Agonistic Pluralism and Journalism: De-centering Dominant Journalistic Norms

Abstract

AbstractIn this article I apply a poststructuralist perspective to journalism. I argue that Chantal Mouffe’s theory of agonistic pluralism provides a powerful theoretical site from which to critically analyze dominant forms of journalistic professionalism, their relationship to race, ethnicity and ethnic media, and the ways they shape expectations of the role of journalism in democratic society. There are two main themes in this analysis. In the first instance, the post-structuralist approach insists on seeing current professional journalistic norms as examples of hegemonic discursive formations that achieve ascendancy over other options. Through this perspective, one can interrogate how ethnic media and journalism are excluded from democratic public debates on the basis of contingent communicative values dressed up as objective norms. Secondly, Mouffe’s work provides a theoretical basis for aligning journalistic contingency with a plural agonistic democracy. The article also will discuss several challenges that arise when applying agonistic pluralism to media.