Pukallus, S. orcid.org/0000-0002-5011-7210 and Harrison, J. (2021) The politics of impunity: a study of journalists’ experiential accounts of impunity in Bulgaria, Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Mexico and Pakistan. Journalism, 22 (2). pp. 303-319. ISSN 1464-8849
Abstract
Definitions of impunity regarding crimes against journalists have thus far been too narrow. Therefore we propose a new approach to understanding impunity as also being grounded in journalists’ lived reality and perceptions to better understand the complexity and breadth of impunity. It is based on the findings obtained through a set of semi-structured interviews with 40 editors and senior journalists in five countries and expressed in a new typology of impunity. We argue that what we call the ‘Politics of Impunity’ is a policy of governance whereby impunity is used as a political tool by the state and state-sponsored actors to achieve journalistic self-censorship. This is done through the deliberate deprivation of private autonomy brought about by the enforced exile of journalists into a ‘space of exception’ where they are both within and beyond the law. The exercise of the ‘Politics of Impunity’ in an increasing number of states creates an environment that only allows for politically compliant journalism.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2018 The Author(s). This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in Journalism. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. Article available under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
Keywords: | Comparative research; journalism safety; impunity; media freedom; self-censorship |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Journalism Studies (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number UNESCO 4500283441 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 02 May 2018 11:04 |
Last Modified: | 21 Apr 2021 16:17 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/1464884918778248 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:130150 |
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Filename: Final accepted version Harrison and Pukallus.pdf
Licence: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0