著者

伊藤 高史

出版者

日本マス・コミュニケーション学会

雑誌

マス・コミュニケーション研究 (ISSN:13411306)

巻号頁・発行日

no.83, pp.97-114, 2013-07-31

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This paper aims to establish a theoretical foundation for sociological analysis of dynamic and diversified nature of journalism, using such sociological concepts as interaction, structuration and field. A major school of sociology, like that of Max Weber, regards the interaction of agencies as a minimum analytic unit. Based on this understanding, we start our analysis of journalism with the interactions of journalists with their stake holders. Then, we identify two types of basic conditions for the work of journalists, that is, the interaction between a journalist and other journalists (colleagues, editors and competitors) and the interaction between a journalist and news sources. The latter is less discussed and more important than the former, as journalistic activities can be done only if journalists are fed information by news sources. The conditions created by the interaction of a journalist with other journalists and news sources can be understood with the concept of "structuration," as presented by Anthony Giddens. Such conditions not only restrict activities of journalists in certain ways, but also enable them to perform the roles expected by the public. The interactions are acted in the "field" of journalism as well as the fields of news sources. The concept "field", originally presented by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, implies that the circles created by interactions are the circles of power relations. A journalist must be conceptualized as belonging to both the field of journalism and the fields of news sources. Journalists have many different working ethics and different working styles according to the news sources they cover. This is because different journalists covering different news sources belong to different fields. Understanding journalists as belonging to the field of news sources also helps understand the way journalists influence society through the power of news sources, not through the sway of public opinions.