A labour market without boundaries? Integration paths for young journalists in French-speaking Belgium

Abstract

This study aims to describe the growing influence of flexibility rationales on the early careers of young, francophone Belgian journalists. The study on the integration of new journalists enables us to grasp how the destandardisation of the beginnings of a career creates new identity forms in part distanced from the traditional values that had managed to make journalism a job that was distinct, recognised and more or less solidly positioned in the social sphere. At its most extreme, flexible rationale acts as a key factor in the increasingly frequent divide between a job and work. After having established these observations through a longitudinal study of a body of young journalists, the study analyses the impact of flexible rationales in the identity forms and the theoretical issue of boundaries between journalism and others business sectors.