Collective deskilling, value displacement and newsroom de-professionalization under autocratization

This study examines de-professionalization of journalism in the context of a society undergoing rapid autocratization. De-professionalization is understood as a process that undermines journalistic autonomy through the intertwined mechanisms of collective deskilling and value displacement. In-depth interviews with 70 journalists in Hong Kong after the establishment of the National Security Law shows that collective deskilling inside newsrooms proceeded with leadership change, exodus of experienced journalists, and thus the disruption of knowledge and skill transmission. Value displacement is manifested through the degradation of the types of skills tied to specific normative role conceptions and the weakening of the dominant status of professional discourses inside newsrooms. Nonetheless, professional-oriented journalists do try to resist and establish abeyance structures for preserving values and identities. The analysis adds to our understanding of the politics of press freedom in an autocratizing society by pinpointing de-professionalization as a key process and explicating how it can occur.