Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Reed College of Media

Department

Reed College of Media

Committee Chair

Joseph Jones

Committee Member

Julia Fraustino

Committee Member

Devin Smart

Abstract

This paper examines how Congolese journalists construct their professional identity

and legitimacy while working under conditions of conflict and state pressure, and how

international media outlets discursively represent them through Western journalistic norms.

Addressing previous research and centering local perspectives, this study uses critical

discourse analysis to compare language, framing, and narratives across Congolese and

international media texts, and the works in which they produce. Attention is given to how

agency, professionalism, and constraint are represented within each discourse. The analysis

focuses on metajournalistic discourse, or journalism talking about journalism, to examine

how professional norms and boundaries are articulated and contested. The findings show that

while Congolese journalists present themselves as active professionals navigating complex

conditions, international and advocacy narratives often frame them as victims of repression.

By analyzing these differences, the paper demonstrates how journalistic authority is not fixed

but negotiated through discourse, and how dominant global standards are both reinforced and

contested in conflict contexts.

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