The Politics of Journalistic Creativity

Expressiveness, authenticity and de-authorization

Bibliographic Data

ID12909714
AuthorsTim Markham (0000-0002-7304-2610, Russian State Agrarian Correspondence University, corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume6
Issue2
Pages187-200
Publication date2011-10-18
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournalism Practice (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1751-2786 • E-ISSN: 1751-2794
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17512786.2011.616651
OpenAlexW1558456817
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited32

This article begins with the assertion that creativity in journalism has moved from being a matter of guile and ingenuity to being about expressiveness, and that this reflects a broader cultural shift from professional expertise to the authenticity of personal expression as dominant modes of valorization. It then seeks to unpack the normative baggage that underpins the case for creativity in the cultural industries. First, there is a prioritization of agency, which does not stand up against the phenomenological argument that we do not own our own practices. Second, creative expression is not necessarily more free, simply alternately structured. As with Judith Butler's performativity model, contemporary discourses of creativity assume it to have a unique quality by which it eludes determination (relying on tropes of fluidity), whereas it can be countered that it is in spontaneous, intuitive practice that we are at our least agentive. Third, the article argues against the idea that by authorizing journalists (and audiences) to express themselves, creativity is democratizing, since the always-already nature of recognition means that subjects can only voice their position within an established terrain rather than engage active positioning

Aesthetics · Agency (philosophy · Argument (complex analysis · Assertion · Creativity · Epistemology · Expression (computer science · Journalism · Media studies · Meritocracy · Normative · Performative utterance · Performativity · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Artistic and Creative Research · Cinema and Media Studies · Cultural Industries and Urban Development · Gender Studies · Law

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