TY - JOUR

T1 - The Tensions of the Cultural News Beat

AU - Kristensen, Nete Nørgaard

AU - Riegert, Kristina

N1 - Funding Information: We would like to thank the reviewers and the special issue editor, Zvi Reich, for productive and useful comments. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - boundary work

KW - conglomeration

KW - cultural journalism

KW - globalization

KW - interpretation

KW - newsification

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85113914592&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/17512786.2021.1971547

DO - 10.1080/17512786.2021.1971547

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85113914592

VL - 15

SP - 1329

EP - 1343

JO - Journalism Practice

JF - Journalism Practice

SN - 1751-2786

IS - 9

ER -