The Political Preferences and Value Orientations of Irish Journalists

Abstract

There is a dearth of sociologically informed literature on Irish journalists. In her seminal paper, Kelly (1983) laid out the factors influencing the production of news in a general context, acknowledging in her analysis the limited range of research on the Irish media. She highlighted the ideological and personal preferences of journalists on the one hand, and their professional values and practices on the other as key determinants of the news agenda. However, to date no systematic study of Irish journalists has addressed these twin concerns. Drawing on data obtained from a national survey of daily news journalists in the Republic of Ireland conducted in the late 1990s, this paper offers some insight into the class position, political orientation and value system of a key group of ‘meaning producers' in Irish society. In particular, the article seeks to provide insight into the professional culture of Irish journalists and their views on the relationship between the messenger, the message and the audience. This focus is apposite, given the central role played by Irish news journalists in bringing to public attention the variety of political, financial and religious scandals that engulfed Irish society in recent years. The paper concludes that Irish journalists are in the main more liberal in their views than either the professional organisations they work for or the audiences they serve.