ABSTRACT
In exploring the journalism culture of metro papers in Kunming, the current study thus far has addressed local journalists’ aspirations for their job, frustrations when their aspirations were not fully realized, and reconciliations that help render their job meaningful to them. These discussions touch upon two main aspects of the occupational culture of these journalists, cognitive (ideal, values, goals, assessment, etc.) and practical (behavior, practices), or the saying and the doing of these journalists. The researcher stresses that to fully understand the journalism culture of these metro paper journalists, the inquiry needs to examine the discrepancies between the saying and the doing, because it is precisely through such discrepancies that the probe can delve deeper. The result is a thick description (Geertz, 1973) of the journalism culture of this particular group of journalists that covers a broad range of reality as well as nuanced understanding.
