Managing the symbolic arena

The media sociology of Herbert Gans

Bibliographic Data

ID20067086
AuthorsStephen D Reese (corresponding author)
Year2009
Pages279-293
Publication date2009-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
PublisherVS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1007/978-3-531-91756-6_20
OpenAlexW172288080
ISBN9783531917566
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited20

Given the importance of the news media in managing the symbolic arena of society, a sizeable body of research has accumulated that considers how that arena is constructed. Klaus Schönbach has touched on this area in his recent entry in the Encyclopedia of Communication, in which he questioned how news organizations were led to "synchronize" their news reports to conform to editorial policy, getting journalists to conform to their rules through a number of mechanisms (Schoenbach, 2008). Such questions have led to other Schönbach concerns with news quality and public service norms, and empirical work on characteristics of journalists, their self-concept, interactions with politicians, and the larger structure and social situation of the profession. Within this range of concerns, I focus here on a particular form of research into news media performance, the ethnographic study of journalistic organizations and news institutions, a kind of investigation for a time in decline in U.S. sociology but advocated anew by Klinenberg (2005). Indeed, the shift of news production online seems to have generated a new wave of this kind of research (Boczkowski, 2004; Paterson & Domingo, 2008; Singer, 2006). Thus, this is an opportune time to reflect on the received wisdom, and the particular strengths and weaknesses of the perspective

Media studies · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · The Symbolic · Media Studies and Communication · Psychology · Social Media and Politics

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