South African journalists’ conceptualisation of professionalism and deviations from normative liberal values

In this article the question is raised of what professionalism means in the context of South African journalism, and if there are deviations from ideas of professionalism as defined in normative liberal frameworks of the news media in terms of how South African journalists perceive their own role i...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Ylva Rodny-Gumede
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Johannesburg 2022-10-01
Series:Communicare
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1639
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832593782753722368
author Ylva Rodny-Gumede
author_facet Ylva Rodny-Gumede
author_sort Ylva Rodny-Gumede
collection DOAJ
description In this article the question is raised of what professionalism means in the context of South African journalism, and if there are deviations from ideas of professionalism as defined in normative liberal frameworks of the news media in terms of how South African journalists perceive their own role in society and as to how they define professionalism. The research is partially based on in-depth qualitative interviews with journalists from a crosssection of the South African news media, and asks questions about their own perceptions of professional values and their own role in society. The interview findings point to South African journalists articulating their role as one of neither watchdog nor lapdog – instead, the interviewees all articulate their role as based on competing imperatives, in which concerns for the audience and a broader articulation of the public interest take precedent over more liberal conceptualisations of the role of journalism in democracy.
format Article
id doaj-art-859a4c4c54a644ce8b6ea0af4fc51671
institution Kabale University
issn 0259-0069
2957-7950
language English
publishDate 2022-10-01
publisher University of Johannesburg
record_format Article
series Communicare
spelling doaj-art-859a4c4c54a644ce8b6ea0af4fc516712025-01-20T08:54:25ZengUniversity of JohannesburgCommunicare0259-00692957-79502022-10-0133210.36615/jcsa.v33i2.1639South African journalists’ conceptualisation of professionalism and deviations from normative liberal valuesYlva Rodny-Gumede0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4979-0934University of Johannesburg In this article the question is raised of what professionalism means in the context of South African journalism, and if there are deviations from ideas of professionalism as defined in normative liberal frameworks of the news media in terms of how South African journalists perceive their own role in society and as to how they define professionalism. The research is partially based on in-depth qualitative interviews with journalists from a crosssection of the South African news media, and asks questions about their own perceptions of professional values and their own role in society. The interview findings point to South African journalists articulating their role as one of neither watchdog nor lapdog – instead, the interviewees all articulate their role as based on competing imperatives, in which concerns for the audience and a broader articulation of the public interest take precedent over more liberal conceptualisations of the role of journalism in democracy. https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1639South African journalistsnormative liberal valuesconceptualisation of professionalismpublic interestjournalism in democracy
spellingShingle Ylva Rodny-Gumede
South African journalists’ conceptualisation of professionalism and deviations from normative liberal values
Communicare
South African journalists
normative liberal values
conceptualisation of professionalism
public interest
journalism in democracy
title South African journalists’ conceptualisation of professionalism and deviations from normative liberal values
title_full South African journalists’ conceptualisation of professionalism and deviations from normative liberal values
title_fullStr South African journalists’ conceptualisation of professionalism and deviations from normative liberal values
title_full_unstemmed South African journalists’ conceptualisation of professionalism and deviations from normative liberal values
title_short South African journalists’ conceptualisation of professionalism and deviations from normative liberal values
title_sort south african journalists conceptualisation of professionalism and deviations from normative liberal values
topic South African journalists
normative liberal values
conceptualisation of professionalism
public interest
journalism in democracy
url https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1639
work_keys_str_mv AT ylvarodnygumede southafricanjournalistsconceptualisationofprofessionalismanddeviationsfromnormativeliberalvalues