Stephen J. A. Ward
4Epistemologies of Journalism
Abstract: This chapter takes the pulse of contemporary journalism epistemology in light of a fundamental shift from realist to social constructivist epistemologies in the mid-20th century. The first section sketches, historically, how journalists have tended to adopt a common sense realism and empiricism, consistent with realist epistemology. In the early 1900s, this informal approach evolved into a formal, dominant doctrine – professional news objectivity. This flawed epistemology became a doctrine to be overcome. The second section outlines the emergence of several kinds of constructivist epistemologies for journalism, as alternatives to news objectivity. The final and third section re-imagines ...
Get Journalism now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
