Frames and Contradictions of the Journalistic Profession

Abstract

emerging. 6 Working from this premise, Leonore O'Boyle assumes that these 'natural histories' are likely to repeat themselves within different countries as they modernize. 7 Geoffrey Millerson's definition captures the core of 'professional work' as: 'a service provided with a variety of specialized skills on the bases of theoretical or scientific knowledge, given by the individual professional according to a given practice controlled by the professional organization'. 8 Professionalization, however, cannot be depicted only as a linear or unbroken progress of events repeating itself from one country to another because the very idea of a separate journalistic profession is likely to be challenged differently from one political system to another. Journalism research has challenged almost all elements of the definition of a 'classical profession'. 9 Journalists can hardly practice their occupation as 'individual professionals' (even when working as freelancers), but they are always related to institutional settings-to news organizations. 10 The norms and standards of journalistic work differ largely across countries and also among news organizations. For example, Plaisance et al. confirm that ideological, cultural and societal factors are critical, and influence how 'journalists around the globe approach ethical dilemmas'. 11 Furthermore, while the codes of ethics are mostly addressed to journalists as individuals, social and political institutions 6 See for example Johnson ([1972] 1979) Professions and Power.

Reminders of responsibility

“…The author of the first written CE for journalists -"The Journalists' Creed" (1908)was Walter Williams, the founder of the Missouri School of Journalism (Farrar, 2013). The first CEs in Europe were adopted by journalists ' organizations in France in 1918, in Sweden in 1923, in Finland in 1924, and in Norway in 1936(Høyer & Lauk, 2016. However, in most European countries, CEs were adopted from the early 1950s onward, along with the development of the modern free press doctrine and the concept of social responsibility of the press (initially formulated in the report of the United States-based Hutchins Commission in 1947).…”

“…To be able to fulfil these tasks, the media enjoy constitutionally granted freedom of expression, legally guaranteed access to information sources and source protection, and the right to investigate the activities of the authorities, as well as businesses and public figures. These conditions apply only if the media perform responsibly and establish self-regulation mechanisms to safeguard this responsibility (see more on the diffusion of the liberal model in Høyer & Lauk, 2016).…”

Journalists’ Associations as Political Instruments in Central and Eastern Europe

“…This evolution of professionalism around professional organizations is particularly characteristic of the history of journalism (Høyer & Lauk, 2016). A distinguishing feature of journalism has always been its relation to freedom of expression and of the press.…”