiance as belonging to the journalistic community, the media organization, public society, or society at large. Furthermore, an investigation of identity issues needs to examine the composition of identity (for instance personal vs. professional identity), including its internal conflicts, longitudinal adjustments and situational shifts. In turn, an understanding of journalistic identity/ies could bring further understanding to topics like professional performance and the media's role in a given society.
What I attempt to do in this text is to describe the major theoretical traditions which concern journalistic identity, then suggest a theoretical framework that could inform my own research in relation to journalists in Ethiopian state media organizations. In terms of theoretical traditions of journalistic identity, I concur with the view of several others (e.g. Zelizer, 1993; Tumber and Prentoulis, 2005) who identify two major frameworks: the first approaching journalists as professionals and the second viewing them as members of interpretive communities. However, I do not agree that these traditions are dichotomous, as they are sometimes portrayed as. I believe some of their apparent contradictions are rather a result of different research agendas and what could have been regarded an expected change in focus in journalism research throughout the decades. This is also underlined by some recent theoretical contributions which propose a return to stringent sociological approaches in order to disentangle the complexities of journalistic professionalism (e.g. Dickinson, 2007; Örnebring, 2009). In line with this, I will argue that a focused understanding and analysis of professionalism is needed in my research project because the journalists themselves appear to be preoccupied exactly with the distinction between professionalism and non-professionalism when explaining constraints and rewards in their work situation. At the same time, seeing journalists as members of more than a mere professional community appears important because the informants express patterns of competing allegiances that have an impact on their work behaviour and self-perception as journalists. On the basis of this double approach to understanding journalistic self-perception, I will continue by arguing for the use of identity theory in journalistic sociology. This represents a move from strictly analysing roles and functions of journalists to analysing identities, which seems to be a fruitful approach when examining the ideals and performances of journalists in a pressurized media context like the Ethiopian. I will here draw on a few other recent studies which have viewed journalists as members of contradicting communities (Zandberg and Neiger, 2005; Nossek, 2004). I will end by suggesting how this theoretical foundation might be bridged to a methodology of the particular research project and subsequently identify possible research questions that could guide my encounters with informants.
What I attempt to do in this text is to describe the major theoretical traditions which concern journalistic identity, then suggest a theoretical framework that could inform my own research in relation to journalists in Ethiopian state media organizations. In terms of theoretical traditions of journalistic identity, I concur with the view of several others (e.g. Zelizer, 1993; Tumber and Prentoulis, 2005) who identify two major frameworks: the first approaching journalists as professionals and the second viewing them as members of interpretive communities. However, I do not agree that these traditions are dichotomous, as they are sometimes portrayed as. I believe some of their apparent contradictions are rather a result of different research agendas and what could have been regarded an expected change in focus in journalism research throughout the decades. This is also underlined by some recent theoretical contributions which propose a return to stringent sociological approaches in order to disentangle the complexities of journalistic professionalism (e.g. Dickinson, 2007; Örnebring, 2009). In line with this, I will argue that a focused understanding and analysis of professionalism is needed in my research project because the journalists themselves appear to be preoccupied exactly with the distinction between professionalism and non-professionalism when explaining constraints and rewards in their work situation. At the same time, seeing journalists as members of more than a mere professional community appears important because the informants express patterns of competing allegiances that have an impact on their work behaviour and self-perception as journalists. On the basis of this double approach to understanding journalistic self-perception, I will continue by arguing for the use of identity theory in journalistic sociology. This represents a move from strictly analysing roles and functions of journalists to analysing identities, which seems to be a fruitful approach when examining the ideals and performances of journalists in a pressurized media context like the Ethiopian. I will here draw on a few other recent studies which have viewed journalists as members of contradicting communities (Zandberg and Neiger, 2005; Nossek, 2004). I will end by suggesting how this theoretical foundation might be bridged to a methodology of the particular research project and subsequently identify possible research questions that could guide my encounters with informants.
Publisert i Paper presented at PhD conference, University of Oslo, 2009
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