Guarding The Firewall: How Political Journalists Distance Themselves From The Editorial Endorsement Process

ASU Author/Contributor (non-ASU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Dr.. Gregory Perreault, Associate Professor (Creator)
Institution
Appalachian State University (ASU )
Web Site: https://library.appstate.edu/

Abstract: Through a lens of boundary work and role conception, this study seeks to understand how political journalists discursively construct the role of the newspaper editorial endorsement. Researchers conducted long-form interviews with political journalists in the United States (n = 64) to understand how journalists conducted boundary work relative to endorsements. Journalists argued that the 2016 election was a decisive event in which political news endorsements lost their original objective. Political journalists described laboring to discursively distance themselves from the endorsement process and viewed political endorsements not only as ineffective, but also as jeopardizing their news organizations’ independence.

Additional Information

Publication
Perreault G, Kananovich V, Hackett E. Guarding the Firewall: How Political Journalists Distance Themselves From the Editorial Endorsement Process. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. March 2022. doi:10.1177/10776990221084609. Publisher version of record available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10776990221084609
Language: English
Date: 2022
Keywords
editorial endorsements, boundary work, paradigm repair, political journalism, media sociology, interviews

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