ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a state-of-the-art analysis of boundary work and journalism. Physical boundaries dictate how space is understood and creates complex impediments. Boundary work is not a patrol mechanism for some intrinsic scientific value; it is the mechanism through which good science is defined. The boundary work framework is particularly well-suited to journalism given its mix of endurance and transitoriness. Journalists used boundary work rhetoric to bolster a commitment to core norms. The boundary work concept has found particular use for scholars confronting how journalism operates in the digital era. Boundary contests around journalism are to be found anywhere news is produced, but the motivations and outcomes of such struggles may vary widely depending on the particular confluence of social, cultural, economic, political, and technological dimensions. The popular tendency to consider contemporary journalism as experiencing a moment of extreme upheaval is a marker of how important it is to study of journalism’s boundaries.
