Putting the Work (back) into Newswork

This case study pivots away from the technocentrism of much contemporary scholarship in journalism studies and looks at the intersections of journalism's normative functions and labor processes. Interviews with journalists at local and metropolitan newspapers in the United States reveal a deep commitment to the normative functions of journalism but a growing realization that external pressures are contributing to “normative failure”—the fear of inability to execute these functions. Findings indicate a need for further research on the role of normative functions in how journalists make sense of industry change.