1. A Matter of Degree: The Role of Journalists as Activists in Journalism Business and Policy
- Author:
- Neil Shister
- Publication Date:
- 04-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Aspen Institute
- Abstract:
- The prevailing view of journalism today draws on strands from a diverse portfolio of political, legal, and commercial theories. Some of the propositions underlying the way we regard the practice of the craft date back to the 18th-century “age of reason;” others are as current as yesterday's Wall Street media deal. “Journalism” is a historical hybrid— more an evolving social construct than a fixed point of reference. As such, it conveys contradictory associations: on one hand a band of swashbuckling iconoclasts daring to “speak truth to power;” on the other hand considerably more temperate, disinterested professionals gathering content to distribute through the “information division” of giant corporations. Each image is exaggerated; neither is wholly wrong
- Topic:
- Economics, Government, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe