The seriousness of storytelling: What constraints to professional news routines reveal about the state of journalistic autonomy in local television newsrooms

Abstract

This study follows the advice of scholars James Carey and Barbie Zelizer in that it takes journalism seriously. The seriousness comes from the concern that modern corporate approaches to news production are contributing to the erosion of the professional status of journalists with restrictions to storytelling routines serving as one example of this issue. Using a multiple case study method, this research presents 180 hours of newsroom observations and interviews with 62 news professionals to identify some of the constraints to local television news storytelling routines, further illuminating the struggle between market-driven news production and journalistic autonomy.