Journalism as Emotional Labour

Abstract

Part I introduced a conception of the public sphere, or of our civic culture, as a highly complex field of emotional forces. The disposition of these emotions at any given time will shape the contours of public opinion, will broadly determine the range of political alternatives which are on offer, and will set parameters and probabilities for the kinds of participation which people will engage in. (As we will discuss in more depth later, this includes at present the kind of perverse participation expressed in terrorist attacks.)

Parts of this chapter are based on a talk given in London on November 2005, in a Tavistock Clinic Public Policy Seminar on emotions and journalism (‘Emotional News’), and on a lecture on ‘Containment functions of the media’ in the Tavistock Clinic Scientific Meeting Series in February 2006.