Witnesses of a cultural crisis: Representations of media-related metaprocesses as professional metacriticism of arts and cultural journalism

Abstract

Arts and cultural journalism have been found in numerous debates during recent decades to struggle in the midst of a crisis. This article traces the recorded discourse of professionalism that considers cultural journalism to be in a state of decline. A literature review on academic research and contributions in public debates provides an insight into the 'crisis talk' of the last two decades and unveils general controversies in the development of the professional culture of cultural journalism. By mapping the discourse in terms of the unfavourable directions that the development of cultural journalism has moved in, the analysis constructs a model for the future research of this specialized branch of journalism.

Producing a Drama for the Common Good: The Theatricalization of the Crisis Discourse on Cultural Journalism

“…The results showed that the discourse on cultural journalism was tightly linked to the idea of non-preferred or notorious change (see Constantopoulou, 2016;Frey, 2014;Jaakkola, 2015b). The number of articles about the crisis indicates that it is a reoccurring frame.…”

“…It is not too unrealistic to think that the crisis frame has been adopted in order to make culture topical, interesting and thus relevant as a journalistic issue. It then functions as an entry point into the public discussion (Jaakkola 2015b). Simultaneously, the entry into public discussion is part of the self-interested behaviour of participants involved in the production of the discourse (Fengler & Ruß-Mohl, 2008).…”

Liquid Modern Journalism with a Difference

“…Third, a significantly large number of cultural reporters are freelancers who are only occasionally involved in journalistic production. Instead, they are artists or other art professionals, enthusiasts and amateurs, or connoisseurs in a certain artistic or cultural field (Harries and Wahl-Jorgensen 2007;Jaakkola 2014b;Janssen 1997;Klein 2005). …”

“…It may also become more susceptible to external pressures "liquefying" the ethics. For example, commercialization and the professionalization of cultural PR have seemingly necessitated cultural journalists' creating an agenda of their own, an agenda of critical cultural journalism that would act as a counterforce against commercialization (Elkins 2003;Jaakkola 2014b;Olsen 2014). …”

Valuing subjectivity in journalism: Bias, emotions, and self-interest as tools in arts reporting

“…when making decisions about how to put together an article -this assuming that what constitutes the public interests are well defined. As Jaakkola (2014Jaakkola ( : 547, 2015 notes, cultural journalists are faced with striking a balance between the commercial and aesthetic implications of their work. The book reviewers I interviewed emphasized that their goal for writing reviews was not to sell books but to inform the general public about new books as part of a broader cultural conversation.…”