The concept of boundaries has become a central theme in the study of journalism. In recent years, the decline of legacy news organizations and the rise of new interactive media tools have thrust such questions as "what is journalism" and "who is a journalist" into the limelight.

Struggles over journalism are often struggles over boundaries. These symbolic contests for control over definition also mark a material struggle over resources. In short: boundaries have consequences. Yet there is a lack of conceptual cohesiveness in what scholars mean by the term "boundaries" or in how we should think about specific boundaries of journalism.

This book addresses boundaries head-on by bringing together a global array of authors asking similar questions about boundaries and journalism from a diverse range of perspectives, methodologies, and theoretical backgrounds.

Boundaries of Journalism assembles the most current research on this topic in one place, thus providing a touchstone for future research within communication, media and journalism studies on journalism and its boundaries.

About the Author
Matt Carlson is associate professor of communication at Saint Louis University. His work examines the contested cultural construction of journalism. He is author of On the Condition of Anonymity: Unnamed Sources and the Battle for Journalism and co-editor of Journalism, Sources, and Credibility: New Perspectives. Seth C. Lewis is an assistant professor and the Mitchell V. Charnley Fellow in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota. He studies the changing nature of journalism amid the rise of sociotechnical phenomena such as big data, social media, and digital audience analytics.

Reviews

"Carlson and Lewis have set out to explore how journalism is demarcated from non-journalism. The succeed by compiling a set of contributions that seamlessly portray a picture of the shaping of those boundaries and how they are transforming today... In the current fast-paced transformative epoch of journalism, this book is a valuable and timely contribuition to journalism studies."

Raul Ferrer Conill, Karlstad University, Sweden, Digital Journalism

"Carlson (St. Louis Univ.) and Lewis (Univ of Minnesota) contribute admirably to scholarship about boundary work in journalism by pulling together well-honed research by recognized scholars... The book excels because contributors apply relevant theory and original research to examine a particular subject within the larger context of how journalists go about the task of protecting and expanding the boundaries of the practice."

J. L. Aucoin, University of South Alabama, Recommended Review in CHOICE

"As emerging forms blur the line between media writ large and the realm culturally acknowledged as journalism, the concepts of boundaries and boundary work become vital tools for scholarly sense-making. Carlson and Lewis make an immense contribution to journalism studies, bringing together an international group of scholars to explicate these concepts that both highlight journalism's universal traits and identify it as contextually unique."

Dan Berkowitz, Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Iowa, USA

"Carlson and Lewis expertly weave together a variety of thoughtful conceptual and methodological perspectives on boundary work in journalism. The compelling contributions to this outstanding volume offer key insights into cultural, political, technological and economic factors influencing the construction of boundaries between journalists and audiences related to news practices, participants and professional norms."

Bonnie Brennen, Nieman Professor of Journalism, Diederich College of Communication, Marquette University, USA

"Boundaries of Journalism provides an apposite intervention into the uncertainties surrounding definitions of journalism and journalists. The collection provides an eclectic mixture of perspectives looking at the social and material changes affecting journalism in the 21st century. The book provides a further building block in advancing the maturity of journalism studies"

Howard Tumber, Director of Research, Graduate School of Journalism, City University London, UK

Book Information
ISBN 9781138020672
Author Matt Carlson
Format Paperback
Page Count 246
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 362g