From Symbolic Declassification To Hybrid Capital: The Case Of Artificial Intelligence In Algerian Journalism

Abstract

This article examines how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming professional hierarchies and symbolic capital within the Algerian journalistic field. Drawing on twenty semi-structured interviews conducted with Algerian journalists working in print, broadcast, and digital media, the study adopts a Bourdieusian framework to analyze how technological change reshapes professional legitimacy. The findings show that the introduction of AI generates differentiated effects according to age and professional trajectories. Senior journalists, whose authority traditionally relied on experience and newsroom seniority, often experience symbolic declassification when their skills are challenged by algorithmic tools and data-driven practices. In contrast, younger and mid-career journalists who possess strong digital and AI-related competencies tend to accumulate hybrid capital, combining journalistic expertise with technological proficiency. This hybrid capital becomes a new source of professional legitimacy in the field. Moreover, the study confirms that automation and algorithmization do not merely modify journalistic practices but fundamentally redefine the boundary between human authority and algorithmic authority, as described by Carlson and Lewis. By highlighting how AI operates as a structuring force within the Algerian journalistic field, this research demonstrates that technological innovation reshapes not only workflows but also power relations, status hierarchies, and professional identities in a Global South media context.