Trading Capital: Documenting and Explaining Journalists’ Career Shifts in Rwanda

• In Event: Does Journalism Pay?

Abstract

This paper sheds light on journalists’ behavior by examining the motivations behind voluntary turnover in the journalism field in Rwanda, a case representative of many small, young journalism fields operating within restrictive and powerful political contexts. This examination of career progressions focuses the field theory lends on the individual journalist. This research draws on Bourdieu’s concept of capital to show that journalists who move around their field are trading in different types of capital. To show this, I analyze data collected from field research in Rwanda — a case with characteristics representative of a small and relatively young journalism field operating in the context of a strong and restrictive government. The data shows that journalists seek or trade cultural, social, and economic capital, in alignment with Bourdieu’s categories. This research suggests that journalists also look for workplace autonomy, a form of capital relatively unexplored in the context of field theory.

Author

• Ruth Moon, U of Washington