ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 Pandemic created a two-fold challenge for journalists: first, the task of gathering and distributing information vital to the responses of the public, and second, the challenge of mitigating the complexities of the journalism field. The purpose of this study is to connect the theoretical frameworks of metajournalistic discourse and field theory, using the touch point of journalistic practice. Prior research has postulated that metajournalistic discourse operates as a stabilizing force in the journalistic field. Using the timely test of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study seeks to explore the discursive construction of journalistic practice during a pandemic through the lens of both metajournalism and field through metadiscourse (n=141) gathered from the United States, United Kingdom, and Austria. This study will argue that metajournalistic discourse stabilizes the field by affirming the tools western journalists use in order to make sense of a crisis like COVID-19, and by providing a discursive avenue between the ideals of the journalistic field—in the journalistic doxa—and the habits of the field—as represented by journalistic habitus.

摘要

COVID-19 大流行给记者带来了双重挑战：首先，收集和分发对公众反应至关重要的信息的任务，其次，减轻新闻领域复杂性的挑战。本研究的目的是利用新闻实践的接触点，连接元新闻话语和场域理论的理论框架。先前的研究假设元新闻话语是新闻领域的稳定力量。通过对 COVID-19 大流行的及时测试，本研究旨在通过元新闻和元话语（n=141) 来自美国、英国和奥地利。本研究将认为元新闻话语通过肯定西方记者用来理解像 COVID-19 这样的危机所使用的工具，并通过在新闻领域的理想（在新闻 doxa中）和领域的习惯——以新闻习惯为代表。