Markham, Tim (2008) The political phenomenology of war correspondence. In: Political Studies Association, 2008, Swansea University, Wales, UK. (Unpublished)
Abstract
Drawing on interviews with war correspondents, editors, political and military personnel, this paper investigates the possibility that the way journalists reflect on their everyday practice, aswell as the perceived natural status of journalistic ethics, obscures other symbolic economies.Self-reflection and judgements about colleagues confirm that there are dominant norms for interpreting and acting in conflict scenarios which, while contingent upon sociohistorical context,are interpreted as common sense. But the prevalence of such codes masks the systematicallymisrecognised symbolic systems of mystification and disinterest – systems which reproducehierarchies and gatekeeping structures in the field, but which are either dismissed with irony andcynicism, or not present to the consciousness of the war correspondent. The paper builds onrecent theories of journalistic disposition, ideology, discourse and professionalism. It addressesthe gendering of war correspondence, the rise of the journalist as moral authority, and questionsthe extent to which interviewee reflections should be analytically (over)determined. It ends with adeontological defence of journalistic ethics against their political construction as purely andnonconsciously strategic
Metadata
| Item Type: | Conference or Workshop Item (Paper) |
|---|---|
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Historical Studies |
| Research Centres and Institutes: | Birkbeck Interdisciplinary Research in Media and Culture (BIRMAC) (Closed) |
| Depositing User: | Sarah Hall |
| Date Deposited: | 20 Sep 2013 10:09 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2023 17:07 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/8199 |
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