Remodeling the Hierarchy: An Organization-Centric Model of Influence for Media Sociology Research

Abstract

Primarily due to an influx of market models, the journalism industry recently experienced a fragmentation of professional culture and, therefore, professionalism. This theoretical essay proposes a new focus for understanding influence on journalistic practice. Studying influence in the twenty-first century requires a model that does not include a hierarchy and therefore does not implicitly validate a universal journalism culture. The theoretical article first explains the hierarchy of influences model, argues for its alteration, and then resituates that model’s levels of analysis into a new model that more appropriately accounts for the growing agency of individual organizations. Finally, the paper envisions avenues for future research utilizing the new model.