ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at professionalism, professional identity, and journalistic roles as discourses through which journalistic agents articulate their centrality to social processes and public conversation in an increasingly mediatized world. Research into professionalism, professional identity, and the roles of journalists is key to our understanding of journalism’s place and legitimacy in society. Central to the discourse of professionalism is a set of four interlinked concepts: profession, professional, professionalism, and professionalization. In both normative and descriptive accounts, the discourse of professionalism is tightly related to journalism’s locus in society, its public legitimacy and epistemic authority, as well as the way journalists conceive of their roles. On the empirical level, scholars often simply presume that journalists’ professional views have at least some recognizable impact on their practice. Practiced roles are indicated through the tangible professional conduct and performance of journalists, which can be studied by means of observation and ethnography.
