‘Homo journalisticus’: Journalism education’s role in articulating the objectivity norm

Abstract

This study, building on an ideational theory of historical change, examines what role journalism education had in the articulation of objectivity as an occupational norm from the 1890s to the 1940s. An analysis of early texts of journalism education shows how objectivity was naturalized and legitimated. The texts rarely engaged criticism of objectivity and instead mythologized journalism by portraying it as a mechanical process overseen by professionals who are like judges, scientists and professors. The desires of audiences and advertisers did not complicate objectivity, as contemporaneous critics suggested – the texts conclude that market mechanisms were what made objective journalism possible.

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