Guarding the Firewall: How Political Journalists Distance Themselves From the Editorial Endorsement Process

Through a lens of boundary work and role conception, this study seeks to understand how political journalists discursively construct the role of the newspaper editorial endorsement. Researchers conducted long-form interviews with political journalists in the United States (n = 64) to understand how journalists conducted boundary work relative to endorsements. Journalists argued that the 2016 election was a decisive event in which political news endorsements lost their original objective. Political journalists described laboring to discursively distance themselves from the endorsement process and viewed political endorsements not only as ineffective, but also as jeopardizing their news organizations' independence.

Automated summary

By examining boundary work and role conception, this study explores how political journalists construct the role of newspaper editorial endorsements through discourse. Long-form interviews were conducted with 64 political journalists in the United States to understand how they engage in boundary work regarding endorsements. Journalists argued that the 2016 election was a pivotal event that led to the loss of original objective for political news endorsements. They described their efforts to distance themselves discursively from the endorsement process and viewed political endorsements as not only ineffective, but also threatening their news organizations' independence.