JOURNALISTIC ETHICS: THE RISE OF THE "GOOD EMPLOYEE'S MODEL": A THREAT FOR PROFESSIONALISM?

The construction of a formal discourse on ethics is a direct contribution to the formation of identity within and outside a would-be professional group. Three successive approaches struggled and finally mixed to form the ethics that has, since the 1950s expressed the idealized moral independence of journalists from the commercial interests of the media. In Quebec, that dominant conception is currently being challenged by the rise of a "good employee's model " which in turn challenges the quasi-professional status of journalists. La construction d'un discours Cthique contribue B la formation de I'identitC collective des travailleurs qui aspirent au statut de professionnels. Chez les journalistes, trois conceptions Cthiques se sont opposks et finalement mariks pour former le discours qui, depuis les annks '50, exprime un ideal d'indCpendance par rapport aux intCrets commerciaux des mCdias. Au Quebec, la pdCminence de cette Cthique est actuellement menack par la mont6e d'un modhle cent16 sur le "bo