Hollow professionalism: The case of news journalism in Slovenia

This paper examines how journalistic professionalism in Slovenia is continually renegotiated through the interplay of normative ideals, ideological imperatives and material constraints. By tracing how normative commitments rooted in the principle of publicity interact with ideological imperatives and material constraints, professionalism in Slovenian news journalism is shown to be relational and constantly reconfigured. These forces converge uniquely, revealing tensions and compromises inherent in maintaining journalistic professionalism amid the reconfiguration of autonomy, the pauperisation of journalistic work, the proletarisation of the journalism community and the growing digitalisation and platformisation of news production. Introducing the concept of hollow professionalism, the paper argues that notwithstanding the symbolic architecture of professionalism in place, its normative core is ever more constrained by ideological influences and material pressures, leaving professionalism more performative and a matter of instrumental rationality.