A game worth playing

The formation of a journalistic Illusio in late nineteenth century France and the USA

Dados Bibliográficos

ID7477498
AutoresMatthew Powers (0000-0003-1430-8703, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA, autor correspondente), Sandra Vera Zambrano (0000-0001-9016-8648), Sandra Vera-Zambrano (Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City, MX, USA)
Ano2023
Volume25
Fascículo3
Páginas511-527
Data de publicação2023-02-25
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournalism (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1464-8849 • E-ISSN: 1741-3001
EditoraSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/14648849231160267
OpenAlexW4322007673
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas2
Referências citadas19

This article examines the formation of a belief in journalism as a worthwhile career in France and the United States. Using journalists’ memoirs, early textbooks and novels depicting journalism, we show that a life in news became appealing in the late nineteenth century due to the novel mixture of material and symbolic rewards on offer. Promising pay for work that seemed adventurous and exciting, with opportunities for expression, the potential for influence and a connection to broader social values (e.g., fighting injustice, informing citizens), the possibility of these rewards formed the basis of a highly similar illusio – i.e. the belief that journalism constituted a social game worthy of one’s energies (Bourdieu, 2000). Highlighting this emergent sense of worth fills a lacuna in historical scholarship, while also inviting questions about how these attractions are given life under contemporary conditions that often frustrate journalists’ efforts to secure these rewards

Expression (computer science · Injustice · Journalism · Media studies · Memoir · Political science · Scholarship · Social science · Sociology · European Political History Analysis · French Historical and Cultural Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · Law