Understanding the Global Journalist: a Hierarchy-Of-In Uences Approach

Journalism Studies, Volume 2, Number 2, 2001, pp. 173–187

Understanding the Global Journalist: a hierarchy-of-in uences approach

STEPHEN D. REESE University of Texas at Austin, USA

ABSTRACT Globalization of media organizations has brought accompanying debates about the proper education and professional standards for the journalists who work for them. These journalistic and press performance issues have attracted a correspondingly global community of scholars to conduct often transnational, comparative studies. In this article, I consider the issues raised in examining these “global journalists” from a sociology-of-media and a cross-national comparative perspective. I propose a “hierarchy of in uences” levels-of-analysis model to help clarify and address such questions, including the problematic nature of “professionalism”. From micro to macro, these levels address what factors shape media and news content, and include the individual journalist, news routines, organizational, extra-media, and ideological, with each carrying a different view of the professionalism issue. While many studies, comparative and otherwise, have been conducted at the individual level, often using surveys to examine the views and characteristics of individual professionals, this model requires that we take into account the larger structure within which these journalists function. More important than national differences may be the emergence of a transnational global professionalism, the shape of which will greatly affect how well the world’s press meets the normative standards we would wish for it.

KEY WORDS: Journalists, Professionalism, Media Sociology, Comparative, Levels of Analysis, Press Performance

Introduction standard of journalistic professionalism with basic shared values. The global We study journalists and their pro- media have attracted a similarly global fession to nd insights into the ultimate group of media scholars who study shape of their work. We nd this group them. The European Union movement, worthy of our interest and research be- in particular, recently has inspired a cause of the crucial role it plays in the strong interest in collaborative media quality of the world’s press. Particularly research that cuts across national now, with the globalization of media boundaries. Shared theoretical per- through major corporate conglomer- spectives allow these scholars to ad- ates, the professionalism of these jour- dress comparative research issues as nalists may be crucial in preserving they bring their own national experi- standards of journalism. Although it is ences to these questions. not often explicitly stated, many media Another factor leading to the popular- scholars would share the conviction ity of journalists as a research subject that there should be an international is the rise of professional journalism

ISSN 1461-670X print/ISSN 1469-9699 online/01/020173-15 Ó 2001 Taylor & Francis Ltd DOI: 10.1080/14616700120042060 174 STEPHEN D. REESE and communication education, which sort out how different press profession- has become more rmly established als, practices, and systems work to ad- in the United States and elsewhere. vance these basic social goals and Not only does this represent an reminds us that professionalism is a important phenomenon for research, problematic concept, consisting of but it means increasing numbers of many values held in tension, which dif- scholars have been trained in these ferent national groups balance in their areas as their home discipline. Thus, own way. it is natural that they want to know The issues I take up here may be more about journalism professionals broadly described as a sociology-of- and have begun to approach this media view, which considers how me- study systematically. It is also natural dia power functions within a larger that these scholars attribute social social context. More narrowly, “media importance to journalism and wish to sociology” is often equated with the enhance its status as a profession. newsroom ethnographies carried out This transnational view of the pro- by many scholars trained in the fession has found the social survey a sociological discipline. I mean it natural methodological approach, al- more broadly, as I think scholars in lowing scholars to make general de- Europe and South America would as scriptive statements about the nature of well, to refer to a broader social struc- these journalists and their adherence to tural context of press practice. Al- certain professional tenets. Indeed, the though no phrase is entirely attraction of this survey approach is adequately, “media sociology” certainly that it is easily exported, making it suggests that we must tackle the struc- tempting to apply it without suf cient tural context of journalism, moving be- conceptual attention to different cultural yond the more narrow attempt to settings. psychologize the media through In this article, I will consider the is- the attitudes and values of individual sues raised by this increasing research practitioners. By this phrase, I do interest in global journalism and pro- also mean to distinguish my questions pose a model to help guide these stud- of interest from traditional audience- ies. This “hierarchy of in uences” and-effects studies. In agenda-setting model proposes important distinctions terminology, for example, researchers between levels of analysis and locates have frequently considered how the individual journalist within a web of successful media are in setting the organizational and ideological con- agenda of the public; in the media straints. Such a model is particularly sociology view we are more interested important in comparative research, be- in those forces which set the media’s cause it helps to place the phenomena agenda (Reese, 1991). Because it of interest within a structural context. is such a crucial concept with regard Understanding journalism through to international journalistic practice, these levels of analysis helps untangle I will rst review the notion of many of the critiques of press perform- professionalism within a media soci- ance, identify their implicit normative ology framework, before considering and theoretical assumptions, and sug- some issues raised in comparative me- gest appropriate kinds of evidence. Ul- dia research. I will then present and timately, press practices must be explain the hierarchy of in uences viewed against normative standards. A model as a way of addressing these multi-perspectival approach helps us issues.1 UNDERSTANDING THE GLOBAL JOURNALIST 175 The Problematic Concept of Pro- slips in society, the media are driven to fessionalism shore up their prestige through a number of channels, including by exerting Before we consider how best to under- in uence on university campuses. Im- stand and compare the work of journal- portant journalistic foundations, such ists, we must consider more carefully as the Freedom Forum (established the profession to which they belong. with an endowment derived from the Fundamentally, our assessment of largest US newspaper chain), have journalism is based on its contributions taken a much more proactive stance in to a democratic society. Is journalism shaping future faculty-hiring and cur- indeed a profession? It does not re- ricular decisions. The media industry semble the traditional learned profes- might prefer workers trained with basic sions with required credentials and entry-level skills, but university edu- licensing procedures, but does have cation must construct a broader profes- many professional features. It aspires sionalism of civic engagement if to an important social role and ascribes students are to contribute effectively to to ethical codes of conduct. To that a democratic society (Reese, 1999; extent journalism bene ts from its prac- Reese and Cohen, 2000). Thus, pro- titioners laying claim to professional fessionalism is a contested terrain, and membership. Indeed, the idea of pro- continually being renegotiated in re- fessionalism is highly normative. As sponse to social shifts. McQuail (1992) discusses, we evaluate Hallin (1992), for example, considers media performance against the major how US journalism reached a “high social values of freedom, equality, and modernism” stage, characterized by order. We assume that journalists must the independent insider, a journalistic have a high degree of professional role with its model in the national se- freedom and autonomy to carry out curity corespondent. This role broke their function, and we gauge their work down with the collapse of political con- against some standard of fairness, or sensus and economic support for me- equal representation of relevant social dia reporting, to give way to an features. Ethically, we trust that journal- interpretive, but largely technical analy- ists will observe standards that do not sis, role. He recommends that a further violate expectations of social order. We role shift is needed from a “mediating” wish that journalists would adhere to position to one that assists in opening certain roles and ethical conduct be- up the public sphere. So far I have cause we think that doing so bene ts been discussing professionalism within the larger society. Thus, an important my own American context. To what ex- objective of our analysis is to nd the tent are these same issues applicable conditions that either encourage or cross-culturally? threaten the professional conduct and In recent years more attention has press quality that we would desire. been devoted to universal principles of I have argued elsewhere that human rights. Is it similarly possible to “professionalism” is a problematic con- establish principles of journalistic prac- cept, with attempts to de ne it often tice acceptable to the diverse world linked to speci c interests. In journal- nations? Many studies certainly have ism education, for example, the news proceeded with that implicit assump- media wish to play an in uential role in tion. US government and media initia- encouraging universities to train stu- tives have worked to encourage the dents in a “professional” sense. As the adoption of the “objective” press model prestige of the journalism profession in the emerging democracies of South 176 STEPHEN D. REESE

America and Eastern Europe. They im- ent perspectives of the media system? plicitly assume that US-style journalism To what extent do professional charac- is a natural and inevitable world model. teristics of journalists affect the way This movement has been viewed by they shape media content? A model is many Third World nations, however, as needed to help us sort out these ques- a thinly disguised attempt for the multi- tions, which are brought into sharper national communication rms to domi- focus when considered cross-culturally. nate the ow of media products, a threat to indigenous media production, Comparative Research on and often contrary to nation-building Journalists goals. The post-Cold-War environment has brought a more receptive climate As mentioned above, the global media for internationalizing the concept of are studied by a correspondingly global press professionalism, making it es- group of scholars. Multi-country studies pecially important that we monitor the and collaborative research have be- shape it is taking. come more common, making it all the Freedom is perhaps the most vigor- more important that we have a clear ously articulated international pro- model and well-de ned set of research fessional value. The Freedom Forum, questions to guide these investigations. among other groups, has worked to Studies of professional journalists have promote press freedom around the been perhaps most easily adaptable to world, especially in emerging democra- comparative analysis. Survey method- cies. The Interamerican Press Associ- ology permits replicating the same ation, for example, has developed a questionnaire in a variety of national basic principle of journalistic freedom, settings, yielding results that can be which they promote to the world com- located within a comparative frame- munity. The 1994 Declaration of Cha- work. As indicated in books like pultepec states that “no law or act of Weaver’s (1998) The Global Journalist, government may limit freedom of ex- surveys of professional attitudes have pression or of the press whatever the proved a successful export to many medium”. The Declaration is based on countries. By contrast, media sociology the idea that a free press is necessary more generally may be criticized for its to enable societies to function as effec- overemphasis on explaining speci c tive democracies. Often this emphasis national, usually North American or on of cial restraint may simply translate British, systems—that is, focusing on a as the ability for the news organization single case and context. The news- and its employees to go where they room ethnography studies that have want and transmit information across come to exemplify this style of research national boundaries. Less often em- have been done primarily in US media phasized is the freedom of journalists organizations. A more comparative ap- to follow their own professional dictates proach would be useful in calling into against organizational pressure. question the features of these systems: Thus, our initial concern should be what is common versus idiosyncratic? with the problematic issue of profes- If research is to be comparative, how- sionalism itself. What interests are im- ever, we must be clear about how this plicated in supporting one view of comparison is to be carried out. A brief professionalism over another. What discussion of the issues raised by com- normative goals are professional prac- parative research shows the import- tices designed to achieve, and are they ance of the model I will introduce meeting those goals? What functions below. does professionalism serve from differ- “Comparative” refers to research UNDERSTANDING THE GLOBAL JOURNALIST 177

“across two or more geographic and system” and the basis for organizing historical (spatially/temporally) de ned analysis. Kohn (1989, pp. 22–24) systems, in which the phenomena of identi es four main approaches to interest are embedded in a set of inter- cross-national research based on the relations, relatively coherent, pat- role the “nation” plays in the analysis: terned, comprehensive, distinct, and as object, context, unit of analysis, or bounded” (Blumler et al., 1992). In one as component of a larger system. sense we are always comparing people These can easily be related to media and groups based on their location on sociology research. various social measurement scales, When the goal is to understand the but that doesn’t mean that the compari- nation system itself as the object and sons are necessarily at the appropriate, its closely related media system, macrosocietal systemic level. Compar- we may nd analyses such as Sigal’s ing across systems yields different in- (1973) comparison of reporting prac- sights than comparing within and calls tices in the United States and Britain. for crucial distinctions between the Hallin and Mancini (1994) have pro- phenomenon of interest and its sur- vided a similar comparison of US and rounding structural context. It considers Italian journalists in their orientation the interplay of theories about sub- to the state. The nation is perhaps stance—the phenomenon of real inter- most frequently viewed as a context est and theories about organization of for some other phenomenon of interest, systems—the surrounding context as with the studies by Weaver and (Blumler et al., 1992). colleagues, mentioned above, of Thus, the rst task of comparative professional attitudes in a number of media sociology is to clearly de ne the countries (Weaver, 1998). In this media system in which journalists of approach, the journalists’ host country interest work. Comparative research in- takes a secondary position, as a cludes two important kinds of ques- marker of certain factors of interest tions. First-order questions ask “how that can help explain comparative much?” and “how many?” in various differences in journalists. Little empha- systems, which are by de nition less sis is placed on explaining how the interesting for being atheoretical. Se- national press system and its special cond-order questions move beyond the historic and cultural role—although frequency of things to ask about the these may be described in passing— relationships among them. Establishing are connected to professional prac- these relationships allows us begin to tices. theorize about causal connections Nations may become the unit of rather than transitory features. What is analysis in a broader examination of being compared in comparative re- media patterns. Nations, for example, search? Most common is the most ba- may be organized along a continuum of sic, comparing things. Less press freedom to examine its predic- self-evidently available to the re- tors. Finally, we may view nations as searcher would be structures formed components of a larger system. In- by things, processes within structures, deed, media will increasingly be oper- and, nally, functions of seemingly dif- ating across national boundaries, ferent things, structures, and pro- forming systems that have less and cesses (Blumler et al., 1992). less to do with speci c national cul- Comparative media research is often tures. Scholars have begun to examine equated with being cross-national, the “global newsroom”, to consider how where the nation becomes the “de ned decisions made in supranational news 178 STEPHEN D. REESE organizations in cities like London af- The meaning of “professionalism”, for fect coverage of other countries. example, needs to be understood in This discussion suggests that when relation to its speci c cultural context. conducting comparative research it is Other media features and practices tempting to rely on the nation system may be less problematic, but in each as the natural organizing principle. We case an attempt to specify the struc- need to carefully consider, however, tural pattern within a given system how we are viewing journalists and helps to guard against prematurely as- their professional systems as relating suming that something means the to these national contexts. If we do same thing in one cultural setting as choose to compare on a national level, another. Indeed, the interesting ques- we implicitly assume that countries are tion may be not how professional one relatively homogeneous internally, that country’s journalists are compared with the variation in the phenomenon of in- another’s, but how professionalism terest is greater across rather than comes to mean something different in within countries. Increasingly, however, different cultures, or how different the strati cations of professional con- journalistic practices are employed to duct may be more varied within than accomplish the same normative goals? across countries, as a global media In addressing these questions, it is professionalism continues to emerge. useful to identify the available perspec- The results of the Weaver studies, for tives, and so I turn now to describing a example, show as many differences as model that provides such an orien- similarities in professional features of tation. journalists. These differences argue against emerging professional standards, as Splichal and Sparks (1994) Hierarchy-of-In uences Model have argued based on an analysis of journalism students in several coun- I have found it valuable to consider the tries. Elite journalists will likely have forces that shape media messages as more in common with each other, a “hierarchy of in uences”, a model across national boundaries, than with that is the basis for the book Mediating many of their more localized compatri- the Message: theories of in uences on ots. More interesting questions may in- mass media content (Shoemaker and volve considering how this emerging Reese, 1996). This volume, developed class of “cosmopolite” journalists with my colleague Pamela Shoemaker, shares a common standard and under- establishes a theoretical framework for standing of journalism. As transnational analyzing media based on levels of commercialism grows, exempli ed by analysis, which help classify in uences rms like McDonald’s and Disney, a operating both separately and in con- common monoculture is developing, junction with each other. In brief, these with media products moving easily levels range from the most micro to the across national borders. Global journal- most macro: individual, routines, orga- ism is part of this development, sup- nizational, extra-media, and ideologi- porting increasingly common cal, with each successive level viewed understandings of what constitutes the as subsuming the one(s) prior. This international news agenda. model helps to meaningfully organize a Comparative research should also vast array of eclectic research by con- make us cautious in assuming that the sidering the level or perspective at meaning of basic concepts is self-evi- which explanation is primarily sought. dent and comparable across cultures. The hierarchical aspect draws atten- UNDERSTANDING THE GLOBAL JOURNALIST 179 tion to the idea that these forces oper- plex organization, was antithetical to ate simultaneously at different levels of the ostensible goal of the media to strength in any shaping of media con- re ect reality and tell the truth. tent. While it is tempting to gravitate In a politically based counter-per- toward monocausal explanatory mod- spective, much energy has been ex- els, depending on one’s political and pended in the US policy arena by disciplinary leanings, reality shows that conservative thinktanks and advocacy in a web of interconnected forces our groups to establish the (liberal) bias of analytical choices are a matter of em- the American journalist. For these phasis. Thus, theoretically we must ask groups, the tendency of journalists to which explanation is most parsimoni- favor Democratic over Republican can- ous and successful in making sense of didates is suf cient to explain what in media phenomena. Empirically, this hi- their view is a leftward slant in news erarchical model suggests that the in- content. Critics on the left, however, vestigator’s task is to determine under are more likely to view this bias as which conditions certain factors are lodged elsewhere, especially in the most determinative and how they inter- power of media ownership. Indeed, the act with each other. And it reminds us individual level provides an attractive that the evidence presented in support explanatory perspective for both the of empirical propositions should be ap- public and journalists alike. News con- propriate to the level of analysis. Infer- sumers may prefer to put a human face ences must be ventured carefully when on their views of media power, while made at a lower or higher level of ab- the journalists’ biographical genre must straction than the level of measure- attribute to themselves enough ment. in uence to make a t literary subject. Rosten (1937) was perhaps the rst to try to describe journalists in his study Individual Level of Washington correspondents, but not until the 1970s did sociologists begin to At the individual level, we view the atti- apply the same occupational and orga- tudes, training, and background of the nizational insights to this as to any journalist (or media worker more gener- other professional group. Johnstone ally) as in uential. Conceptually, we and colleagues are frequently cited as would locate here the many studies the rst major empirical effort to de- that attempt to describe the individual scribe US journalists as a whole (John- characteristics of this occupational stone et al., 1972). Since that time, the group, perhaps the most common ap- work of Weaver and Wilhoit (1991) has proach to conducting research on pro- inspired a host of other efforts around fessional issues. At one time, little was the world to examine journalism profes- known about journalists compared with sionals empirically. These country other professionals. Hindering this sys- studies were suf cient to inspire reg- tematic study was the tendency in the ular presentations at international con- United States for journalists to encour- ferences and a recent volume, The age a certain mythic image of their Global Journalist (Weaver, 1998). distinctive role in society, while, para- These surveys are large-scale and doxically, the objectivity concept im- dif cult undertakings and have pro- plied that the nature of these workers vided valuable empirical description. mattered little to their actual product. They have provided a valuable coun- Viewing this product as a construction, terweight to those who would make like those produced in any other com- sweeping generalizations about jour- 180 STEPHEN D. REESE nalists based on a few high-pro le but above. Whether political or academic, unrepresentative cases. power to shape news is held by the At the individual level we can see individual journalist, and journalist stud- that this choice of the population sam- ies attribute great importance to individ- pled becomes especially important. US ual characteristics in shaping the news conservative media critics, for exam- product. Even so, these individual pre- ple, have focused on the sociopolitical dictive factors are not often linked to views of members of the so-called speci c outcomes. “elite” media concentrated in the north- While choice of population must be eastern major urban centers of New evaluated in considering research York and Washington. Lichter and col- claims, the probability-survey approach leagues (1986), for example, con- has its general tradeoffs. These studies cluded that journalists were more likely treat journalists as typically undifferen- to vote Democratic, to express left-of- tiated with regard to their location in the center political views, and to be non-re- organization, and the in uence of elite ligious than the American public as a journalists and key gatekeepers is un- whole. Of course, their sample was not derstated by the attempt to emphasize of elite journalists, as they claimed, but the broad occupational features of this journalists employed at elite media group. The “group” quality of this sur- (de ned as including the New York vey perspective means attributing the Times, Newsweek, and the major tele- major in uence to its professional fea- vision news networks). This obviously tures rather than to the power of urban and northeastern sample speci c individuals within the group showed predictable differences with who have advantageous structural the nation as a whole. More academi- “gatekeeper” locations. cally based surveys, such as those by Weaver, have examined the professional views of a broader popu- Routines Level lation, showing that American journalists, across the entire country, Individuals do not work alone, however, are much more like the American pub- or use rules they invent themselves. lic than the Lichter study would sug- The routines level of analysis considers gest. the constraining in uences of work As seen above, this level allows easy practices. ‘Routines’ are patterned comparison of journalists and the pub- practices that work to organize how we lic at large, providing the unsurprising perceive and function within the social nding that they do differ in many world. Thus, here we look to those ways. Supporting these comparisons, ongoing, structured, deeply naturalized is often an implicit normative assump- rules, norms, procedures that are em- tion that journalists should be socially bedded in media work (e.g. Reese and representative, re ecting the beliefs of Buckalew 1995). We recognize that in- the public. No other profession is held dividuals do not have complete free- so strictly to this evaluative standard, dom to act on their beliefs and which even if met would still leave attitudes, but must operate within a larger forces affecting media quality un- multitude of limits imposed by technol- addressed. Although, studies like these ogy, time, space, and norms. We nat- may be criticized for being overly de- urally are often led to view these scriptive and largely atheoretical, we routines in a negative light, as con- may see that an implicit theory does straints on individual agency, but they underlie all of the research described can just as appropriately be viewed as UNDERSTANDING THE GLOBAL JOURNALIST 181 inevitable features of any human ac- individuals are obliged to relate to oth- tivity. Creativity is exercised through ers within that larger formal structure. the structure made available through The major questions addressed at this these routines, which in terms of Gid- level are suggested by an organiza- dens’ notion of “structuration” may be tional chart, which maps the key roles viewed as both constraining and en- and their occupants and how those abling. roles are related to each other in formal Analysis taking this perspective often lines of authority. The chart additionally nds the ethnographic method valuable suggests that the organization must because it allows the impact of these have ways to enforce and legitimize the practices to be observed over time and authority of its hierarchy and calls our in their natural setting. We assume that attention to the organization’s main journalists are often not aware of how goals (economic in relation to journal- their outlooks are so “routinely” struc- istic), how it is structured to pursue tured and would be unable to self-re- them, and how policy is enforced. Edi- port honestly about it. And indeed we torial policy, in particular, allows the assume that much of what journalists organization to shape what stories are provide as reasons for their behavior considered newsworthy, how they are are actually justi cations for what they prioritized, and how they are framed. have already been obliged to do by Newsroom studies often contain ele- forces outside their control. Because ments of both the routines and the or- eld observation also allows these ganizational perspective, which are practices to unfold over time, it suits clearly related. This more macro level, our concern with the ongoing and however, reminds us that news is an structured rather than the momentary organizational product, produced by in- or sporadic. The routines attracting creasingly complex economic entities, most interest have been those involv- which seek ever more far-reaching re- ing frontline reporters. While everyone lationships in their ownership patterns faces routines in their work (publishers, and connections to non-media indus- owners, etc.), the routines of news- tries. While journalists have long workers themselves are perhaps more needed to be concerned with business visible, and more open to scholarly ac- considerations in uencing their work, cess and attention. This routine struc- now these concerns may stretch far turing of the newsgathering task also beyond their immediate organization. gives us important clues about how the As news companies become part of media have chosen to deploy their re- large, global conglomerates, it is often sources, telling us something about the dif cult to anticipate the many con icts rest of the media structure as well. of interest that may arise, and journalists nd it dif cult to avoid reporting that has a relationship to one or more as- Organizational Level pects of their parent company’s interests. Thus, this level has within it a At the organizational level we may con- number of layers that may need sorting sider the goals and policies of a larger out depending on the case: the news social structure and how power is exer- organization itself, the larger company cised within it. If the routines are the to which it belongs, and the still more most immediate environment within complex ownership network of rms which a journalist functions, the organi- (media and otherwise) that may sub- zational level considers the imperatives sume both. that give rise to those routines and how The organizational level brings differ- 182 STEPHEN D. REESE ent challenges for analysis than the tions, in uential news sources, interest previous two levels. Organizational groups, and even other media organi- power is often not easily observed and zations. This latter factor may be seen functions in ways not directly indicated in the form of competitive market pres- by the formal lines of authority de- sures. From a critical perspective, the scribed in accessible documents. As extra-media level draws our attention to Breed (1955) emphasizes in his classic the way media are subordinated to elite observation of social control in the interests in the larger system. While newsroom, power is not often overtly individual journalists may scrupulously expressed over the news product be- avoid con icts of interest that may bias cause it would violate the objectivity their reporting, maintaining a pro- notion, that news is something “out fessional distance from their subject, there” waiting to be discovered. Enforc- their employers may be intimately ing policy about what the news is to be linked to larger corporate interests would contradict this principle. At this through interlocking boards of directors level we are curious about how deci- and other elite connections. sions are made, and how they get en- At this level, then, we assume that forced. By de nition, we are concerned the media operate in structured with power that is exercised periodi- relationships with other institutions cally, implicitly, and not overtly, and, as that function to shape media content. a result, is not so readily available to We further assume that these direct observation. Indeed, a journalist relationships can be coercive but more anticipates organizational boundaries, often are voluntary and collusive. the power of which is manifested in Normative concerns at this level are self-censorship by its members. Thus, for press autonomy, assuming often journalists may accurately state that no that it is not desirable for the media one told them to suppress a story. This to be so dependent on other social self-policing is more effective than di- institutions. Conceptually, this level rect censorship, however, because out- encompasses a wide variety of siders are often not even aware that in uences on the media, but we are anything has taken place. Thus, the particularly concerned with those sys- analyst must be careful to fully under- temic, patterned, and ongoing ways stand the organizational structure and media are connected with their host its control mechanisms in order to society. Here we can see that the make an accurate assessment of how vantage point of the researcher makes news is shaped. an important difference. Observation from within the news organization may lead one to conclude (as does Gans (1979), for example) that news sources Extra-Media Level and associated public relations efforts exert great in uence on the news At the extra-media level we consider agenda; a similar analysis from the those in uences originating primarily vantage point of the public relations from outside the media organization. organization may suggest that most of This perspective considers that the their efforts do not have an immediate power to shape content is not the me- payoff. Judging the result depends on dia’s alone, but is shared with a variety against whose professional standards of institutions in society, including the (public relations or journalistic) they are government, advertisers, public rela- being evaluated. UNDERSTANDING THE GLOBAL JOURNALIST 183 Ideological Level made to appear natural through the structured relationship of the media to Each of the preceding levels may be society. In a broader sense this level thought to subsume the one before, resembles the “culturological” ap- suggesting that the ultimate level proach outlined by Schudson (1989), should be an ideological perspective. which is concerned with the relations of The diverse approaches and schools of ideas to symbols. The “cultural air” thus thought in media studies that may be provides the larger environment that deemed “ideological” make them journalists and their institutions occupy. dif cult to summarize. Here we at least In this sense it may be seen to en- are concerned with how media sym- compass more questions than are typi- bolic content is connected with larger cally associated with the “ideological”, social interests, how meaning is con- especially the ideological viewed as a structed in the service of power. This particular process within late capital- necessarily leads us to consider how ism. each of the previous levels functions in order to add up to a coherent ideological result. In that respect, a critical Hierarchy of In uences and view would consider that the recruit- Professionalism ment of journalists, their attitudes, the routines they follow, their organiza- Having identi ed the ve levels of this tions’ policy, and those organizations’ model, it may be helpful to return brie y positions in the larger social structure to the concept of professionalism and work to support the status quo, narrow consider some of the questions and the range of social discourse, and issues raised by these different per- serve to make the media agencies of spectives. Here the interesting ques- social control. tions may become de nitional issues, Perhaps we need not take a critical as we ask what different functions are view to examine the media as ideologi- served by professionalism at each cal institutions, but typically that is the level? The hierarchical model also case. Ideological analysis involves as- helps identify a variety of causal factors sumptions about power and how it is that may be more explicitly tied to pro- distributed in society. In the liberal plu- fessionalism and ultimately to the ralist tradition, this power is viewed as shape of professional work. spread around such that a balance is The idea of professionalism, for ex- maintained. If elites are favored, then ample, can be considered an individ- those elites will circulate actively ual-level value that journalists espouse, enough to minimize any concerns and an occupational calling to which about concentrated power (e.g. Reese, they belong. Codes of ethics are ulti- 1991). A critical view is more likely to mately guides to individual action for be concerned with how power is ex- those who call themselves erted by the natural workings of the “professionals”. Individuals value their media system, creating a process of profession to the extent it provides pro- hegemony which may be de ned as tection from unwarranted interference the “systematic (but not necessarily or and a shared sense of socially desir- even usually deliberate) engineering of able goals. Here we might ask, to what mass consent to the established order” extent are expressions of professional (Gitlin, 1980, p. 253). At this level we roles meaningful to the individual and ask how a system of meanings and bene cial in helping resist other pres- common-sense understandings is sures? 184 STEPHEN D. REESE

Alternatively, to the extent that it em- Many changes in these roles that they bodies a set of procedures on how to observe can be understood in relation report a story, professionalism may be to changes in the organizational set- viewed from a routines perspective. ting. The disseminator role appears to Tuchman’s “strategic ritual” of news- be most on the rise and is most con- work shows that journalists are consistent with the current nature of corpo- sidered professional to the extent that rate journalism. Finding that less they are following accepted practices, importance is now given by journalists adhering to deadlines and getting the to analysis, challenging government work done. To the extent that objec- authority and investigative reporting, is tivity is a core professional value, she consistent with the greater emphasis shows how it may be routinely satis ed given by mainstream news media to by attributing opinion to sources, hand- entertainment and celebrity journalism. ling quotations correctly, and other ba- Finding that journalists have given in- sic practices (Tuchman, 1978). creasing value to getting information to Following the procedures provides a the public quickly is not surprising defense against audience and peer given the neutral quality of that pro- critics. fessional value. Speed is a feature of Within the organization we can ask news that transcends any cultural set- how professionalism is a negotiated set ting and suits the global nature of of values that must be worked out to newsgathering with its emphasis on satisfy the organization’s needs. Com- speed and commonly accepted under- mercial ownership and individual bias standings of news, but the global news- are both rendered less threatening to room has taken a professional step credibility by the invocation of profes- backward when speed is the ascendant sionalism in what Hallin (1992) called value compared with more interpretive the fully rationalized “high modernism” and adversarial functions. of American journalism. As less overtly The extra-media level reminds us political US journalists have self-se- that professionalism is worked out at lected into the profession, and as own- many levels. The independence of the ers have become less partisan, and reporter may be offset by the close more corporate and managerial, the in- relationships of owners with other insti- ternal clashes over what professional- tutions, through elite networking, com- ism properly requires have become less mon board memberships, and so forth. direct. Here we might ask questions like As news organizations have increas- the following: What organizational ingly been merged with other even changes have worked to value different non-media conglomerates, invoking professional norms? How is profession- some vision of professionalism works alism negotiated within an organization to protect their unique claim to societal to facilitate both owner and journalistic protection. To some extent I have this needs? To what extent are organiza- level in mind when I consider how the tional goals in harmony with the media in general, in a way similar to professional norms of individual journal- other corporate sectors, have sought ists? How does the increasing com- through their philanthropy, subsidies plexity of media organizations affect the and other institutional ties to affect how de nition of “professionalism”? universities de ne and pursue being Weaver and Wilhoit (1991) have pro- “professional”, namely, to better serve posed three major roles that may be the needs of industry and the private said to characterize journalists: adver- sector (Reese, 1999). Here we might sarial, interpretive, and disseminator. ask what aspects of professionalism UNDERSTANDING THE GLOBAL JOURNALIST 185 are invoked by audience and interest tem, to keep an eye out for the relevant groups to criticize the press. In ad- principles of its organization. dition, we must question whether these professional roles make sense in iso- Thus, the model described above lation, or whether journalists are always helps in this process. I have already positioning themselves relative to suggested that a comparative view speci c other social institutions. Blum- calls us to not take our national context ler and Gurevitch (1995), for example, for granted, as a static and universal discuss whether journalists adopt a feature. It requires us to be especially “sacerdotal”, or priestly, attitude toward clear about those things we are com- government of cials as opposed to a paring and whether they mean the more pragmatic view. The former per- same thing in different contexts. Cross- spective would be more likely to accept national studies should carefully con- the institution’s right to speak for itself. sider what routines and organizational From a critical ideological perspec- differences, for example, the country tive, we may see that the professional- contexts represent. Where possible, ism of journalists often leads them to comparative cases can be chosen to accept the conservative critique of their show contrasts in some features (e.g. work, which blames their biases for the cultural, normative traditions) while shortcomings of news coverage. While holding others constant (e.g. media they may not appreciate being criti- systems). Considered cross-nationally cized, it would be professionally unac- we may question in which setting a ceptable for them to embrace their particular level is strongest: in which critics on the left who view them as country, for example, are professional subservient to the powers-that-be with dictates more likely to override organi- little individual autonomy (e.g. Reese, zational business pressure? A levels- 1990). Thus, the predictable ideological of-analysis approach also may draw result is that more energy is spent re- our attention to relational differences. sponding to critics on the right than on How do journalists relate to their em- the left, a process that Herman and ployers in one setting compared with Chomsky (1988) refer to as “ akking”. another? How do organizational rou- At this level we may ask, for example, tines differ in the ways that they relate how tenets of professionalism are used to professional values? What seem- to justify media ownership patterns? ingly different national press practices Seeing how professionalism varies in may serve the same function of main- meaning across levels alerts us to chal- taining professional autonomy for jour- lenges in making comparisons across nalists? systems. As suggested earlier, the comparative perspective as applied to Conclusion such journalistic issues encourages us to think across levels, and to consider My goal in this essay has been to pose the systemic context of our phenomena some important questions for research of interest. As Blumler et al. (1992, questions on journalism and the profes- p. 8) note, comparative research sionals who practice it from a media sociology perspective. The hierarchy- creates a need to think structurally, to of-in uences framework is presented conceptualize in macro terms, to stretch not as a complete theoretical explan- vertically across levels and horizontally ation, but as a model that helps sort out across systems … to adjust to the em- the crucial concepts and identify con- beddedness of phenomena within a sys- nections that research questions 186 STEPHEN D. REESE may address. I have suggested a num- fessionalism (as opposed to one manu- ber of questions to show how these factured for the purpose of media levels of analysis lead to pursuing dif- image management) may be one of the ferent kinds of research. Of course, this most important counterweights to the conceptual work is in some ways the economics of global newsgathering. easy part, considering the time and re- The joining together of journalists in sources required by large-scale empiri- support of desirable democratic goals cal research. On the other hand, time can be an important movement, worthy and effort are well spent ensuring of our attention and monitoring. Ulti- theoretical precision and avoiding effort mately, if we want to connect pro- wasted by prematurely jumping into the fessional features to professional work, data-gathering process. it will mean relating the “hierarchy of It is a positive development that so in uences” factors to textual and con- many scholars around the world are tent analysis. This may mean consider- pursuing research on media pro- ing effects of various factors on the fessional questions. The great interest press agenda (its emphasis on various in the multi-country studies of journal- issues and features) as well as on how ists mentioned earlier suggests that we issues are “framed” (how social life is will see a continued rise in this style of organized, visually and verbally) research. The many opportunities (Reese et al., 2001). available for cross-national research As we begin to link these individual have the potential for providing import- and structural factors to media content, ant new insights into global journalism, this examination of the work profes- particularly as US and British media sionals produce will also be highly nor- sociology is compared and tested mative. We need better understandings against experience and evidence from of what may be taken to represent other systems. This comparative ap- journalistic “quality” in these agendas proach should also valuably highlight and frames. We need to be concerned the normative aspects of press per- also with what is underreported or kept formance, which are often implicitly out of the news, in addition to the con- embedded in research. Especially in tent that is available for us to measure. the ethnocentrism of US research there Finally, from a cross-national perspec- is a strong tendency to take such val- tive, each country may be considered a ues for granted. different laboratory for press perform- Few discussions of international ance, as we evaluate the conditions news can avoid acknowledging the that contribute to enhancing pro- economics of transnational corpora- fessional autonomy and good journal- tions, which have worked to concen- ism. Clear de nitions, questions and a trate increasing power in the hands of systematic framework for comparative fewer and fewer organizations. The research will ensure that research in study of professional journalists cannot this area is cumulative and contributes take place without recognizing these to both better understanding and good realities, and indeed an authentic pro- social policy.

Notes

1 I will immodestly refer to a number of my own works in this essay to illustrate some topics that have appealed to me in my own efforts to tackle these issues. Although my work has dealt with US media and issues, I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to explore these questions in recent years with colleagues and students in a number of countries, including Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands, and Spain. As I have taken on administrative positions within journalism education, I have thought particularly UNDERSTANDING THE GLOBAL JOURNALIST 187

about professional issues, especially as they relate to higher education. I especially appreciate the opportunity to work with the faculty at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain, where in the summer of 1999 I taught a doctoral seminar. This time with faculty and students gave me the opportunity to explore further some of the

References

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