Journalists

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


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,


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.


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.


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)


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


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


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]]


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