The logic of practice in the practice of logics: practicing journalism and its relationship with business in times of technological changes

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the workings of institutional logics in practice, by focusing in particular on the interplay between material, practical and linguistic dimensions of practices. In other words, drawing on Bourdieu's sens pratique, the paper explores the logic of practice in the practice of logics through a six months full-time ethnographic study at Il Sole-24 Ore, the largest Italian financial newspaper, between 2007 and 2008. An original conceptual framework is developed to analyse how the logic of journalism is enacted vis-à-vis that of advertising in a setting in which an old technology for news production – print newspaper – coexists with a new one – website – and thus encounters between new and old technological possibilities make workings of institutional logics particularly visible. The findings point out different mechanisms of institutional work dealing with actions that, made possible by new technological possibilities, are potentially, but not necessarily classified as divergent from institutional logics.

KEYWORDS:

• Institutional logics
• logic of practice
• institutional work
• ethnography
• newspapers
• technology

Disclosure statement

The authors declare not to have any conflicts of interests in the pursue of research for this article and not to have any financial interest or benefit arising from the applications of our research.

Notes on contributors

Elena Raviola is assistant professor at the Department of Organization, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark and at the Department of Business Administration, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg. She is interested in institutions and technology: her ethnographic studies investigate both how institutions get inscribed into technology and how technological change challenge existing institutional orders. She has extensively studied the news field and is interested in media and cultural industries.

Paola Dubini is associate professor at the Department of Management and Technology, Bocconi University, Italy. She is director of the research centre ASK (Art, Science and Knowledge), focused on the cultural sector and cultural industries. She has done extensive work on media industries, especially book publishing, and on the cultural sector, including museums, archaeological parks and theatres. She is interested in the transformation of these fields as a results of the emergence of new technologies.

Notes

1. Rapporti are special thematic supplements in which different journalists present in depth analysis on the topic, but are not under the responsibility of a specific newsroom section; moreover, because of their specialisation, though, they attract segmented audience and are therefore attractive to advertisers. For these reasons, the advertising department constantly seeks for more space and influence on content.