INTRODUCTION
"Society demands that the men who minister to its health be in the highest sense of the word professional men − professionally trained, professional in their ethics, professionally responsible. Society demands professional training and professional conduct of the men who minister to its needs in legal matters. The fact that society demands less of the men who minister through news to its knowledge and attitudes is one of the great and dangerous inconsistencies that give shape to the twentieth century (Schramm, 1947, p. 90)."
McLoed and Hawley (as cited in Wilson, 1995) elucidated appropriately, "a recurrent journalistic controversy has involved the question whether journalism is a true profession or merely a craft." Sparked primarily by Lippmann and Dewey, extending into the age of the penny press (mid 1980s) and later, the attempt to commercialise the news (late 1980s) to our present era, there has existed a contentious debate on journalism being distinguished as a profession (Wilson, 1995).
Encapsulated in a democratic homeland since the advent of time, media systems are habitually acclaimed as the “fourth power,” with its journalists often hailed as the “watch-dogs” of such a society. Lending itself to act as ‘gatekeeper’ for the wider society and performing the traditional role of journalism, the media (overall) exist as powerful “instruments of knowledge” that perform the function of providing information to the masses in a public sphere, where issues may be discussed, justified and contested (Scannell, 1995, p. 17). Evidently, media workers play a pivotal role in our society; however, their status in the realm of professions is not definite. Although the above emphasize the predicament at the heart of ...
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...1995). The NWICO debate, Unit 20 of the MA MA in Mass
Communications (By Distance Learning). Centre for Mass Communications
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Nygren. G; Witschge T. (2009). Journalism: a profession under pressure? Journal of Media Business Studies, 6, 37-59
Scannell, P. (1995). Social aspects of media history, Unit 9 of the MA in Mass
Communications (By Distance Learning). Centre for Mass Communications
Research, University of Leicester, United Kingdom.
Schramm, W. (1947). Education for journalism: vocation, general or professional?
The Journal of Education, 2, 90-98
Wilson, G.R. (1995). Is journalism a bona fide profession? What the literature revealed.
Paper presented at AEJMC Southeast Colloquium, Newspaper Division. Retrieved from http://www.southerner.net/fast/JNPRO.html
In his editorial "Words Triumph Over Images," Curtis Wilkie blames today’s media for being “reckless” and “a mutant reality show”. He believes that television and radio are “unfiltered”, which causes the quality of journalism for newspapers to be unmatched. Yet, it is unfair to label all media that is not print as lesser because the quality of any media relies on the viewers and the individual journalists, and in drastic situations like a hurricane, reporters may have many road blocks. Any of these aspects can affect the quality of journalism, which invalidates Curtis Wilkie’s claim.
In the documentary film, Page One: Inside The New York Times, the inner world of journalism is revealed through journalists David Carr and Brian Stelter as the newspaper company The New York Times, struggles to keep alive within a new wave of news journalism. The film is dedicated to reveal the true inner mechanics of what modern day new journalists face on a daily basis and leaves the audience almost in a state of shock. It broadcasts news journalism as yes, an old school method of news generation, but it also highlights an important component that reveals the importance behind this “old school” methodology. We often think that progression always correlates with positive products, but the documentary insists that within the case of modern journalism, the new wave method is actually a detriment that can reap negative consequences.
It is not uncommon to hear people complaining about what they hear on the news. Everyone knows it and the media themselves knows it as well. Some of the most renowned journalists have even covered the the media’s issues in detail. Biased news outlets have flooded everyday news. We find that journalism’s greatest problems lie in the media’s inability for unbiased reporting, the tendency to use the ignorance of their audience to create a story, and their struggles to maintain relevance.
Theses and Professional Projects from the College of Journalism and Mass Communications. Paper 2. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/journalismdiss/2
First, the role of the media is to represent the public and intervene between the public and the government. The media is a mirror, which re...
The author provides a rough timeline of the objective norm emerging in American journalism, and explains the inner origin of these co...
Looking the historical moment we are living at, it is undeniable that the media plays a crucial role on who we are both as individuals and as a society, and how we look at the...
Mass Media. Ed. William Dudley. Farmington Hills, MI: Thompson Gale, 2005. 121-130.
Croteau, D., Hoynes, W., & Milan, S. (2012). Media/society (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Journalism and the Code of Ethics Introduction: What is the 'Standard' of the 'Standard Thesis - Current code is irrelevant to journalists. Why do you need to be a member? Importance of ethics in mass media. How to use [IMAGE]? A qualitative look Areas of concern ---------------- 1.
Bazalgette, Cary (2000) “Why Media Studies is Worthwhile”, in Dan Fleming (ed.), Formation : A 21st Century Media Studies Textbook, Manchester University Press, Manchester, pp.5-14.
This article focuses on research that reveals the de-professionalization and democratization of traditional journalism. The article explores the consequences of both the relation between traditional journalism and citizen journalism. The author argues that the emergence of citizen journalism is a consequence of the current factors effecting the changes in traditional journalism. The lines between professional journalism content and amateur journalism content have become blurred. The author explains how these factors have shown to affect the field of journalism in areas of employment, media technologies, shifting patterns of media use, and media consumption.
"Journalism Ethics Online Journalism Ethics Gatekeeping." Journalism Ethics for the Global Citizen. Web. 05 Dec. 2010. .
In trying to attract new audiences, news media have begun to transition from reporting to becoming a form of entertainment. With the meteoric rise of social media’s role as a news source, the fight for an increase of diversity in the media, and the ever-growing desire of immediate content, the future of responsible journalism is more important than ever. Ask yourself, why do I think the way I do? Where do my political views originate? How do I prove them? Most likely, it is due to the biased portrayal of issues in the media and the politicization that accompanies what we consume. Now, compare your views to your preferred news reporting entity. More than likely, they are the same.
The relationship between journalism and politics is a two-way street: though politicians take advantage as best