“How Much Love Are You Going to Give This Brand?” Lifestyle Journalists on Commercial Influences in Their Work (Top Faculty Paper)

• In Event: Journalistic Autonomy and Perceived Influences

Abstract

The news increasingly provide help, advice, guidance, and information about the management of self and everyday life, in addition to its traditional role in political communication. Yet such forms of journalism are still often denigrated in scholarly discussions, as they often deviate from normative ideals. This is particularly true for the field of lifestyle journalism, where few studies have examined the impact of commercial influences. Through in-depth interviews with 89 Australian and German lifestyle journalists, this paper explores the ways in which the lifestyle industries try to shape the work of journalists, and how these journalists deal with advertising and public relations influences in their daily practice. We find that journalists in this field are in a constant struggle over the control of editorial content, and their responses to increasing commercial pressures vary broadly between resistance and resignation. This has implications for our understanding of journalism as a whole.

Authors

• Folker Christian Hanusch, Queensland U of Technology

• Thomas Hanitzsch, LMU Munich

• Corinna Maria Lauerer, LMU Munich