Creativity and constraint in the making of a CBC Radio current affairs programs.
Published: 2005
Language: eng
Number of pages: 366
Description: An ethnographic study of a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Radio Current Affairs program. I draw on "neo-modernist" theorists such as Jurgen Habermas, Michael Mann, and Hans Joas to put forward a theory of creative action. Based on a field study of the CBC work unit, I argue that radio producers and technical staff are both constrained and freed by the networks of resources they find around them. These networks can be analyzed as material, organizational, and cultural resources. Pragmatically pursuing goals within a changing context, radio workers pursue both established routines and creative innovation. In doing both they are influenced by a myriad of factors. The most important of these are: monetary funding; the organizational power of the Executive Producer; the possibilities and restrictions of the genre of current affairs; the organizational roles of the Senior Producer and Host; the journalistic norm of balance and objectivity; the influence of the broader media environment on story choice; and the influence of gender roles. I conclude that my theoretical framework and ethnographic method avoid the pitfalls of unidimensionality, determinism, and gender blindness found in many other studies. I provide a more comprehensive and detailed insight into the workings of a media organization, and in particular provide new insights into the current affairs genre and the construction of a masculinized media workplace.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-10, Section: A, page: 3827.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Toronto, 2005.

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