Media and Communication· 2026Q1
Resisting the Boys’ Club: Tactical Agency, Gendered Performances, and Professional Survival in Czech Political Journalism
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- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Political journalists, both male and female, deploy complex, situationally-triggered tactics for professional survival in a gendered, masculinized environment, though these strategies primarily accommodate rather than dismantle the existing status quo.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Journalists employ complex strategies for professional survival and visibility in a gendered political journalism environment.
- Tactical choices are shaped by specific situational triggers in daily practice.
- These strategies enable daily survival but temporarily accommodate, rather than dismantle, the existing status quo.
- The study moves beyond victim-centric frameworks to explore journalists' active navigation of professional structures.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
In the still masculinized “boys’ club” of political journalism, women are frequently cast as passive subjects of systemic exclusion. This article subverts that narrative, moving beyond traditional victim-centric frameworks to explore the granular, everyday navigation of female and male journalists within gendered professional structures. Leveraging a robust longitudinal dataset of 139 interviews across three iterative waves, we reveal how and why political journalists deploy complex strategies and tactics to secure professional survival and visibility. This approach demonstrates how specific situational triggers fluidly shape these choices in daily practice. Ultimately, this study highlights the profound ambivalence of individual agency: While these highly restricted tactical choices enable daily survival within a hostile reporting environment, they temporarily accommodate, rather than dismantle, the underlying status quo, directly underscoring an urgent need for institutional and structural evolution.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Media and Communication, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Communication
CommunicationSocial Sciences