This article examines how the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 became a catalyst for specialized accreditation in journalism. It analyzes the rhetoric and boundary work of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the American Association of Schools and Departments of Journalism as they sought professional status for journalism. When the newspaper industry challenged the FLSA in court, these groups intensified efforts to develop an authoritative accrediting body. This study utilizes historical and archival documents to explore the dynamics surrounding journalism’s professionalization project. It demonstrates how regulatory pressures transformed soft power claims into institutionalized standards for journalism education.
AllenD. (2000). Doing occupational demarcation: The “Boundary-work” of nurse managers in a district general hospital. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 29(3), 326–356.
4.
American Association of Schools and Departments of Journalism 28th convention. (1948, December1). Journalism Quarterly, 25(1), 458–466.
5.
American Association of Teachers of Journalism. (1941, March1). Journalism Quarterly, 18(1), 127–136.
6.
BingayM. (1943a, August27). Teaching journalism. Detroit Free Press, 6.
7.
BingayM. (1943b, October12). Balm in Gilead. Detroit Free Press, 6.
8.
BraschW. M. (1991). With just cause: Unionization of the American journalist. University Press of America.
9.
Calls papers exempt: Hanson holds they are outside wages and hours law. (1940, October8). New York Times, 11.
10.
Calls Wage-Hour Act outside newspapers. (1942, February6). New York Times, 13.
11.
CarlsonM. (2015). Introduction: The many boundaries of journalism. In CarlsonM.LewisS. C. (Eds.), Boundaries of journalism: Professionalism, practices and participation (pp. 1–12). Routledge.
12.
CollinsR. (1979). The credential society: An historical sociology of education and stratification. Academic Press.
13.
ConnE. L. (1970). The American council on education for journalism: An accrediting history [Doctoral dissertation]. Indiana University.
14.
ConwayM. (2014). The origins of television’s “Anchor Man”: Cronkite, Swayze, and journalism boundary work. American Journalism, 31(4), 445–467.
15.
DeChiaraP. D. (1993). Rethinking the managerial-professional exemption of the Fair Labor Standards Act. American University Law Review, 43, 139.
16.
ElmoreC. (2019). Terry Pettus and the 1936 Seattle newspaper strike: Pivotal success for the early American Newspaper Guild. American Journalism, 36(3), 300–321.
17.
EmeryE.McKernsJ. P. (1987). AEJMC: 75 years in the making: A history of organizing for journalism and mass communication education in the United States. Journalism and Communication Monographs, 1–91.
FloydN. (2020). Education & exclusion: The boundary work of American journalism’s twentieth century higher education alliance [Doctoral dissertation]. Indiana University.
20.
FolkertsJ. (2014). History of journalism education. Journalism & Communication Monographs, 16, 227–299.
21.
GierynT. F. (1983). Boundary-work and the demarcation of science from non-science: Strains and interests in professional ideologies of scientists. American Sociological Review, 48, 781–795.
22.
GierynT. F. (1999). Cultural boundaries of science: Credibility on the line. University of Chicago Press.
23.
GierynT. F. (2008). Cultural boundaries: Settled and unsettled. In MeusburgerP.WelkerM.WunderE. (Eds.), Clashes of knowledge: Orthodoxies and heterodoxies in science and religion (pp. 165–180). Springer.
High Court curbs wage-hour agents. (1942, March3). New York Times, 11.
29.
Judge rules reporters are not professionals. (1944, January29). Editor & Publisher, 7.
30.
KilpatrickK.Lavoie-TremblayM.RitchieJ. A.LamotheL.DoranD. (2012). Boundary work and the introduction of acute care nurse practitioners in healthcare teams. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 68(7), 1504–1515.
31.
LarsonM. S. (1979). The rise of professionalism: A sociological analysis. University of California Press.
32.
LebovicS. (2016). Free speech and unfree news: The paradox of press freedom in America. Harvard University Press.
33.
LewisS. C. (2015). Epilogue: Studying the boundaries of journalism: Where do we go from here? In CarlsonM.LewisS. C. (Eds.), Boundaries of journalism: Professionalism, practices, and participation (pp. 194–200). Routledge.
34.
LlewellynS. (1998). Boundary work: Costing and caring in the social services. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 23(1), 23–47.
35.
MariW. (2021). The American newsroom: A history, 1920–1960. University of Missouri Press.
36.
MellingerG. (2013). Chasing newsroom diversity: From Jim Crow to affirmative action. University of Illinois Press.
37.
Minutes of meeting, New York, April 23, 1944. (1944, June1). Journalism Quarterly, 21(2), 176.
NeroneJ. (1993). Theory and history. Communication Theory, 3(2), 148–157.
40.
NeroneJ. (2011). Does journalism history matter?American Journalism, 28(4), 7–27.
41.
New exemptions from NRA Code: Members of newspaper editorial staffs other professional workers excepted. (1933, August1). New York Times, 10.
42.
News men demand 5-day week in code: “Professional” classification is denounced as depriving them of NRA benefits. (1933, September23). New York Times, 8.
43.
Newspapers fight payroll access. (1940, September7). New York Times, 10.
44.
Paper fights to balk subpoena by the NLRB. (1941, April5). New York Times, 8.
45.
Paper sues to halt Wages-Hour Law. (1943, December1). New York Times, 22.
46.
PickardV. (2015). America’s battle for media democracy: The triumph of corporate libertarianism and the future of media reform. Cambridge University Press.
47.
Press application of Wage Act argued at court. (1943, December4). Editor & Publisher, 42.
48.
Proceedings of the A.A.S.D.J. (1936, March1). Journalism Quarterly, 13, 1.
49.
Proceedings of the A.A.S.D.J. (1938, March1). Journalism Quarterly, 15, 1.
50.
Proceedings of the A.A.S.D.J. (1939, March1). Journalism Quarterly, 16, 1.
51.
Proceedings of the First Annual Convention, American Society of Newspaper Editors. (1923). The Society.
52.
Proceedings of the Twenty-Fifth Annual Convention, American Society of Newspaper Editors. (1948). The Society.
53.
Proceedings of the Twenty-Second Annual Convention, American Society of Newspaper Editors. (1944). The Society.
54.
Publishers seek status ruling on wage-hour law. (1938, October31). Los Angeles Times, 9.
55.
Rate journalism as a profession. (1940, July27). New York Times, 7.
56.
RoessnerA.PoppR.CreechB.BlevensF. (2013). “A measure of theory?”: Considering the role of theory in media history. American Journalism, 30(2), 263.
57.
ScottD. B. (2009). Labor’s new deal for journalism—The newspaper guild in the 1930s. University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.
58.
Stay issued in newspaper fight. (1944, February23). Cincinnati Enquirer, 22.
59.
Sun Pub. Co. v. Walling, 140 F.2d 445 (6th Cir. 1944).
60.
2 cases challenge power of Congress to classify press. (1942, October10). Editor & Publisher, 6.
Wahl-JorgensenK.HanitzschT. (Eds.). (2009). The handbook of journalism studies. Routledge.
64.
Walling v. Sun Pub. Co., 47 F. Supp. 180 (1942).
65.
WhitmoreE. H. (2004). A historical perspective on the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications from 1986–2003: Examination of the impact on curriculum [Doctoral dissertation]. Kent State University.
66.
WorkmanG. A. (1988). The accrediting council on education in journalism and mass communications: A history, 1970–1985 [Doctoral dissertation]. The Florida State University.
