Newsrooms as Sites of Community and Identity: Exploring the Importance of Material Place for Journalistic Work

ABSTRACT

Recent research has examined the sociomaterial contexts that shape journalistic practice within and beyond the newsroom, considering relationships between humans, and between humans and (non)physical artifacts like desks, computers, or software. While much of that research has focused on the use and role of technology, recent research also suggests an affective dimension of materiality like the sense of stability provided by physical news spaces. The newsroom as a material and lived place and place of power relations can greatly shape journalists’ work practices and identity. However, the relevance of the newsroom as a physical place for journalistic practice has so far been taken for granted. This study investigates the role of the newsroom as a physical, material place for journalistic practice and how it contributes to journalists’ sense of belonging and identity. Drawing on interviews with 18 Austrian journalists, we find that newsrooms as sociomaterial places facilitate proximity and serendipity which is perceived as relevant for creative and effective work, as well as a visible manifestation of in-group belonging. As such this study contributes to a better understanding of the meaning and relevance of newsrooms as material places for journalistic work.

KEYWORDS:

• Journalistic identity
• newsroom
• place
• sociomateriality
• news work
• qualitative research

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Gemeinnützige Privatstiftung Kaiserschild for funding the transcription of interviews. Further, they extend their gratitude to the editor and two reviewers for their constructive comments.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics

Data collection for this project was approved by the IRB of the Department of Communication, University of Vienna, Austria. Furthermore, we have received written informed consent by all our respondents prior to the interviews.

Notes

1 We deliberately use only the term “place” to refer to newsrooms, as the term “space” can encapsulate many meanings and is a broader concept in social geography studies, communication studies, and journalism studies (cf. Usher 2019, 92; Harvey 2006, 270). In contrast, “place” is “definable and knowable” as it refers to “the environment where we live our lives and from which we draw meaning and identity” (Usher 2019, 90).