Das journalistische Feld in Deutschland

By using Bourdieus’ thinking tools field, habitus and capital, this article first develops a concept of the journalistic field, in which economic capital and journalistic capital decide on (collective and individual) agents’ latitude and in which their autonomy could be influenced by economic logic, the discussion on journalistic norms and the logic of other social fields. Subsequently, this concept is implemented in a qualitative study. For that purpose 501 guideline interviews with journalists were conducted; they were asked about their career, their working conditions and their role perception. The findings show that in Germany nowadays the journalistic field is dominated by information professionals, who know their craft and who made the needs of the audience the benchmark of their work. Different from what literature suggests, it makes little sense to differentiate between a “commercial” and an “intellectual” pole. Exclusive news (which is what the field is all about) can only be produced where enough capital is available. At the centre of power, to which news magazines, national daily newspapers and public broadcasting stations belong, one can most easily withdraw from the economic logic and the influence that emanates from the audience and the advertising clients.