Clash of cultures: the effects of hypercompetition on journalistic ethics and professional values
By
C. Ann Hollifield and Lee B. Becker
Abstract
This study examines how the decline in financial stability caused by the massive
disruption of media markets is affecting news quality and journalism ethics. The project
uses theories from economics, management, and organizational sociology and data drawn
from in-depth interviews with media executives from four continents and a longitudinal
study of journalism education and hiring to explore these questions.
The study finds that in the face of hypercompetition, media organizations have
adopted common strategies that have negatively affected the quality of their news
products, undercut the stature of journalism as a profession, and created conditions that
increase the likelihood that journalism ethics will be violated at both the organizational
and individual levels. Longitudinal data about job placement suggest that these trends are
likely to continue. In recent years, more broadly educated, less professionally defined
communication workers have been more likely to find employment than those whose
education has been more rigidly focused on specific professional training. Thus, the data
suggest that, in the future, citizen journalists, bloggers and other communicators who lack
formal education in journalism and communication ethics will play an increasingly
important role in the communication of news and information.
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