ABSTRACT
This chapter aims at unmasking the nature of journalism studies through the ways in which it makes use of, and partly develops, theory. Journalism studies is a multidisciplinary field of academic inquiry. As such, it employs theory from a wide range of academic disciplines and traditions, and—as its object of study changes—is in constant search of new ways of understanding what journalism is. Like social and political theory, cultural theory occupies a position among the top disciplines that influence journalism studies, according to our journal analysis. Analyzing journalism through the lenses of cultural theory implies questioning what is presupposed in journalism, figuring out how journalists view themselves, trying to understand the diversity of journalism and connecting journalistic practices and products to questions of power, ideology, class, ethnicity, gender, and identity. Niklas Luhmann’s theory of social systems can help explain journalism’s position in a society by how it differentiates itself from other social systems and creates boundaries of meaning.
