This article examines the way journalists talk about themselves and negotiate authority with sources, audiences, and media policy in a postconflict, developmental authoritarian state. Grounded in concepts of metajournalistic discourse and authority, the study shows how members of the journalism field in some contexts embrace a narrative that limits autonomy and situates them as untrustworthy social actors. Interviews collected over a 7-month period in Rwanda show that a shared sense of untrustworthiness defines the contemporary boundaries of the Rwandan journalism field. The findings also suggest that consensus-oriented or postconflict social contexts might encourage journalists to adopt less autonomous social roles.

本文探讨了在冲突后，发展性的威权主义国家中，记者谈论自己的方式以及与消息来源，受众和媒体政策进行谈判的方式。该研究基于元新闻话语和权威的概念，显示了新闻领域的成员在某些情况下是如何接受一种叙事的，这种叙事限制了自治并将其定位为不可信任的社会参与者。在卢旺达进行了为期7个月的访谈，结果显示，一种共同的不信任感定义了卢旺达新闻界的当代边界。研究结果还表明，面向共识或冲突后的社会环境可能会鼓励新闻工作者采取较少自治的社会角色。