ABSTRACT
The chapter analyzes the central role the company plays between journalists and their sources, by focusing on “press clubs.” After describing the official functions of these gatherings of journalists, the challenge is to show how they enable press employees to establish a form of monopoly on the production of institutional news. After recalling the many criticisms that have been made of this system, the chapter shows how “press clubs” are also a response to the difficulties raised by the high internal mobility of newsroom staff in that it provides reporters with “turnkey access” to institutional sources – a privileged access which is not without consequences.
