Is journalism a transnational field? Asymmetrical relations and symbolic domination in online news

Abstract

Are all transnational exchanges ‘fielded’? This article explores the limits of the concept of transnational field by focusing on the case of journalism. At first glance, journalism might seem to be the perfect example of a transnational field. The frequency, speed and extent of international exchanges between media outlets has increased dramatically with the development of online news, leading media scholars to develop the concept of ‘global news’. Yet I argue that such international exchanges do not necessarily constitute a field. Using ethnographic methods, I analyse the circulation of online news between the United States and France, two countries with strikingly different journalistic traditions. Specifically, I compare two editorial partnerships between US and French websites, one linking prestigious online magazines across the Atlantic and the other connecting tabloid‐oriented news sites. I find that editorial content does not circulate seamlessly between the two countries. Based on this study, the article proposes three criteria that must be met for transnational fields to exist: competition over the legitimate definition of the field, reciprocal field effects, and the existence of common stakes. More broadly, the article contributes to defining the limits of the concept of ‘transnational field’ for the study of international exchanges.

Soft Power, Hard News: How Journalists at State-Funded Transnational Media Legitimize Their Work

“…These findings have implications for broader arguments about the extent to which transnational news is “fielded.” Our research supports the findings of others who have pointed to the ongoing dominance of domestic perspectives and personnel (Christin 2016; Denĉik 2012, 2013; Van Leuven and Berglez 2016). The doxic practices of transnational news journalists also involved the news value of negativity, which shapes the production of foreign news in domestic media (Galtung and Ruge 1965).…”

“…Yet, analyses of CNN’s output have shown that it tends to be uncritically supportive of U.S. foreign policy (Thussu 2000). Other forms of commercially funded transnational journalism practiced in Belgium, France, and the United Kingdom have also been found to be powerfully shaped by the staff, cultural perspectives, and political interests of news organizations’ states of origin (Christin 2016; Denĉik 2012, 2013; Van Leuven and Berglez 2016).…”

“…In this article, we analyze how state-funded transnational news journalists used legitimizing narratives to accommodate changes in state–media relations, and to cope with related tensions pertaining to their professional autonomy. In so doing, we address broader questions about the extent to which transnational news constitutes a distinctive field, involving shared “rules of the game” ( doxa ) and struggles over common stakes ( capital ) (Christin 2016). To discuss these issues, we draw from a broader, mixed-methods study about reporting on humanitarian issues (Scott et al.…”

Hegemonic-order theory: A field-theoretic account

“…This is not just a matter of practices in international organizations producing policy outcomes that implicate hegemonic order. For instance, to the extent that there exists a transnational field of journalism (Christin, 2016: 214), it often becomes a site of power-political struggle in which private journalists, state-sponsored journalists, and direct agents of the state operate. The apparent “weaponization” of Wikileaks by Russian intelligence — in an effort to, at minimum, undermine the legitimacy of the US political system and, at maximum, facilitate the election of Donald Trump — illustrates how struggles within a particular field may combine with the politics of hegemony in ways that elude conventional hegemonic-order theories (see Shane et al, 2017).…”