Rethinking Journalism as a Profession

Abstract

There is no significant body of theoretical knowledge considered vital to the practice of journalism. So, can other standards of competency substitute for this esoteric knowledge? Could the standard of theoretical knowledge be expanded to recognize professional competency instead? Doctors and Lawyers provide an obvious contrast. They cannot practice without a firm grasp of the theory underlining their profession. A key to defining a profession then is no doubt establishing an understanding of what professional practice means in terms of knowledge and competency. In the 1920s American philosophers Walter Lippmann and John Dewey engaged in an ongoing debate about the role of journalists. The debate never really ended. What they both agreed on was that journalists played a vital role in a democratic society. Where they disagreed was how that role should be played. They argued about whether the press should be leaders or teachers of the citizenry (Champlin and Knoedler 2006). Lippmann had become disenchanted with democracy in the twentieth century. He viewed modern society as too complex for the average citizen to make informed democratic choices. In his view, trained experts were needed to make decisions and explain those decisions to the citizenry. Dewey argued that democracy required the active participation of citizens. According to him it was the job of journalists and the government to “figure out how to engage the entire public in the decisions that would affect them all in the end” (cited in Champlin and Knoedler 2006). At the heart of this debate is whether or not journalists should really

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