The return of the integrated journalist?
This paper takes as its starting-point that loyalty conflicts are inherent to journalistic practice. Every journalist with decent experience has at some point, and perhaps repeatedly, faced a dilemma of discord over loyalty. This comes as a result of the inescapable fact that journalists encounter commitments of contradictory nature in their work. On the most basic level, there exists a commitment to the media institution and its owner. This commitment, however, may run into conflict with a commitment to the profession. The prime example would be that of the profit-seeking media institution which is in permanent tension with serious journalistic work. Other commitments which might trouble the professional journalist are strong relations to sources, obligations to the audience, bonds to the local community, and so forth. In most cases, the journalist still finds ways to deal with these competing commitments. Modern professional philosophy, not the least, has served to regulate the public vs. private domain so that professional life is clearly distinguished from the personal, thus reducing potential distress for the journalist-as-human-being.
However, at one point, the tension reaches such heights that the journalist finds professional performance to be at odds with his/her personal conviction. This occurs for example when a reporter covers a story where the premises of the story so much contradict his/her own beliefs that the journalist’s integrity seems to be at play. The tension could also emerge over time, for example in a situation where a journalist works for a media outlet which is ideologically contrary to the journalist’s own views. Research suggests three main reactions for journalists in such situations: resignation (withdrawal from the organization); assimilation (ironing out the differences); and – most common – paradigm repair (shifting back to a professional mindset after temporarily transgressing acknowledged standards).
The current study, however, questions that these three reactions constitute a sufficient explanation of professional loyalty conflicts among journalists. All three reactions assume that journalists relate to two different spheres (professional and non-professional) and are able to shift between the spheres in different situations. However, the research results presented in this paper suggest that journalists relate to several identities simultaneously. Rather than seeing the situation as shifts between different spheres and identities, the research suggests that the interviewed journalists are both professionals and human beings at the same time; persistently and forcefully. Perhaps it is time to return to a theory of the integrated journalist.
In terms of empirical data, the research is based on in-depth interviews with 67 journalists in three Ethiopian media organizations.
However, at one point, the tension reaches such heights that the journalist finds professional performance to be at odds with his/her personal conviction. This occurs for example when a reporter covers a story where the premises of the story so much contradict his/her own beliefs that the journalist’s integrity seems to be at play. The tension could also emerge over time, for example in a situation where a journalist works for a media outlet which is ideologically contrary to the journalist’s own views. Research suggests three main reactions for journalists in such situations: resignation (withdrawal from the organization); assimilation (ironing out the differences); and – most common – paradigm repair (shifting back to a professional mindset after temporarily transgressing acknowledged standards).
The current study, however, questions that these three reactions constitute a sufficient explanation of professional loyalty conflicts among journalists. All three reactions assume that journalists relate to two different spheres (professional and non-professional) and are able to shift between the spheres in different situations. However, the research results presented in this paper suggest that journalists relate to several identities simultaneously. Rather than seeing the situation as shifts between different spheres and identities, the research suggests that the interviewed journalists are both professionals and human beings at the same time; persistently and forcefully. Perhaps it is time to return to a theory of the integrated journalist.
In terms of empirical data, the research is based on in-depth interviews with 67 journalists in three Ethiopian media organizations.
Publisert i Paper presented at the international conference of the Journalism Studies Section of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA), Thessaloniki, Greece, 2014
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