Badges? Who needs them? Police press credential policies, professionalism, and the new media environment

Abstract

This article examines shifts in one marker of professionalism for journalists as reflected in the police press pass system. Credentials can be interpreted both as a mark of occupational membership and as token that grants journalists access. Based on a census of 100 American police departments and interviews with representatives from those departments, we find that police credentialing policies are changing, in part because the new media environment has blurred journalism’s professional boundaries. Our analysis draws from Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory, which suggests that institutional practices such as police department credentialing reproduce social hierarchies and power structures. Using this lens, we argue that credentials are losing their value as professional status symbols while becoming increasingly important for geophysical access.