Field maturation in journalism: The role of hackademics as a ‘motley crew’

Abstract

The academization of journalism is dependent on faculty in the field embracing critical research evidenced by publishing in relevant peer reviewed journals. This involves a four-step process, beginning with recognizing that critical research is central to determining the field, which presents a specific challenge to the majority of journalism faculty who transfer to the academy from practice. Journalism faculty who were or had been practicing journalists were asked how they valued critical research. Their responses indicated that, while generally viewing critical research as purposeful, they held it to be weakly integral to their roles in the academy. It is suggested that this reflects their prior experiences as journalists in a particular moment in time; uncertainty about what constitutes ‘research’, and a failure to translate external impetuses to build research into an internal research culture, caused by their shifting and uncertain roles in motley crews of creative and academic production.