ABSTRACT
Journalists’ decision-making about news is constrained by a combination of structural, political, economic, social and cultural pressures that together create an environment in which certain ways of doing things are deemed to be professionally acceptable and other ways of doing things are regarded as unprofessional. This has led to claims that journalists are little more than propagandists for ruling elites, with choices about news selection and news presentation tending to reflect societal power relations and social divisions. However, counterforces are also at work. Depending on for whom they work, where and their individual place in the pecking order, journalists may enjoy a greater or lesser degree of autonomy while reporting the news. The evidence suggests that constraints can sometimes be negotiated, resisted or even subverted in pursuit of a journalistic ideal in the form of public interest journalism. Within this context, the right to freedom of expression by a “free press” might be thought of not only as something asserted by the press as an institution but also, on occasions, by journalists against the structures that constrain them, including the very media organisations employing their labour.
