The dark side of journalism: Understanding the phenomenology of conflicts in the newsroom and the mechanisms intended to solve them

Abstract

The practice and structural conditions of the journalism craft provide fertile grounds for facilitating the emergence of conflicts in the newsroom. However, extant research on journalism studies have largely neglected the boundary conditions for their emergence and the individual and organizational mechanisms displayed to unravel them. Based on in-depth interviews with 40 Spanish journalists, we conceptualize newsrooms’ conflicts as the dark side of journalism and examine the structural and individual factors that nurtures their appearance. We also clarify the main strategies for conflict management, arguing that conflict resolution is typically based on informal mediation strategies, rather than institutionalized plans directly implemented by news organizations.

The nonpartisan, the equidistant and the allied: How journalists negotiate their digital selves on social media

“…Our second contribution leads to a better understanding how journalists’ digital self is constructed on social media, broadening previous perspectives on conflict of interest in journalism (Goyanes and Cañedo, 2023; Lauk and Harro-Loit, 2016; McChesney and Pickard, 2011). Our findings reveal that the debate is still ongoing, but with nuances that are specific to the evolution of the technological and social environment in which journalists work.…”

“…This study aimed to explore how journalists deal with the conflicts of interest with the company they work for that arise when they construct their digital selves on social media. Prior research has mainly framed this phenomenon in terms of agency theory (Ross, 1973; Mitnick, 1973; Jensen and Meckling, 1976), whereby the mandate to comply with the interests of the media company limits journalists’ autonomy (Goyanes and Cañedo, 2023; Lauk and Harro-Loit, 2016; Reese, 2001). However, in the current context of news production, in which social media has become a crucial domain for journalists, agency may be transformed by the affordances of social media (Dickinson and Bigi, 2009; Domingo, 2015; Ryfe, 2022).…”

“…In journalism studies, critical scholars have applied agency theory to better understand the dynamics of how journalists behave in the newsroom (Dickinson and Bigi, 2009), where the interests of news organizations are defended by the principals and imposed on the agents (Goyanes and Cañedo, 2023; Reese, 2001). This conflict of interest between journalists and the company jeopardizes the autonomy of the former (Lauk and Harro-Loit, 2016), who might refrain from making their own decisions and even apply self-censorship (see e.g., Clark and Grech, 2017; Schimpfössl et al, 2020).…”

“…The study of conflicts of interest has been addressed from a corporative view, confronting media ownership and employees through the direct action of managers in the newsroom (see eg. Goyanes and Cañedo, 2023), a phenomenon that has been traditionally approached from the agency/structure dichotomy (Reese, 2001; Hartley, 2013; Domingo, 2015). However, in a context where journalism is developed in newsrooms as well as across digital platforms, it becomes crucial for journalism studies to delve deeper into the potential conflicts of interest that may emerge during journalists’ work in social media.…”