Boycotting in journalism: how journalists quietly protest in an authoritarian country

A plethora of studies about boycotting exist in political science, marketing, business, and other areas of scholarship, but this theme has been largely overlooked in journalism. This case study contributes to scholarship on an underexplored aspect of journalism and its relationship with politics and public affairs by examining journalists’ boycotting behavior in a Central Asian context, focusing on Kazakhstan. This study uses interviews with journalists and editors to examine their boycotting behavior. The findings suggest that journalists and their news outlets in this politically constrained environment employ somewhat hidden, non-confrontational, or unannounced tactics to boycott certain news sources, events, and political decisions even when they consider boycotting ineffective. Accumulated professional tensions in an economically restricted and authoritarian context lead to such forms of resistance and protest, including boycotting. Financially independent journalists are more likely to boycott certain news sources, boycott the dissemination of certain language and information, challenge authorities, and protest or show resistance; their less financially secure counterparts are more reluctant to challenge external forces affecting their own professional practices. This study discusses the findings in relation to Bourdieu’s field theory.