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The historical evolution of journalism as a contingent cultural practice shows the emergence of specific distinct forms. Given this postulate, it is important to identify the factors which might impact on journalism and to explain the structural modifications. To this end, the authors pose a series of hypotheses concerning, on the one hand, three particular forms of journalism (opinion journalism, information journalism, and communication journalism), and on the other, the modalities of passage from one form of journalism to the other. In order to verify these hypotheses, they propose a methodological approach which is sensitive to the influence of individual actors.

Transformations in the media over the last twenty years have meant that journalists must make adjustments to their practice as well as to their professional norms. In the end, these adjustments give way to a the emergence of a new journalistic paradigm, communication journalism. The authors proceed from a critical examination of the concept of paradigm, borrowed from Thomas Khun's theory of scientific revolution, and concentrate on the characteristics of communication journalism in contrast with information journalism, and opinion journalism.

The terms "text" and "code," hugely polysémie, only hold heuristic interest if it is possible to give them an operational definition. Even if we can establish the logical comprehension of a "journalistic text", this definition remains unsatisfactory if it is not complemented by a description of the structural properties of this type of text. On the other hand, the notion of a "journalistic code" does not conform to the definition of a linguistic or semiological code but may be retained in the sense of a "system of constraints". That said, it is thus important to describe the constraints which govern the production of a journalistic text or a newspaper in its entirety as well as the modalities of their application.

A comparative analysis of the press coverage of televised debates held during the Quebec provincial elections of 1962 and 1994 shows that the latter is particular in two ways : the emergence, in the margins of war and sports metaphors, of new theatrical metaphors as well as, the new phenomenon of the metaphorization of journalism and journalists themselves. These two aspects are inscribed in a revindication of journalists whereby they are no longer mere witnesses, but veritable actors in the news. The hypothesis of journalism as an instance of coproduction of the news appears the most apt to apprehend this aspect of the contemporary evolution of journalism.

The author concentrates on a description of the ethical discourse of the Quebec Press Council, based on the conceptual definition of its mandate and a reading of its decisions. This analysis shows the partiality of the Council and the arbitrariness of its decisions. The Council manages to maximize moral responsibility while minimizing the concrete responsibilities of the press by subordinating its imputability to its necessary freedom. Within its jurisprudence, it applies a normative system whose indeterminate nature confers an apparent coherence to decisions concerning uncertain practices. The ambivalence of the argumentation and the involvement of the Council bears witness to the gaps which exist between this normative system and the effective practice of the press, and the attempts of the Council to reconcilíate the two in hopes of providing comfort to the legitimacy of press enterprises and journalists.

Through a content analysis using the reconstructed Hansard of the Québec Legislative Assembly as a historical standard, this article examines the degree of impartiality of the parliamentary reports published in the Montreal and Québec City dailies between 1871 and 1921. A study of the format, style and completeness of the accounts, as well as of the reporter's bias with respect to the party allegiance of the speakers and the political affiliation of the publisher, generally bears out accurate reporting devoid of distortions. The impartiality theory is thereby confirmed.

The 1881 press law sanctions a moral pact between the press and the French republic under which the two institutions become responsible to each other. In the decade following this law, political powers accorded many material and professional advantages to journalists. After the Second World War, the republic was reestablished, and the advantages to the press restored. However, the rather tardy arrival of television in France drew the press into financial difficulties and provoked the decline of its influence on the public and on political powers. In the 1980s, a reorganization of the media began which has had the effect of denying a privileged position for the daily press.