News professionalism is an efficient and effective means of controlling the working behavior of journalists. The norms of news professionalism determine legitimate arenas and news sources, and although journalists do not set out to report news so that the existing political and economic system is maintained, their norms end up producing stories that implicitly support the existing order. Furthermore, professional norms legitimize the existing order by making it appear to be a natural state of affairs. In addition to allowing news organizations to maximize audience size and maintain marketplace controls, news professionalism results in coverage that does not threaten the economic position of the organization or the overall system in which it operates. Since professionalism is independent of any one organization, journalists have a power base to use as a lever against management, and management limits potential conflict by establishing policies that further limit the professional behavior of journalists. The boundaries created by this interplay are broad enough to permit some creativity in reporting, editing, and presenting news stories, and narrow enough so that journalists must act in the interest of the news organization. (CRH)