Press Credentials, Boundary Work, and Hybrid Boundary Zones: The Case of WorldNetDaily and the Standing Committee of Correspondents
Abstract
Press credentialing practices are an understudied, yet vitally important site of scholarly research on journalistic norms and practices. Credentials not only structure internal professional hierarchies, but also signify the boundaries of the journalistic field itself. This paper explores the legal and theoretical implications of press credentialing to cover Congress, drawing on field theory and boundary work to demonstrate the material impact of the space between fields on professional legitimation in journalism. Using WorldNetDaily (WND) as a case study, I argue that the Standing Committee of Correspondents (SCC) occupies a hybrid boundary zone between the journalistic and political fields, generating a unique tension in First Amendment jurisprudence that places journalists in a paradoxical role as both the professional figureheads for the exercise of free speech as well as the constitutional stewards charged with enforcing its limitations. The resulting jurisdictional conflict between the SCC and WND demonstrates the consequences of professional journalists misidentifying their position within the field and how outsiders opportunistically raid the cultural toolbox of professional journalism at its fuzzy boundaries. The relevance and implications for press credentialing practices in the digital age are discussed.