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We tend to view systemic changes of and challenges to journalism from the perspective of mainstream powerful actors. We set boundaries (Carson and Lewis, 2015) around the “safe” centre of the field and overlook the peripheries (Hanusch and Löhmann, 2023). But there are many other actors, positions and points of view and together these provide a more comprehensive and realistic picture of the state of journalistic work within a specific spatial and temporal framework (Deuze and Witschge, 2020; Tandoc, 2019; Schapals, Maaares and Hanusch, 2019). Moreover, in the peripheries the factors that influence changes are equally relevant and often even more visible and tangible (Waschková Císařová, 2025a). To emancipate the perspectives of actors in the peripheries of the journalistic field, and more generally, the peripheral position of journalistic scholarship in Central and Eastern European countries (Waschková Císařová, 2025b), I focus on recent changes in the journalistic field from the perspective of its unseen and unheard actors using Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of action (Maares and Hanusch, 2020; Bourdieu, 2005; Benson, 1999). The paper is based on two sets of qualitative data, 40 in-depth interviews with Czech journalists, copyeditors (17) and local journalists (23) conducted in 2024 and 2025. Doubtless, these interviewees impact Czech journalism and are part of the journalistic field, yet they are not visible (particularly in the case of copyeditors; cf. Duffy, 2021) or heard (in the case of local journalists; cf. Waschková Císařová, 2025a) neither in professional nor in academic debates. I conclude that both groups of peripheral actors are impacted by structural changes (e.g. technological, economic and political ones) but they are most concerned about more tangible factors: power relations with other actors inside and outside the field (e.g. media owners and politicians); precarity of journalistic work (cf. Örnebring, 2018; Rick and Hanitzsch, 2024); and uncertainty about the future of the profession related to the gradual loss of their relevance as they – copyeditors – are being replaced by AI as well as ownership changes in local journalism. An exploration of these peripheral tangible factors and developments in CEE countries furthers not only our knowledge beyond (Deuze and Witschge, 2020) the most researched media systems but also transcends the mainstream view of journalism (Waschková Císařová, 2025a).
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