What is Anglo-American Journalism? Or Does it even Exist?

This chapter interrogates the conceptual utility of “Anglo-American journalism” as an analytical category. While the term is frequently employed to denote shared journalistic norms in Britain and the United States - such as objectivity, the separation of news and comment, and commercial rather than partisan orientation - this chapter argues that such evocations risk privileging particular strands within diverse national traditions, overstating transatlantic commonalities, and conflating national origin with ongoing character. This chapter traces the development of journalistic forms in both countries, highlighting transnational borrowings and the mutual shaping of practices. Furthermore, it situates British and American journalism within broader global transformations, including the late twentieth-century diffusion of professional norms often labeled “Anglo-American.” Drawing on comparative research, this chapter argues that these norms have been widely adopted, though not uniformly, across varying political and cultural contexts. Insofar as such practices have become part of a global professional repertoire, the continued invocation of “Anglo-American journalism” may obscure more than it clarifies. Rather than treating it as a discrete or coherent model, this chapter advocates examining British and American journalism as outsized contributors to the making of global journalistic cultures.