Deride and Conquer: Solidarity and Competition When Journalists are Challenged by Populist Leaders

Over the past decade, journalists have faced intensifying pressures from anti-media populist leaders, parties and movements. Evidence shows that solidarity and collaboration are incredibly significant resources for journalists to fight back against political attacks on the media. This study uses interviews with Israeli journalists who were targeted by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to examine what enables–and prevents–journalists from joining forces to protect their independence and reputation. Based on thematic analysis of 45 semi-structured interviews (2018–2020), this study indicates that targeted journalists have experienced a decrease in solidarity and collaboration following the populist media bashing, rather than an increase. The article highlights how a fragmented media environment, rising political polarisation, weakened professional associations, and changes to the journalistic culture allow the populist anti-media campaign to discourage potential collaboration among journalists under attack. Furthermore, the article suggests that competition became ingrained in the US-oriented journalistic ethos in the country–as a professional value rather than economic obstacle that should be overcome. This strong notion of competition as a defining feature of journalism has seemingly contributed to the “deride and conquer” effect of the populist media bashing.