Who Are These Guys? The Online Challenge to the Notion of Journalistic Professionalism

Jane B. Singer, University of Iowa

Abstract

The people who claim membership in a profession and delineate its attributes do so at least in part to justify inequality of status, as well as to limit and control access to that status. The key role of the professional can be fulfilled only by people with particular training, skills and judgement, and it is crucial that the distinction between practitioner and layperson be clearly recognized by all parties. This article suggests that online news workers fundamentally challenge the already-disputed concept of journalists as professionals. It identifies and explores key aspects of that challenge across the cognitive, normative and evaluative dimensions of the sociological construct of professionalism, with the goal of laying the groundwork for empirical investigation into the issues raised.