The Core Idea of Journalism Professionalism

definition

fundamental principle

function

Reality paradox

The development of history

trait

catalogue

1 summary

2 Basic information

3 definition

Four basic principles

5 function

6 reality paradox

7 historical evolution

origin

Professional theory

specialist agencies

Professional norms

Eight characteristics

objectivity

realness

independence

freedom

9 Development of China

the job specification

Secret report

10 limit

Journalism professionalism is an important concept of bourgeois journalism and the most important journalistic professional norm that western journalists abide by. The core idea of journalistic professionalism is, on the one hand, objective journalism, on the other hand, the independent position and unique role of news media and journalists. Journalism professionalism, objective journalism and the independence of news media are overlapping concepts. They are all products of history and have experienced development and changes. /kloc-journalistic professionalism began to form at the end of 0/9, emphasizing the function and responsibility of the media as an independent social subsystem to collect, sort out and disseminate information. On this basis, it also includes a set of beliefs about the social function of news media, a series of professional ethics to standardize news work, a spirit of obeying higher authority besides political and economic power and a conscious attitude of serving the public. This principle pays attention to the audience's right to know and contact, takes "justice, openness and fairness" as the goal orientation, and emphasizes social responsibility.

Basic information

Chinese name

Journalistic Professionalism

Foreign name

professionalism

definition

Independent of any authoritative news concept.

target

Serve all people.

definition

Journalism professionalism is a news concept independent of any authority, with certain idealism and strong anti-authority spirit. It requires reporters to report the facts with an objective, true and accurate attitude, dig out the truth of the matter and show the original ecology of the facts to readers. Its most prominent feature is that news facts can be reported objectively from the standpoint of no party or group. The goal of journalistic professionalism is to serve the whole people, not a certain interest group.

fundamental principle

For different countries, the definition and standards of journalistic professionalism are not necessarily the same. The core of western journalistic professionalism is some basic principles that determine professional characteristics, including:

1. The media has the function of a public instrument, and news must serve the public interest, not just political or economic interest groups;

2. Journalists are social observers, reporters of facts, not propagandists of a certain interest group, nor participants or instigators of political and economic conflicts;

3. Journalists are the "gatekeepers" of information circulation, and the basic criterion adopted is the mainstream social values with the middle class as the main body, rather than any ideology that needs to be instilled into the mainstream of society;

4. Judge the truth and falsehood of facts by the rational standard of empirical science, and obey the supreme authority of facts, not any political rights or economic forces;

5. Obey the professional norms based on the above principles, accept the self-discipline of professional organizations, and do not accept the control of any external power or authority.

function

Traditionally, journalism is not a profession, and journalists are not considered as "professionals". The original journalists came from publishers, workers and apprentices in the printing industry, all of whom were "gossips" running around, with a bad social image and low economic and political status. Once labeled as "professional", American journalists' social status has risen sharply and their professional image has taken on a new look. In people's minds, they have become gatekeepers who wear decent clothes, go in and out of high-level buildings, identify social information, and also become arbiters who judge public opinion.

Journalism professionalism pursues simple facts, which leads to the objectivity of news. Objectivity is a rule or mechanism that enables journalists to separate facts from their opinions, thus avoiding personal prejudice. It requires journalists to stand in a neutral position, report news and reflect opinions in an objective way. According to the theory of journalistic professionalism, the newspaper industry is an autonomous system, and it must adopt an independent and critical attitude towards the government, political parties and politicians, otherwise it will not be able to maintain its image as a "protector" in the public and gain public trust. And good image and high trust are one of the important capitals for the media to win the market.

With regard to the mission of mass media in capitalist society, lasswell, a pioneer of communication studies, pointed out three obvious functions: patrolling the environment, combining with society and inheriting culture. Shi Lamu, the founder of communication studies, used simpler expressions-watchdog, forum and teacher. The watchdog task entrusted to the media by liberals is the most important news public opinion function of mass media.

When performing these functions of the media, journalistic professionalism has two main characteristics-neutral gatekeeper and objective reflector. Objectivity and neutrality are the characteristics of journalistic professionalism, from which a set of professional ideas and skills have been developed.

Neutral gatekeeper

Neutral stance and objective reports have not eliminated the inherent contradictions in capitalist society and its journalism. But it does provide an operational criterion for all people related to news, so it has become a universal basic news value. The "gatekeeper" model emphasizes the need to discover and disseminate important news. Journalism professionalism requires gatekeepers to make essential choices according to the neutral standard of "news value" rather than personal likes and dislikes. At the same time, journalists use "objectivity" to show the credibility of their reports, thus improving their professional status.

Objective mirror

Objectivity provides a legal way for the news media as a whole. With the change of media economic sources, the definition and appearance of news have also changed. Fanatical views and remarks have lost the market; A fair and balanced editorial policy has become popular with objective writing methods. In bourgeois journalism, objectivity was the key creed of professionalism at first, and later it became the "strategic program" of news practice-it protected journalists from attacks from all sides.

Reality paradox

The paradox between ideal and reality often exists in various forms. In the process of pursuing the ideal of journalism professionalism, western journalists often fall into the paradox of ideal and reality due to the norms and constraints of realistic factors, and deconstruct the myth of freedom, objectivity, justice and independence advertised by the West.

Paradox between the pursuit of journalism and realistic expression.

Describing the truth of news phenomena objectively, fairly, independently and truly to reflect the essence of the facts, taking serving the whole people rather than a certain interest group as the practical concept, and satisfying the information needs and right to know of the whole public to the maximum extent are the core connotations of the pursuit of journalism professionalism. However, this kind of professional pursuit caused confusion in the actual performance.

As early as the sixties and eighties of last century, Professor eldridge from the School of Media Studies of Glasgow University in the United Kingdom clearly pointed out that the significance of objectivity in practice is ever-changing, and news is the construction of a certain culture. The factors affecting objectivity are as follows: 1. The influence of news culture has formed different cultural differences and public opinion environment for communicators, which often leads them to draw up a predetermined news operation mode and interpretation mode. In this way, journalists have vague and uncertain diversity in grasping and distinguishing the concepts of objectivity and subjectivity, justice and one-sidedness, truth and lies, independence and dependence, and the difficulties in ideological understanding naturally lead to practical differences. 2. The direct manipulation of the right to speak news by the government, the state and the media owners strengthens the implication of the mainstream social value system for the objectivity of news, and challenges the principle of objective independence of news by the government power discourse. For example, after the "9 1 1" incident, the right wing of the mainstream social value system in the United States, even Christian fundamentalism, challenged the principle of objective independence of mainstream news in North America as never before, which has become an obvious manifestation of the relationship between news and political democracy in North America. 3. Paradox between news value demand and social demand. From the perspective of structure and function, news plays the role of a neutral gatekeeper and a "loyal watchdog" to society. In information dissemination, journalistic professionalism requires the selection according to the neutral standard of news value, and it is incumbent on all information that meets the requirements of news value to be disseminated; Instead, they gave up selflessly. However, consumers are increasingly picky about what they want to see and read, and what mainstream media are still doing is to translate complex and diverse reality into a simple symbolic world with only a few voices. Therefore, news value requirement and social demand become two contradictory concepts, which leads to a huge gap between media truth and objective truth. As Glasgow Group shows, the media often serves the mainstream society and often reflects an elite consciousness. The actual situation shows that social needs are popular and multi-level.

Paradox between journalistic professional ethics and interests.

Journalism professionalism strictly regulates journalistic professional ethics, which requires journalists to have a strong sense of historical mission and a high sense of social responsibility, abide by the norms of professional ethics and organizational norms, and put everyone's interests first. News is formed by the commercial operation of journalism, the communication technology controlled by the government and its media consultants, and the tastes and entertainment habits of citizens. In terms of increasing audience and ratings, it is also the main dimension that affects the social benefits and economic profits of news organizations. Moreover, under the fierce competition of different media communication modes and the same media communication mode, journalists often deviate from the constraints of journalistic professional ethics and try their best to spread political information to meet the special demands of enterprises, governments and audiences. The content and form of news reports, the operation mode and management process of media are all based on the interests of consortia and their influence on media interests.

The development of history

origin

Western journalistic professionalism originated in the United States. /kloc-In the middle and late 20th century, with the disintegration of party newspapers and the commercialization and grandstanding of the media, journalism professionalism rose. By the middle of the 20th century, under the strong impetus of American democracy, positive scientific principles and citizens' will, it developed into the dominant discourse to interpret and judge journalism. 1947 a free and responsible newspaper, the report of the Committee on freedom of the press headed by hutchins, formally advocates media specialization: "We suggest that our functions be regarded as professional public services.

Professional theory

From the beginning, the American newspaper industry was not the spiritual carrier of the public ideal. At first, it was influenced by political prejudice. Later, they paid more and more attention to advertising and economic benefits. The economic independence and market operation of the media have produced another power center. The public believes that in a democratic society, the media is endowed with great privileges; However, it does not promise, or more often, it does not fulfill its obligations to society, which is meaningless.

Therefore, the theory of media social responsibility came into being. After World War II, the Committee on Freedom of the Press headed by hutchins, President of the University of Chicago, formally called for the professionalization of the news media in its classic "A Free and Responsible Newspaper" document.

specialist agencies

It is a phenomenon at the turn of the century that journalists pursue information.

* As early as 1896, after Adolf Ochs, an American, bought The New York Times, he put forward three goals: noble news policy, independent and fair comments and accurate and detailed news materials, which were opposite to the irritating yellow news. Since then, great changes have taken place in news.

* 1903, Pulitzer donated $2.5 million to Columbia University to establish a journalism department, and set up a news bonus to train and encourage professionals.

* 1908, the first journalism school in the United States-the journalism school of the University of Missouri was born.

Professional norms

After World War I, the idea of professionalism was deeply rooted in people's hearts, and American journalists began to look for suitable professional norms.