The concept of freedom of the press as a symbolic conflict in the journalism field: the case of Venezuela

Abstract

The defense of the freedom of the press is a unanimous point among press professionals, but there is no consensus on the concept’s within  the field of journalism. Through analysis of qualitative interviews with six Venezuelan television journalists, this study investigates the extent to which journalists’ social position influences their definitions of press freedom and censorship. The chosen stations – Venevisión, VTV and Globovisión – are representative of the political and market-orientation distinctions among the main media companies of the country. They constitute a group of press outlets where journalists have different levels of constraint. The theoretical framework is based mainly on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, whose concepts of field, symbolic conflicts, heteronomy and autonomy are useful to the analysis of the journalism field; the restrictions to which it is submitted; and the strategies adopted by its members. The text reaches the conclusions that freedom of the press is a concept under dispute, and that the relative positions in the journalism field have a decisive influence in the definitions of freedom, press and censorship as presented by each interviewee. As the journalists defend the freedom of the press, they impose representations that sustain the strategies for maintaining or subverting the setting of their field in the interestof the outlets for which they work. 

Keywords: Freedom of the Press, Censorship, Journalism Field, Symbolic Conflict, Venezuela.

Submission date: February 01^st 2011
Acceptance date: February 20^th 2011