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Staking Out the Boundaries of Professionalism: Good and Bad Journalism

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Book cover Contemporary Journalism in the US and Germany

Part of the book series: Cultural Sociology ((CULTSOC))

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Abstract

This chapter maps US and German journalists’ definitions of occupational virtues and ideals, public responsibility and boundary drawing between “good” and “bad” journalism. These pronouncements arose in research interviews, ethnographic observation of reporting practice and in public venues (metajournalism). US reporters stood out by engaging in much more self-examination in metadiscourse and drawing boundaries more assertively towards each other (implicitly and explicitly). Rhetorically, they strictly separated news and opinion, despite continuous softening of this requirement, and defined their public responsibility in terms of accountability journalism. German reporters stressed the importance of taking positions in the news and were more modest in articulating their responsibility to the public, more as Einordnung (contextualizing) and explaining issues than acting as a countervailing power of politics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany

    Matthias Revers

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  1. Matthias Revers
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Revers, M. (2017). Staking Out the Boundaries of Professionalism: Good and Bad Journalism. In: Contemporary Journalism in the US and Germany. Cultural Sociology. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51537-7_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51537-7_4

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-51536-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-51537-7

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

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