The culture of arts journalistsElitists, saviors or manic depressives?
& Gemma Harries and Karin Wahl-Jorgensen
Cardiff University, UK
ABSTR ACT
This article examines the self-image of arts journalists, or journalists who work in the
criticism and coverage of theater, classical music, opera and dance. It is based on inter-
views with 20 arts journalists in the United Kingdom, including classical music DJs, arts
reviewers, arts reporters, and arts and music editors for print and broadcast media.
This occupational group within journalism is worthy of study because of its distinctive
professional and cultural role: while arts journalists share aspects of their professional
cultures with other newsworkers, their work is intrinsically linked to the project of
improving ‘public appreciation of the arts’.
Our argument is that while many arts journalists see themselves as part of the larger
professional category of ‘journalists’, they also lay claim to an arts exceptionalism,
insofar as they suggest that: (1) the ideal arts journalist is better and more extensively
qualified than a conventional news reporter; (2) arts journalism is qualitatively different
from news journalism; and (3) arts journalism has the responsibility of communicating
the transformative nature of the arts. Drawing on such a discourse, arts journalists take
on a crusading role, and describe their work as infused by a passion which is otherwise
frowned upon within journalism. We also demonstrate how, within the specialist group
of arts journalists, there are distinctive subcultures of freelance critics, arts reporters, and
arts editors – professional categories which greatly influence these newsworkers’ self-
understandings.
K E Y W O R D S & arts journalism & high culture & interviews & journalism
culture & journalism sociology & objectivity & specialist correspondents
Introduction
This article examines the self-understanding of arts journalists, or journalists
who work in the ‘criticism and coverage of theater, classical music, opera and
dance.’1 It is based on interviews with 20 arts journalists in the United King-
dom, including classical music DJs, arts reviewers, arts reporters, and arts and
music editors for print and broadcast media. This occupational group within
Journalism
Copyright & 2007 SAGE Publications
(Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore)
Vol. 8(6): 619–639 DOI: 10.1177/1464884907083115
ARTICLE
journalism is worthy of study because of its distinctive professional and cultural
role: while arts journalists share aspects of their professional cultures with other
newsworkers, their work is intrinsically linked to the project of improving
‘public appreciation of the arts’.2
The research on which this paper is based deliberately focuses on journalists
who view themselves as mediators of ‘high arts’. The paper takes an interest in
the relationship between the valorization of ‘high culture’ and journalistic iden-
tities. We seek to access journalists’ ‘interpretive communities’ (Zelizer, 1993),
to see what they tell us not only about newswork (Hardt and Brennen, 1995)
but also about the relationship between media and the construction and
perpetuation of distinctions between ‘high’ and ‘low’ cultures.
Our argument is that while many arts journalists see themselves as part of
the larger occupational category of ‘journalists’, they also lay claim to an arts
exceptionalism, insofar as they suggest: (1) that the ideal arts journalist is
better and more extensively qualified than a conventional news reporter; that
(2) arts journalism is qualitatively different from news journalism; and that
(3) arts journalism has the responsibility of communicating the transformative
nature of the arts. Drawing on such discourses, arts journalists construct theirs
as a crusading role, and present their work as infused by a passion which is
otherwise frowned upon within journalism. We also demonstrate how, within
the specialist group of arts journalists, there are distinctive subcultures of free-
lance critics, arts reporters and arts editors – professional categories which influ-
ence these newsworkers’ self-images and orientations toward the key strategic
ritual of objectivity.
Locating arts journalism: professional cultures and the
sociology of journalism
Arts journalism should be understood within the larger context of newsroom
professional cultures. Scholars suggest that journalists of all stripes share certain
cultural orientations and experiences. Harrison (2000: 108–37), in her work on
television newsrooms, found similarities across news organizations in a set of
‘formulas, practices, normative values and journalistic methodology’. As Soloski
(1999) has argued, journalism can be viewed as a coherent profession on the
basis of an allegiance to objectivity. For journalists, ‘objectivity is the most
important professional norm, and from it flows more specific aspects of news
professionalism such as news judgment, the selection of sources and the struc-
ture of news beats’ (Soloski, 1999: 311). Others have pointed to the thrill of
the deadline, a disregard for authority, and a genuine desire to serve the public
as unifying features (e.g. Cottle, 2003: 15).
620 Journalism 8(6)
Even if we can locate a distinctive culture of journalism which cuts across
genres, media and occupational roles, newswork is also characterized by a pro-
liferation of specialized subcultures (Pedelty, 1995: 112). As Davis (1979: 102)
put it, ‘there is a variety in journalism to be found in few other occupations’.
Occupational subcultures studied by journalism scholars include war reporters
(Pedelty, 1995), foreign correspondents (Hess, 2001), television reporters
(Harrison, 2000; Kung-Shankleman, 2000), investigative reporters (Ettema and
Glasser, 1998), local journalists (Franklin and Murphy, 1998) and political corre-
spondents (Barnett and Gaber, 2001; Schlesinger et al., 2001; Tunstall, 1970,
1971). This research has shed light on the diversity of professional practices,
assessing how specialist journalists fit into the hierarchy of their newsrooms,
carry out their reporting, relate to sources and competitors, and manage the
time constraints of their work, among other things.
It has also illustrated that although journalism practitioners and scholars
alike understand these sub-professions as distinctive professional cultures, it is
difficult to generalize about the practices, experiences and self-images of news-
workers within them. Rather, the way journalists see themselves is structured by
their place within newsroom hierarchies and structures. As Tunstall (2001: 1)
comments:
[W]e see within the media world and media industries a large number of occupa-
tional fragments – many different sub-categories of journalist, of TV production
workers, of advertising personnel, and so on. Within this fragmented occupational
world there are ‘horizontal’ attempts of similar workers to combine together as
fellow ‘professionals’ or as fellow ‘craft’ members or as fellow trade union mem-
bers. However, there are opposing ‘vertical’ forces coming from the market and
emphasizing very steep hierarchies in terms of financial reward and general status
or prestige.
Along those lines, Tunstall, in his work on television producers (1993),
found that despite the shared occupational title, the work routines of producers
vary greatly between different genres, and such differences shape how these
newsworkers see themselves (see also Hess, 2001: 163). And the hierarchy
within a specialism constructs distinctive, often oppositional subcultures. This
is both because such hierarchies differentiate roles and expectations, and
because they create inequalities of power and resources which generate resent-
ments (Pedelty, 1995: 69). The difficulties of generalizing about the experiences
of journalists within occupational subgroups are further compounded in a world
of ‘liquid journalism’ (Deuze, 2005) where ‘media occupations increasingly lack
firm definitions and sharp boundaries’ (Tunstall, 2001: 17). Such difficulties are
especially important to consider in the context of arts journalism, which is a
particularly nebulous professional category. At a more basic level, by tapping
into the self-images of arts journalists, we can better understand an under-
Harries & Wahl-Jorgensen The culture of arts journalists 621
researched corner of the newsroom. As several scholars have noted, there is very
little research about arts journalism (see Forde, 2001: 23; Jones, 2002: 4).
Forde (2003: 113) found that music journalists ‘mark out a clear ideological,
cultural and professional distinction between their world and that of the tradi-
tional journalists’. Music journalists have their own ‘professional tradition,
employment conditions, goal definitions, newsroom power structures, position
within corporate publishing organizations, and sources and source relations’.
On that basis, he described them as ‘journalists with a difference’. The same
can be said for the arts critics who are the focus of this article. As we shall see,
regardless of their occupational sub-category, they mark out an arts exceptional-
ism, suggesting that their role is radically different from the conventional news
reporter. Their professional identity is tied to their ability to pass judgment on
cultural products, and their role in mediating the arts. As Klein (2005) pointed
out in her study of popular music criticism, cultural criticism confers status on
to the object it evaluates. She suggested that:
[A]lthough critics and journalists often work for the same institutions, critics’ dif-
ferent set of professional values may have an impact not only on the extent to
which they are open to public challenge, but also on how they experience their
roles and sense of authority. (Klein, 2005: 18)
She argued that ‘high culture’ arts critics occupy higher rungs of the newsroom
hierarchy, and are also viewed as inherently more authoritative and therefore
able to pass judgment on the object of their criticism.3
Regardless of the privilege conferred by such cultural capital (Bourdieu,
1984), arts journalists are challenged to justify their professional role. In doing
so, they provide us with unique insights into some of the implications of dis-
tinctions between ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture, and the practices of those who
report on them. Given that more than half of the population uses mass media
as their primary way of interacting with, learning about and listening to/watch-
ing the arts (Webber, 1993), the journalists who shape and construct media texts
relating to the arts play a role that is both crucial and problematic.
Methodology: accessing the self-understanding of arts
journalists
Other researchers on specialist correspondents have carried out extensive ethno-
graphic work, tracing both the professional cultures of these journalists and
the practices that constitute them (e.g. Pedelty, 1995; Tunstall, 1971). The
present study has a somewhat narrower focus: we are interested in accessing
the professional self-images of arts journalists and examining how these vary
from those of other types of journalist. We tap into the self-images of arts
622 Journalism 8(6)
journalists by drawing on data from open-ended, semi-structured interviews.
Such a method provides a useful means for gaining rich data about arts journal-
ists’ views and understandings (Mason, 2002: 63), as well as their discursive self-
constructions.
Despite the richness of interview data, it is not without its problems. It
cannot be taken at face value because, as Buckingham (2000: 63) has pointed
out, interviews have proven to be ‘an exceptionally slippery medium. In inter-
views . . . individual speakers will often prove to be incoherent, inconsistent,
or downright contradictory’ (see also Saukko, 2003: 58). When interviewees
express opinions and interpret events, they also tell stories about themselves
(see Cameron, 2001: 14–15). Arts journalists, who view themselves as educators
of the public, rehearse what are often self-congratulatory arguments about their
own significance. We view the interviewees’ social constructions of idealized
journalistic self-images as central to (and inseparable from) their opinions and
examples. Such evidence can be used to understand better the culture of jour-
nalism – or how arts journalists see their work through the socially constructed
prism of professional identities, even if it cannot serve as a straightforward
source of material about how arts journalists do their work.
The arts journalists interviewed included presenters from Classic FM,
Radio 3, and local radio, as well as press and freelance arts correspondents/
critics. These journalists work as classical music DJs, arts reviewers, arts
reporters, and arts and music editors, primarily for newspapers and radio.4 The
sample included 8 women and 12 men. Interviews were conducted between
April 2004 and February 2005, over the phone and in person, and lasted
between 25 minutes and one hour and ten minutes. Of course, any attempt at
categorizing these varied professional roles under the umbrella of ‘arts journal-
ism’ is inherently a reductionist exercise. However, while the interviewees may
not be representative of all arts journalists in Britain and beyond, they provide
an insight into the ways in which this group of newsworkers discusses what
they do, and why they do it.5 In particular, though interviewees did not neces-
sarily share occupational viewpoints or experiences, they articulated similar
orientations to the arts and to journalistic practices. We therefore suggest that
they belong to a shared journalistic culture.
The ideal arts reporter: journalists with that little something
extra
Arts reporters, whose jobs typically involve both conventional reportorial duties
and arts criticism, do not fit comfortably into the professional category of the
journalist. Forde (2001, 2003), who studied popular music journalists, found
Harries & Wahl-Jorgensen The culture of arts journalists 623
that music journalists on both dedicated music titles and on broadsheet news-
papers often describe themselves not as ‘journalists’ but rather as ‘writers’,
‘reviewers’, ‘music critics’ or ‘music journalists’ (Forde, 2003: 113).
Among the arts journalists interviewed here, professional definitions
depended largely on their place in the newsroom hierarchy. Three major
sub-professions were evident: (a) the arts journalist (both local and national);
(b) the arts editor; and (c) the freelance critic. When asked the question ‘How
do you define yourself?’, editors and arts journalists typically answered with
no hesitation: ‘I’m a broadcast journalist’ (Tracy, a regional radio presenter);
‘I’m an arts editor’ ( Jessica, an arts editor for a Welsh newspaper).
Freelance critics, however, found this question difficult. One respondent,
typical of this group, viewed this as an ‘impossible question. I wouldn’t even
seek to define myself ’ (Daniel, freelance music critic). Freelancers’ difficulty in
defining their professional status appeared to be based on the lack of structure
and routine in their work, as well as the absence of a formal job title. Klein
(2005) distinguishes between critics and journalists, arguing that the two
groups have similar work experiences; in both professions shared conventions
and interpretations substitute for a lack of licensing. Yet although the authority
of critics often hangs in the balance, journalistic authority generally holds firm’
(Klein, 2005: 18).
The arts critics interviewed here rarely expressed doubts about their critical
authority. However, they did engage in a range of justificatory discourses, seek-
ing to show themselves as exceptional journalists. First, they were keen to stress
that their work requires more skills than conventional journalism. Emma
Caprez (2003: 48) suggested that professional journalists require qualifications
associated with communications skills, as well as more personal attributes
such as organizational skills, the ability to work under pressure, and determina-
tion. Finally, they must possess an ability to use journalistic tools, such as prac-
tices of objectivity. These types of qualifications were also mentioned by the arts
journalists. However, they were referred to in a bored tone of voice, suggesting
that such skills were obvious and mundane. For example, after listing qualifica-
tions specific to the arts, Matthew (a national radio presenter) added a list of
more general journalistic qualifications: ‘That’s apart from the obvious ability
to express yourself in an engaging manner, to listen, to be prepared to put
others’ points of view before your own and to meet other people’s deadlines,
etcetera, etcetera.’
In the words of Gavin, an arts editor of 30 years, ‘journalism is . . . student
essays on speed. The essence of journalism is that you assimilate and dissemi-
nate information at a really rapid rate’. In order to be an arts journalist, the qua-
lifications of conventional journalism are needed and expected. However, as
Caprez (2003: 54) also observed, ‘if you are going to concentrate on a specialist
624 Journalism 8(6)
area, you will need further specialist qualification, e.g. a degree in the area, and
be able to demonstrate a strong passion for the subject’. Popular music critics
interviewed by Klein (2005: 5) suggested that in order to perform successfully
in their sub-profession, individuals should ‘be proficient writers, should have a
breadth of knowledge, and should be able to make studied judgments regardless
of personal preferences’. Winton Dean (cited in Porter, 1978: x) noted that a
music journalist or critic needs ‘a knowledge of the technical and theoretical
principles of music as well as knowledge of musical history and scholarship’.
The arts journalists interviewed for this study, however, were divided on the
question of whether specialist knowledge is necessary. Again, this division was
informed by the distinction between freelance critics versus arts reporters and
editors. The majority of those who described themselves as journalists/editors
felt that specialist knowledge of the arts was not a requirement. As Jessica, an
arts editor on a Welsh daily newspaper, put it:
I couldn’t give a stuff about the arts really . . . so I have no agenda and the material
is always very varied . . . Some people think I shouldn’t be doing it at all because I
don’t know the ins and outs of any particular art, but I know people who do, and
that’s where my expertise comes in.
It was thus the arts journalists’ and editors’ view that if a reporter is writing a
news story concerned with the arts, and adheres to practices of objectivity and
balance by merely ‘reporting the facts’, knowledge of the arts is not seen as an
absolute requirement. However, to the freelance critics, specialist knowledge
was seen as vital: ‘The critical thing is you have to have a basic understanding
for your specific art form. It’s no good just saying that you have a grasp of the
arts in general, you have to have specialist knowledge and understanding’
(Wilfred, a freelance music critic who writes mostly for the New York Times).
This distinction may well rest on the question of critical authority. While
reporting about a particular artist, performance or work of art allows the reporter
to hide behind the strategic ritual of objectivity (Tuchman, 1972), the critic
must possess the epistemic authority to pass judgment, and such authority is
often seen to derive from specialist knowledge (see Klein, 2005). The greater
insistence on a body of skills as a marker of professionalism (Soloski, 1999)
among freelancers may also stem from the instability of their employment
conditions, and their resulting greater need to assert their worth.
Whether or not specialist knowledge is necessary, the arts reporter must
demonstrate ‘a clear ability to think straight and to write in a clear and stimulat-
ing manner coupled with an inquisitiveness and a willingness to learn’ (Dean,
cited in Porter, 1978: x). In terms of radio in particular, arts presenters must be
‘good with words and description, as it’s really very hard to describe a piece of
art or dance’ (Stephanie, regional radio management and presenter). As Simon,
Harries & Wahl-Jorgensen The culture of arts journalists 625
a national radio presenter, argued: ‘Have you ever tried to explain succinctly the
meaning of a Shostakovich symphony in 20 seconds? Or explain the principles
behind a Wagner opera in 30? That is most challenging.’
Such comments are reminiscent of the sentiment, variously attributed to
Elvis Costello, Laurie Andersen, and Frank Zappa, that ‘writing about music is
like dancing about architecture’ (cited in Klein, 2005: 1). While this comment
has been used to ridicule the work of music critics, it also recognizes the diffi-
culty of their task. Such a position was embraced by the freelance critics inter-
viewed, and used as a way of claiming a privileged position on the basis of
specialist communication skills. In fact, arts reporters elevated themselves
above the regular news journalist, suggesting that they must be able to not
only write in an informed manner, but also ‘translate their passion and knowl-
edge in a way that will both interest and inspire audiences/readers’ (Caprez,
2003: 54). As a result, arts journalists described themselves as qualitatively dif-
ferent from the mainstream reporter. Their accounts demonstrate an anxiety
about performing their identities as journalists ‘with a difference’ (Forde,
2003) who are professionally superior to the reporters who dominate the news-
room. As Goffman (1959) noted in The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, ‘in
their capacity as performers, individuals will be concerned with maintaining
the impression that they are living up to the many standards by which they
and their products are judged’ (Goffman, 1959: 250). Such maintenance is all
the more important when these standards are ill-defined and contested, and
its practitioners’ status uncertain. As we shall see, arts journalists’ justificatory
accounts extend to their discussion of their products. Many of them go to
great lengths to construct arts journalism as central to the news agenda, coun-
tering a view of the arts as ‘soft news’ or as ‘light and fluffy’.
Distinctive features of arts journalism: soft news and high
culture
The discourses on the status of arts journalism within the news hierarchy fall
into three inter-related positions:
1 The arts are important, and should be central in media coverage (most
common).
2 The arts are ‘softer’ than politics and current affairs, but more important
than other ‘low culture’ specialist areas such as celebrity and sports coverage
(fairly common).
3 The arts are clearly ‘soft news’ (rare).
626 Journalism 8(6)
The majority of the journalists discussed the arts as vitally important. Some
interviewees were offended when asked about whether the arts are perceived as
softer news: ‘This is not entirely relevant, classical music is not soft’ (Sam,
national radio presenter); ‘This issue is of no concern to me, I do what interests
me and others do what interests them’ (Daniel, freelance music critic). This
defensive position, which recognizes that ‘soft news’ is often dismissed as ‘trivial
or insignificant’ (Allan, 2004: 120), was usually followed by well-rehearsed argu-
ments about the importance of the arts. The lack of hesitation with which the
interviewees defended the arts might suggest that they regularly face such criti-
cism. First, some interviewees argued that the arts are important because of their
financial implications. As Harriet, a freelance arts journalist and radio broad-
caster, suggested: ‘I think people who are inclined to agree with the arts being
a softer news item should think about the fact that cultural industries are
hugely important for economic development and that the turnover is really
quite sizeable.’ Such economic arguments are, indeed, increasingly central to
journalistic self-images and discourses, reflecting a broader trend through
which the newsroom is colonized by economic interests, resulting in a need
for newsworkers to draw on the language of capitalism to justify their activity
(see McManus, 1994; Wahl-Jorgensen, 2002).
Also, the interviewees suggested that arts coverage is both important and
interesting to their audiences and, more generally, to the world. They con-
tended that the arts are so important that as subject matter they transcend the
normal ‘news agendas and schedules’ (Matthew, national radio presenter).
Some argued for the importance of arts coverage on the basis of audience
desires:
Although people need to know about the situation in Iraq and they don’t need to
know about the way Bruckner’s concerto was performed, it should be about a
matter of want. Lots of the public want to know about Bruckner. A want of some-
thing is different and is sometimes neglected. (William, retired freelance music
critic and writer)
Such a position shows an awareness of a hierarchy of newsworthiness
(Allan, 2004: 57) where news about the war in Iraq rests firmly at the top, and
also argues that a diversity of news material is important to audiences, and
that news media have a responsibility to provide audiences not only with
what they need, but also with what they want. It relies on a view of the public
as a mass of consumers, and implies an understanding of what these consumers
desire (see Lewis et al., 2005). It is detached from normative conceptions about
what is ‘good’ for society. Instead, it provides an economic justification for
arts journalism, implying that it matters to the financial success of mass media.
Harries & Wahl-Jorgensen The culture of arts journalists 627
Other journalists provided normative arguments to establish the centrality
of arts journalism, arguing that the arts are of lasting importance in a historical
context: ‘Think about this; if we look through the other end of the telescope,
what do we remember about ancient civilizations? We remember their art. So I
think that actually the arts are extremely important (Gavin, arts editor). This
position also represents a dig at the culture of ‘hard news’ journalism, which
celebrates immediacy over historical significance (Schlesinger, 1999: 124–5). It
carves out a distinctive identity for arts journalism as historical documentation
of a vital cultural practice, while challenging the hierarchy of newsworthiness.
A second category of responses about the importance of the arts acknowl-
edged that arts may not top the hard news agenda but deserve a more central
place, particularly in comparison to forms of specialist coverage that represent
popular culture. While some journalists and critics were willing to concede
that the arts are ‘soft news’ compared to political issues such as the situation
in Iraq, they were incensed at the space devoted to what they viewed as ‘trivial’
content, particularly sports and celebrity news. One critic said that ‘it’s under-
standable that people need to know about the situation in Iraq but when the
front page is dominated by celebrity gossip, I begin to feel irate’ (Edith, freelance
newspaper music critic). Another interviewee complained about the pressure to
take on celebrity-oriented reporting, suggesting that ‘in terms of someone
coming into my office and saying, ‘‘can you phone Robbie Williams today’’, it
can get light and fluffy’ ( Jessica, arts editor). Such worries about maintaining
the boundaries between ‘light and fluffy’ celebrity journalism and ‘serious’
high arts journalism are all the more pressing because of increasing pressure to
popularize or ‘tabloidize’ journalism (e.g. Sparks, 2000). Arts journalists, despite
their ‘high culture’ allegiances, are especially vulnerable to these developments
because of the difficulty of defining exactly what constitutes the arts, and, there-
fore, their area of professional expertise and responsibility. As arts editor Gavin
put it, he has ‘yet to find a definition of the arts that does not include Coronation
Street’. This, in turn, speaks to anxieties about the ‘high culture’ designation of
arts journalism (Gans, 1999). Harriet, a freelance TV and radio broadcaster,
suggested that ‘there is a fine line in the arts, you have to think ‘‘is this a
glitzy, celebrity story about Charlotte Church [teenage classical music diva
turned pop star], or is it actually about the arts?’’’ Such a statement implies that
celebrity/entertainment stories do not belong in the category of arts journalism.
They are, by definition, ‘popular’ or ‘low culture’ texts, and the demand for
them threatens the integrity of arts journalism.
Indeed, many of the interviewees (especially freelance critics, broadsheet
arts journalists and national broadcasters) readily described both the arts and
themselves as ‘high brow’. They volunteered their Oxbridge education, and
mentioned recent appearances on Radio 4, known for its ‘high culture’ program-
628 Journalism 8(6)
ming and audience. William, who used to broadcast with national Radio 3, sug-
gested that ‘the reason [he] was dropped from Radio 3 was because [he] was too
high brow.’ However, interviewees justified their ‘high culture’ bias by suggest-
ing that their work is intended for a smaller and more sophisticated ‘high
brow’ audience. As such, though the journalists prided themselves on being
able to write skillfully and accessibly about the arts for a lay public, their audi-
ence conceptions differ from those of mainstream journalists, who do not
generally hold readers, listeners and viewers in particularly high regard (Wahl-
Jorgensen, 2001). As Daniel, a freelance music critic, suggested: ‘One hopes
one is writing for a reasonably savvy, arts-orientated section of the public.
That can be a well informed, cultural doctor as much as anyone who is directly
involved in arty things. Classical music is by and large practiced by a small
proportion of a large populace.’ This view of the audience is linked to a percep-
tion of the elitist nature and limited popular appeal of the arts, and provides a
rationale for maintaining a ‘high brow’ style of arts journalism.
Given the fact that arts journalists were so resolute in embracing a ‘high
brow’ position, it made all the more sense for them to fear the blurring of the
boundaries between the arts and popular culture. Mary Douglas, in her classic
anthropological study Purity and Danger (1966), examined beliefs surrounding
pollution among ‘primitive’ and ‘advanced’ cultures. She defined pollution
behavior as ‘the reaction which condemns any object or idea likely to confuse
or contradict our cherished classifications’ (Douglas, 1966: 36). When someone
or something disturbs our understanding of how and where things ought to be,
we view it as a form of pollution. Douglas suggested that ‘attributing danger
is one way of putting a subject above dispute [and] also helps to enforce confor-
mity’ to prevailing moral frameworks (Douglas, 1966: 40). The discourses of arts
journalists about ‘low culture’ forms of specialist reporting reveal their pollution
fears, suggesting that their professional identities as mediators of high culture
are threatened by the invasion of the popular. This anxiety was also evident in
the journalists’ views on sports journalism6:
Arts journalists are always at the bottom of the pecking order. This order is deter-
mined by funding and space. Sport gets pages and pages of football story after foot-
ball story. The arts journalist gets next to nothing. If I am traveling somewhere, the
paper won’t pay; our funding comes from symphony orchestras or opera com-
panies, but if a sports reporter wants to go and cover yet another football story,
it’s ‘OK, here’s £1000!’ It’s disgusting how the arts are treated by the press. (Wilfred,
freelance music critic)
In their attempts at categorizing arts journalism, the interviewees demonstrated
that their most significant worries are about holding up definitions of arts
journalism, and avoiding its pollution by popular culture.
Harries & Wahl-Jorgensen The culture of arts journalists 629
The final category of responses to the question about the place of arts jour-
nalism in the newsroom hierarchy represented a minority of respondents, who
felt that arts journalism belongs firmly in the ‘soft news’ category. As arts
editor Jessica put it, ‘clearly it is softer than covering a Tsunami or being in a
battle zone’.
Arts journalists have at their fingertips a series of justificatory discourses
about the place of arts in the newsroom. These discourses recognize that arts
cannot be shoehorned into the ‘hard news’ agenda, but suggest that they have
a lasting significance that goes beyond the immediacy which drives most jour-
nalism. They serve as a type of occupational ritual through which individuals
affirm the social order both by marking out their own territories and respecting
those of others (Goffman, 1963: 40–1). At the same time, they reveal an anxiety
about the instability of the arts as a category of news content – one which
mirrors their worries about professional status amidst the ‘tabloidization’ of
journalism.
Objectivity and arts journalism
The anxiously exceptionalist claims of arts journalists relate not only to their
place in the newsroom, but also to their orientation towards the key strategic
ritual of objectivity. As McNair (1998) pointed out, the epistemic authority of
the journalist relies on a view of the profession as that of the ‘authorised truth
teller or licensed relayer of facts’. In this sense, objectivity can be seen as a
device to ‘facilitate the social construction of legitimacy’ (McNair, 1998: 65).
Some interviewees – mostly arts reporters and editors – viewed objectivity as
central to arts journalism: ‘You have to come towards everything in the arts in
an objective and impartial manner . . . we try not to print opinions, particularly
if they are forceful, and always try to remain neutral’ (Isabelle, arts journalist for
a daily newspaper). Such a view suggests that practices of objectivity are the key
to journalistic credibility. According to Brian McNair (1998: 65), adhering to
rules of objectivity and balance is ‘the normal condition of journalistic work’.
To him, these rules constitute the ‘oldest and still the key legitimating profes-
sional ethic.’ It makes sense that those who were embedded in newsroom hier-
archies, as arts journalists and editors, viewed objectivity as important.
By contrast, some interviewees – mostly freelance critics – regarded objec-
tivity as unnecessary or irrelevant. William, a retired music critic, suggested
that ‘you’ve got to have opinions and tastes, otherwise it’s just not worth listen-
ing to or reading [your work]; you can’t be objective . . . nobody is’. This is in
some ways a self-evident position, insofar as criticism involves the expression
of opinion and the subjective assessment of particular events, performances
630 Journalism 8(6)
and artists. As Stephanie, a local radio presenter and manager, saw it: ‘there is a
real difference between the presenter and the critic; a presenter has to be more
neutral, but if you set yourself up as a critic you have to have opinions.’ Jim
(freelance critic) explained that:
It depends on context. I do actually write news stories relating to my area and
when I do that, then clearly I’m bound by objective conventions of news reporting
and I enjoy the discipline of this . . . If I am writing a comment piece or reviewing
something, I might be extremely outspoken.
When probed further about their positions on objectivity, these critics offered
more complex critiques, suggesting that practices of objective reporting create
a presentational style that fails to engage audiences. George (architecture and
design editor) felt that ‘too much objectivity can make it bland and rather
boring . . . peripheral subjects such as the arts must grip the audience’s interest’.
Matthew (national radio presenter) argued that the ‘transcendent’7 nature of
the arts requires a different style of reporting, and said that ‘merely reporting
the facts barely touches the surface’. Jim (freelance music critic) suggested that
the expression of opinion has its own professional rules and practices: ‘If one
is going to be subjective, and attack a performance/artist, all one needs to do
is explain why.’
It seems, then, that the practices of objectivity which structure ‘hard news’
reporting also apply to arts reporting. However, they do not have much mean-
ing in the context of arts criticism, which depends upon the expression of
opinion and draws on a more didactic style.8 Nevertheless, some elements of
objective reporting, as ‘discursive clusters’ in journalism (see Chalaby, 1998),
translate into rules that also govern the writing of opinionated criticism. In par-
ticular, critics stress the need to uphold ideals of fairness by thoroughly explain-
ing any negative comments, and being ‘intelligent’ and ‘sincere’.
The personalized nature of arts journalism – which is often about individual
artists – further complicates notions of objectivity. Many arts journalists, when
asked about obstacles to objectivity, made a point to mention the performer
on the receiving end. One respondent emphasized that the reporter or writer
must bear in mind that their words will impact directly on the life of others:
I once wrote a review about this marvelous singer, Rita Hunter, an Australian
soprano who was immensely fat but had a beautiful voice. She performed a work
. . . and the next day I wrote: ‘The real test will come when the work is performed
by someone other than Hunter.’ The next day, I had a phone call from a man in
Yorkshire, saying that he had his wife sitting at the kitchen table in tears. It
turned out that the wife was Margaret Curfeel, the next soprano to sing the work
in question. She read my comments as a personal dig at her, thinking I was suggest-
ing that she would not be able to sing the work as well, when actually Margaret
Curfeel was furthest from my mind. (William, veteran freelance critic)
Harries & Wahl-Jorgensen The culture of arts journalists 631
From then on, William was ‘much more careful not about whether I gave
opinions, but how I gave them’.
This story points to the fact that arts criticism is, as Forde (2003: 123) put it,
‘self-referential’. Arts journalists, like the political reporters of the Westminster
Lobby or the White House, are part of an insider culture (e.g. Barnett and
Gaber, 2001; Tunstall, 1970, 1971), where their continued professional success
relies not merely on satisfying their immediate managers and peers, but also
on maintaining good relations with their sources – the artists and performers.
First, sources tend to prefer talking to journalists who give them positive cover-
age. Second, sources form an important part of the social network of journalists.
Also, the feedback journalists get from them is more immediate and tangible
than that which they get from their mass audiences (e.g. Gans, 1980: 234).
Bourdieu has explored the relationship between the specialist writer’s self-
understanding and their ‘public of equals’:
No one has ever completely extracted all the implications of the fact that the
writer, the artist, or even the scientist writes not only for a public, but for a
public of equals who are also competitors. Few people depend as much as artists
and intellectuals do for their self-image upon the image others, and particularly
other writers and artists, have of them. (Bourdieu, 1993: 116)
Bourdieu’s reading implies that arts journalists are shaped by interactions with
the immediate, known audiences of the performers – a position evident in the
interviews (see also Sumpter, 2000: 338). As such, they do their reporting con-
scious of, and influenced by, the reported. However, as discussed previously,
their imagined audience is first and foremost the privileged strata of society
which consume the high arts. All the same, as we will explore in the next
section, arts journalists also justify their work in terms of their responsibility
to larger, anonymous audiences, whose lives can be enhanced by exposure to
the arts.
Roles in society: arts journalists as moral saviors and crusaders
Further challenging arts journalists’ conceptions of objectivity is their self-image
of being more than mere ‘reporters of fact’. Klein (2005) discussed a range of
professional roles identified by popular music critics, who described themselves
as creators, guides, producers of texts, cheerleaders and historical arbiters. The
arts journalists interviewed here explained their roles in more normative
terms. They constructed themselves as passionate moral saviors and crusaders
for the sake of the arts. These idealized roles rest, in part, on a view of the arts
as transformative or ‘good for you’. Joli Jensen has argued that Western cultures
assume that high ‘cultural forms do something to us in a positive way’ ( Jensen,
632 Journalism 8(6)
2002: 1). Along those lines, the arts journalists expressed great faith in the
‘teaching and healing’ powers of the arts. They argued that the arts can
‘encourage sensitivity and respect’ through this ‘life-enhancing expression of
humanity’ (Edith, freelance music critic). They also suggested that the arts
provide an alternative avenue for understanding the world and the human con-
dition – one that falls outside the narrow boundaries of conventional news
reporting:
Some of the profoundest, most enduring and most valuable attempts to engage
with the human condition have taken place in the arena of the arts. A work of
art, a piece of music, a recorded performance can continue to speak eloquently of
a situation, an experience or an emotion to an enormous audience, long after the
news headline and reportage that might have originally accompanied it have
been pulped and recycled. (Matthew, national radio presenter)
Interviewees believed that art can provide audiences with spiritually transforma-
tive experiences:
Art can take you, in a structured way, through difficult and challenging emotions
or experiences and help give meaning to them . . . I think it’s a far better means
than religion for doing it . . . In some ways it can give you more of a religious
sense. ( Jim, music writer and freelance critic)
In an even stronger expression of the positive potential of the arts, Jim con-
tinued by saying:
One thing you’ll probably find is that quite a lot of people in the art profession are
either diagnosed or undiagnosed manic depressives. I mean that quite seriously,
and I am one of them, I know that music is one of the things that saved my life.
Journalists who had themselves experienced the positive potential of the arts
wanted it to be realized more widely. William, a retired critic, suggested that
‘everyone should play an instrument, people would learn so much. Just playing
chamber music, for example, would teach people so much about relationships,
sensitivity and emotions’.
On the basis of this belief in the transformative power of the arts, inter-
viewees expressed a passionate belief in the importance of their work as
crusaders for a cause. As Wilfred, a freelance music critic explained, it is ‘hard
not to feel passion’ when reporting on the arts. Journalistic cultures are
generally characterized by a cynical attitude and a deliberate distancing from
the events and individuals reported on. News reporters tend to be suspicious
of passionate engagement, viewing it as anathema to professionalism (see
Epstein, 1973; Gans, 1980; Soloski, 1999). By contrast, arts journalists view self-
less passion as a motivating force. In this, they once again rub up against ideals
of objectivity, preferring instead to take a stance which embodies advocacy and
subjectivity. Without passion, ‘you just end up with these people who are just
Harries & Wahl-Jorgensen The culture of arts journalists 633
destructive and you start to think you’ve been in your profession far too long’
( Jim, music writer and critic). Matthew, a national radio presenter, dismissed
some of his colleagues, whom he viewed as being ‘more interested in exposing
themselves than in the thing they’re writing . . . someone who’d rather have a
sexy headline and top billing than increase their audience’s understanding of
the subjects they’re writing about’.
Nearly all the interviewees expressed, in some form, the sentiment that you
could not report ‘something like the arts unless you are fascinated. And I mean
really fascinated’ (William, retired freelance music critic). Because of their
expressed view of the arts as a savior of humanity, arts journalists construct
themselves as having a great ‘responsibility and duty’ to offer the arts to the
public in a way that transcends the journalistic aims of educating and entertain-
ing the public. They aim to ‘make a difference and add to life’ (Simon, national
radio presenter). They believe that the arts can allow the listener/reader to
become more ‘respectful, sensitive and emotional’ (William, retired freelance
music critic). To facilitate this process, arts journalists seek to compose a piece
of knowledgeable, informed reporting, fuelled by passion, that will encourage
audiences/readers to become more involved in the arts; to ‘make people see
what the arts can do for them’ (Simon, national radio presenter). This view,
common among interviewees, shows that arts journalists embody normative
ideals particular to their occupational subculture. As James Carey has argued,
the public is the ‘god term’ of journalism, which ‘exists – or so it is regularly
said – to inform the public, to serve as the extended eyes and ears of the
public, to protect the public’s right to know, to serve the public interest’
(Carey, 1987: 5).
If news reporting is premised on service to the public in the aid of democ-
racy, arts journalism draws on a related but subtly different trope: while our
interviewees invoked a larger public that can be salvaged by the arts, this
public is not understood as a political entity. Instead, interviewees imagined a
cultural public, enlightened by the therapeutic powers of the arts communi-
cated through passionate and involved journalism.
The discourse of passion and involvement described here often expressed
itself in attacks on what the journalists described as society’s apathetic attitude
towards the arts. Several respondents begrudged their audiences for being
unable to ‘open up’ to the arts. Gavin, an experienced arts editor, accused
England of having a ‘cultural problem, with a great tradition of philistinism
and embarrassment around the arts’. The perceived denigration of the arts
within the wider culture also translates, in the eyes of the journalists, into a bias
against media coverage. Journalists felt that they have to struggle to be ‘taken
seriously’ (Phillipa, arts correspondent). Arts journalists were also exasperated
by the low priority given to arts stories that are finally given ‘the go-ahead by
634 Journalism 8(6)
editors, often as a last resort’ (Tracy, local radio journalist). They complained
about their articles being placed ‘on page 38, in the bottom right-hand corner’
(Tom, freelance film critic).
Though arts journalists widely rehearsed arguments about the importance
of their material, they were also keen to point out how marginalized it is
within the newsroom culture. As such, arts journalists – even if they are
viewed as privileged elites by popular music critics (Klein, 2005) and others –
cultivate an oppositional self-understanding. They see themselves as misunder-
stood moral saviors on a crusade to improve society by educating the public
about the arts.
Conclusion: understanding arts exceptionalism
This article has explored the self-image of arts journalists. We have suggested
that arts journalists see themselves and the art they work with as exceptional
within the culture of journalism. First, arts reporters construct themselves as
‘journalists with a difference’ who need specialist knowledge and the ability to
communicate complex ideas to the public in addition to conventional journal-
istic skills. Second, arts coverage, though it does not fit easily into ‘hard news’
hierarchies of newsworthiness, is described as more important than the con-
ventional news agenda. Interviewees singled out celebrity and sports coverage
for particular scorn, demonstrating their allegiance to ‘high culture’ and their
dismissal of popular culture. Third, arts coverage is seen as exceptional because
of its complicated relationship to the strategic ritual of objectivity. Though
arts reporters and editors subscribe to practices of objectivity, the concept has
less relevance to the work of critics, who nevertheless articulated a clear set of
rules for the expression of opinion. Fourth, arts exceptionalism also involves a
series of normative claims about the ability of the arts to improve society. Draw-
ing on this discourse, arts journalists take on a crusading role, describing their
work as infused by a passion which is otherwise frowned upon within journal-
ism cultures. They construct themselves as moral saviors, guiding the cultural
public towards a better, more fulfilled existence through arts.
The self-image of arts journalists is self-serving, covering over anxieties
about the status of their specialist profession and its products. However, it also
demonstrates belief in their ability to improve the world, and a desire to break
with the cynicism of most journalistic cultures. This belief rests, in part, on
arts journalists’ role as the representatives and defenders of ‘high culture’
against the encroaching popularization of the newsroom. Though the journal-
ists we interviewed see themselves as servants of a public, their ideal imagined
Harries & Wahl-Jorgensen The culture of arts journalists 635
audience consists of performers and privileged high arts consumers. As such,
they may be moral saviors but they do most of their preaching to the already-
converted.
The culture of the newsroom is often analyzed in terms of internal factors,
such as production processes, division of labor and power relations. Yet the
views of arts journalists demonstrates that external factors (McNair, 1998),
such as social constructions of taste cultures, have a profound bearing on how
newsworkers see themselves.
Notes
1 http://ascweb.usc.edu/asc.php?pageID=378, accessed 21 October 2005.
2 http://www.najp.org/aboutus/index.html, accessed 21 October 2005.
3 But see Janssen (1999) for evidence of the increasing legitimacy of popular music
journalism.
4 Though many arts journalists contribute to magazines, none of our respondents
was a regular magazine writer. Instead, most worked in newspapers and radio.
Some freelancers, however, were occasional contributors to magazines such as
Gramophone.
5 For more details about the interviewees, see the Appendix.
6 There was one exception: Martin, a freelance music critic, commented: ‘I particu-
larly admire our sport writers, who produce so much copy at a very late hour,
and always so beautifully written.’
7 The term ‘transcendent’ was used by more than one interviewee to describe the
arts.
8 For a useful discussion of the discursive style of opinionated journalism, see Van
Dijk (1998).
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Appendix: List of interviewees
Daniel, freelance music critic, interviewed 8 March 2005.
Edith, freelance music critic, interviewed 26 April 2004.
Gavin, arts editor, regional daily newspaper, interviewed 16 February 2005.
George, architecture/design editor, national broadsheet, interviewed 2 March
2005.
Harriet, arts journalist and producer, Welsh broadcaster, interviewed 28 April
2004.
Isabelle, features editor, Welsh daily paper, interviewed 8 March 2005.
Jessica, arts editor, Welsh daily paper, interviewed 15 February 2005.
638 Journalism 8(6)
Jim, award-winning music writer, broadcaster and academic, interviewed
11 March 2005.
Martin, chief music critic, regional English daily, interviewed 21 February 2005.
Matthew, national radio broadcaster, previously a performing classical musician,
interviewed 27 April 2004.
Maureen, commercial classical station presenter, interviewed 28 January 2005.
Phillipa, chief arts correspondent, Welsh daily paper, interviewed 23 February
2005.
Sam, national radio presenter, interviewed 27 January 2005.
Simon, national radio presenter, formerly broadsheet travel writer, television
news producer and radio instructor, interviewed 11 April 2004.
Stephanie, assistant editor, regional radio station, interviewed 7 March 2005.
Tom, freelance critic, specializes in film journalism, interviewed 25 February
2005.
Tracy, presenter for regional broadcaster, interviewed 29 April 2004.
Wilfred, freelance music critic, interviewed 2 March 2005.
William, ex-freelance writer and national radio presenter, now academic, inter-
viewed 2 April 2004.
Biographical notes
Gemma Harries graduated from Cardiff University in 2005 with a first class honours
degree in Journalism, Media and Politics. She is now a teacher of English in a second-
ary school in Cornwall, having won the Exeter University Ted Wragg award for the
Outstanding PGCE Student, and she loves every minute of classroom life; she has a
particular interest in the politics behind education. Although teaching English,
Gemma’s second subject, music, is never far behind and she plays both oboe and
piano. Not wanting to leave her studies behind, nor her interest in politics and
journalism, Gemma hopes to complete her MA next year.
Address: 23 Trelawne Road, Carnon Downs, Truro, Cornwall, TR3 6HP. [email: hrs@
treviglas.cornwall.sch.uk]
Karin Wahl-Jorgensen is Senior Lecturer in the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media
and Cultural Studies. She is the author of two books, Journalists and the Public
(Hampton Press, 2007) and Citizens or Consumers? (Open University Press, 2005;
co-authored with Justin Lewis and Sanna Inthorn). Her work on journalism, democ-
racy and citizenship has also appeared in more than 20 different journals.
Address: Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, Bute Building, King
Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3NB, Wales. [email: [email protected]]
Harries & Wahl-Jorgensen The culture of arts journalists 639
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