Professionalism without professions? Journalism an the paradox of 'professionalisation'

This paper considers the incommensurable nature of contemporary debates regarding journalism and professionalism, with some arguing journalism should be recognised as a profession, others suggesting journalistic professionalism is in decline, and still others claiming that a process of ‘professionalisation’ is increasingly evident. Through an engagement with sociological perspectives on professionalism, it suggests that the reason for such disparities is that these debates rest upon different definitions of what professionalism refers to. Drawing on work that has approached professionalism as a ‘polyvalent discourse’ that is increasingly being deployed as a disciplinary mechanism, it is argued that the apparent paradox of a simultaneous decline and reinvigoration of professionalism can be understood as an effect of the contradictions inherent to recent trends within the field.