Press Credentials and Hybrid Boundary Zones: The Case of WorldNetDaily and the Standing Committee of Correspondents

ABSTRACT

Press credentialing practices are a vital, yet understudied site of scholarly research on journalistic norms and practices. Press credentialing not only structures internal professional hierarchies, but they also signify the boundaries of the journalistic field itself. This paper explores the legal and theoretical implications of press credentialing to cover the United States Congress, drawing on the concepts of boundary work and journalistic authority to demonstrate the material impact of the space between fields on professional legitimation in journalism. Using WorldNetDaily (WND) as a case study, I argue that the Standing Committee of Correspondents (SCC) occupies a hybrid boundary zone between the journalistic and political fields, generating a unique tension in First Amendment jurisprudence that places journalists in a paradoxical role as both the professional embodiments of free speech and its constitutional steward. The resulting jurisdictional conflict between the SCC and WND extends the relational model of journalistic authority by articulating how journalist-state relations can fundamentally augment the process of legitimation at its fuzzy boundaries. The relevance and implications for press credentialing practices in the digital age are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Boundary work
• first amendment
• hybrid boundary zone
• online/digital journalism
• press credentials
• standing committee of correspondents

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Lucas Graves and Michael W. Wagner for their thoughtful advice and commentary in preparation of this manuscript as well as the many reviewers that helped sharpen the argument, refine the prose, and draw out the contributions to the field. All mistakes are my own.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.