Elements of Journalism, Chap 1

cm 135 an introduction to journalisml
BRUCE CLARY INSTRUCTOR
The Purpose of Journalism
And Why Its Future Is at Risk

What is journalism for?

What is journalism for?
“The primary purpose of journalism is to provide
citizens with the information they need to be free
and self-governing.”

What is government for?

What is government for?
“The primary purpose of government is _______
___________________________________.”

“Two constitutional principles have
clashed: the government’s view of
national security and the newspapers’
view of their freedom to print.”
Eric Sevareid, CBS News
June 30, 1971

Journalism is so fundamental
to the concept of creating
community and democracy that…

…a free press was among the first rights the
Founding Fathers of this country felt it
necessary to secure in the Bill of Rights.

Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
Government for a redress of grievances.

…societies that want to suppress freedom
must first suppress the press.
Recent Examples?

Threats to Journalism Today

•Internet

•Internet
•Shifts in reader/consumer behaviors

•Internet
•Government

•Internet
•Government
•Self-destructive behaviors and attitudes

•Internet
•Government
•Corporate conglomerations

•Internet
•Government
•Corporate conglomerations
•Globalization

Threats from the Internet

•Blogs

•Blogs
•Citizen journalism

•Blogs
•Movement of advertising away from traditional media

•Blogs
•Movement of advertising away from traditional media
•News aggregators

Self-destructive Behaviors and Attitudes

•Plagiarism, betraying public trust

•Responding to business pressures by appealing lowest
common denominator

•Responding to business pressures by appealing lowest
common denominator
•Arrogance about journalism’s gatekeeper role

Journalistic Arrogance and the Theory of Democracy

Walter Lippmann, Public Opinion (1922)
•Democracy an unattainable end due to the media’s
weaknesses and the public’s disinterest and
ignorance

Walter Lippmann, Public Opinion (1922)
•Democracy an unattainable end due to the media’s
weaknesses and the public’s disinterest and
ignorance
John Dewey, Review of Public Opinion (1922)
•Democracy (and, thus, reliable journalism) not an
ends but a means; the end is individual liberty and
self-realization, not efficient government

•Lippmann’s view of the populace still influential

•This view of the elitist press deciding what the ignorant
common person needs to know has alienated citizens
from the journalism they need to remain free

•This view of the elitist press deciding what the ignorant
common person needs to know has alienated citizens
from the journalism they need to remain free
•This is the context in which Kovach and Rosenstiel
propose the Theory of the Interlocking Public

The Theory of the Interlocking Public

Involved

Involved Interested

Involved Interested
Uninterested

Elements of Journalism, Chap 1

Elements of Journalism, Chap 1

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