Rodney Benson

Bourdieu and the Journalistic Field is an exciting new text which builds on and extends Pierre Bourdieu's impassioned critique of our media-saturated culture. Presenting for the first time in English the work of influential scholars who worked with or were influenced by Bourdieu, this volume is the one and only book for Anglophone scholars seeking a more detailed elaboration of field theory in relation to the mass media. In his short book 'On Television', Bourdieu provided a powerful critique of the 'journalistic field', but what exactly does he mean by this? How does the journalistic field relate to external economic and political pressures? And what kind of autonomy can, or should, journalists expect to maintain? Such questions are taken up in case studies of such diverse phenomena as media coverage of the AIDS-contaminated blood scandal in France, U.S. youth media activism, and political interview shows on both sides of the Atlantic. Chapters by both American and French scholars also demonstrate methods for measuring field autonomy and spatially mapping journalistic fields, or discuss the similarities and differences between field theory, new institutionalism, hegemony, and differentiation theory. Rejecting all forms of dogmatism, the authors in this volume demonstrate why field theory remains a "work in progress," and indeed, a research paradigm whose promise has only begun to be tapped. The book includes an important and hitherto unpublished text by Pierre Bourdieu, 'Fields of Journalism, Social Science and Politics', and contributions from Rodney Benson, Patrick Champagne, Eric Darras, Julien Duval, Daniel Hallin, Eric Klinenberg, Dominique Marchetti, Erik Neveu, and Michael Schudson.

Does it matter who owns and funds the media? As journalists and management consultants set off in search of new business models, there's a pressing need to understand anew the economic underpinnings of journalism and its role in democratic societies. How Media Ownership Matters provides a fresh approach to understanding news media power, moving beyond the typical emphasis on market concentration or media moguls. Through a comparative analysis of the US, Sweden, and France, as well as interviews of news executives and editors and an original collection of industry data, this book maps and analyzes four ownership models: market, private, civil society, and public. Highlighting the effects of organizational logics, funding, and target audiences on the content of news, the authors identify both the strengths and weaknesses various forms of ownership have in facilitating journalism that meets the democratic ideals of reasoned, critical, and inclusive public debate. Ultimately, How Media Ownership Matters provides a roadmap to understanding how variable forms of ownership are shaping the future of journalism and democracy.

Does it matter who owns and funds the media? As journalists and management consultants set off in search of new business models, there's a pressing need to understand anew the economic underpinnings of journalism and its role in democratic societies. How Media Ownership Matters provides a fresh approach to understanding news media power, moving beyond the typical emphasis on market concentration or media moguls. Through a comparative analysis of the US, Sweden, and France, as well as interviews of news executives and editors and an original collection of industry data, this book maps and analyzes four ownership models: market, private, civil society, and public. Highlighting the effects of organizational logics, funding, and target audiences on the content of news, the authors identify both the strengths and weaknesses various forms of ownership have in facilitating journalism that meets the democratic ideals of reasoned, critical, and inclusive public debate. Ultimately, How Media Ownership Matters provides a roadmap to understanding how variable forms of ownership are shaping the future of journalism and democracy.

This book offers a comprehensive portrait of French and American journalists in action as they grapple with how to report and comment on one of the most important issues of our era. Drawing on interviews with leading journalists and analyses of an extensive sample of newspaper and television coverage since the early 1970s, Rodney Benson shows how the immigration debate has become increasingly focused on the dramatic, emotion-laden frames of humanitarianism and public order. In both countries, less commercialized media tend to offer the most in-depth, multi-perspective and critical news. Benson challenges classic liberalism's assumptions about state intervention's chilling effects on the press, suggests costs as well as benefits to the current vogue in personalized narrative news, and calls attention to journalistic practices that can help empower civil society. This book offers new theories and methods for sociologists and media scholars and fresh insights for journalists, policy makers and concerned citizens.

This book offers a comprehensive portrait of French and American journalists in action as they grapple with how to report and comment on one of the most important issues of our era. Drawing on interviews with leading journalists and analyses of an extensive sample of newspaper and television coverage since the early 1970s, Rodney Benson shows how the immigration debate has become increasingly focused on the dramatic, emotion-laden frames of humanitarianism and public order. In both countries, less commercialized media tend to offer the most in-depth, multi-perspective and critical news. Benson challenges classic liberalism's assumptions about state intervention's chilling effects on the press, suggests costs as well as benefits to the current vogue in personalized narrative news, and calls attention to journalistic practices that can help empower civil society. This book offers new theories and methods for sociologists and media scholars and fresh insights for journalists, policy makers and concerned citizens.

Bourdieu and the Journalistic Field is an exciting new text which builds on and extends Pierre Bourdieu's impassioned critique of our media-saturated culture. Presenting for the first time in English the work of influential scholars who worked with or were influenced by Bourdieu, this volume is the one and only book for Anglophone scholars seeking a more detailed elaboration of field theory in relation to the mass media. In his short book 'On Television', Bourdieu provided a powerful critique of the 'journalistic field', but what exactly does he mean by this? How does the journalistic field relate to external economic and political pressures? And what kind of autonomy can, or should, journalists expect to maintain? Such questions are taken up in case studies of such diverse phenomena as media coverage of the AIDS-contaminated blood scandal in France, U.S. youth media activism, and political interview shows on both sides of the Atlantic. Chapters by both American and French scholars also demonstrate methods for measuring field autonomy and spatially mapping journalistic fields, or discuss the similarities and differences between field theory, new institutionalism, hegemony, and differentiation theory. Rejecting all forms of dogmatism, the authors in this volume demonstrate why field theory remains a "work in progress," and indeed, a research paradigm whose promise has only begun to be tapped. The book includes an important and hitherto unpublished text by Pierre Bourdieu, 'Fields of Journalism, Social Science and Politics', and contributions from Rodney Benson, Patrick Champagne, Eric Darras, Julien Duval, Daniel Hallin, Eric Klinenberg, Dominique Marchetti, Erik Neveu, and Michael Schudson.