City Research Online

Abstract

Ongoing disruptions to information ecosystems place unabatedpressure on journalists to identify false news stories. In France,the 2017–2022 period epitomised such challenges, as they had tograpple with an outpouring of disinformation throughincreasingly sophisticated methods. As economic, organisationaland political pressures often leave them with inadequateresources to counter the issue, why do journalists still believetheir job is worth doing? To answer this question, Bourdieu’sconcept of illusio, summarised as the idea that “the game isworth the candle/the effort”, has been applied in guidinginterviews with 15 participants working for French mainstreamnews organisations. Findings hint at a shift in the traditionalbuttresses of journalistic illusio, many no longer considering thatthey have the capacity to influence in the current informationdisorder. Crucially, most of the interviewees admit questioningthe impact of their work, in particular since the COVID-19pandemic, which points to a gap between ideals and practice.While self-reflection is always beneficial in a professiontraditionally reluctant to consider its own shortcomings,understanding the factors that erode this illusio is key at a timewhen a journalist’s career in France only lasts, on average, 15 years.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Publisher Keywords:	Authority, autonomy, COVID-19, disinformation, French journalism, illusio, journalistic field
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General)
Departments:	School of Communication & Creativity School of Communication & Creativity > Department of Journalism
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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