The Tensions of the Cultural News Beat

ABSTRACT

This article analyses the tensions of the cultural news beat, or what we call cultural journalism. We trace the ways in which transformations such as globalization, digitalization and conglomeration are impacting cultural journalism. We make the overall argument that these structural trends and the tensions they entail challenge cultural journalism’s distinctiveness. On the one hand, we see a broadening, diversification and newsification of cultural journalism, making the beat more like other parts of the news organization. On the other hand, traits from cultural journalism, such as analysis, interpretation, and subjectivity as well as a broader sociocultural interest, are seeping into other parts of journalism. Three main research questions guide our approach to pointing out these areas of tension: (1) What are the implications of the broadening of the notion of culture in cultural journalism? (2) What have the changes in the organization of news work and professional roles meant for cultural journalism practitioners? (3) What is the particular epistemology of cultural journalism today? By rereading existing cultural journalism scholarship through the lens of the tensions and paradoxes currently characterizing the subfield, we bring out structural similarities and differences that nuance the crisis narrative, which has influenced much recent literature.

KEYWORDS:

• boundary work
• conglomeration
• cultural journalism
• globalization
• interpretation
• newsification

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the reviewers and the special issue editor, Zvi Reich, for productive and useful comments.

Disclosure Statement

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

Notes

1 The Nordic media model is characterized by values such as universalism and equality, evidenced by a public service ethos and subsidies for both public and private media; strong editorial freedom, evidenced by the Nordic countries’ high ranking at the World Press Freedom Index (Reporters without Borders 2020); close links between media and cultural policy, as media are typically part of cultural policy making, not business policy; and cooperation and consensus in such policy work (Syvertsen et al. 2014).