Journalism and the Politics of Mobility

Abstract

This paper presents a theoretical reframing of journalism as a fundamentally mobile practice and outlines a research agenda for studying the politics of mobility in journalism that is centered on the everyday work of journalists. Our reframing draws on geographer Tim Cresswell’s work on the six components of a politics of mobility, which are motive force, speed, rhythm, route, experience, and friction (Cresswell, T. 2010. “Towards a Politics of Mobility.” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 28 (1): 17–31). Cresswell poses six key questions about mobility, and rephrasing them to to fit journalists, we get why do journalists move?; how fast do journalists move?; according to what rhythm do journalists move?; what route(s) do journalists take?; how do journalists feel when they move?; and what stops/impedes the movement of journalists? These questions entail a research framework concerned with the different conditions of movement for different bodies, thus drawing attention to previously under-studied areas of journalism studies.