While reading a book called The Mind of a Journalist by Jim Willis, it was very interesting to find a chapter with the title, “The Priesthood of Journalists.” What does that mean exactly? Well, it seems like many journalists see their work as surrendering to a higher calling of serving others (http://tinyurl.com/3lssjos), not unlike the clergy of a church or even police officers. They describe this priesthood with two important theories: hegemony theory and news work theory.
The hegemony theory is directed at journalists’ beliefs, comprised of their social, cultural, and ideological beliefs. Beliefs being defined as convictions about whether something is true or false. The problem with this theory is that many critics come out and state that editors and reporters of the news media are the ones who decide what is important and report what they want the public to know or not know. However, many of us know that, by and large, those days are over, because of technology that lets the public not only have feedback (http://www.cnn.com/feedback/hdlns/), but also have a say in which news they want for themselves.
The second part to this priesthood of journalism is the news work theory. Within each office there is a type of news culture and these norms and ethics are passed down from older generations to newer generations of journalists (http://tinyurl.com/fmg37). Some of the norms are not for all and among journalists there are debates on what is right and wrong. One of those debates is how detached journalists should become from their community to report with less bias and be equal to all parties. That is usually left to each office and is determined by the news director or editor.
The hegemony theory is directed at journalists’ beliefs, comprised of their social, cultural, and ideological beliefs. Beliefs being defined as convictions about whether something is true or false. The problem with this theory is that many critics come out and state that editors and reporters of the news media are the ones who decide what is important and report what they want the public to know or not know. However, many of us know that, by and large, those days are over, because of technology that lets the public not only have feedback (http://www.cnn.com/feedback/hdlns/), but also have a say in which news they want for themselves.
The second part to this priesthood of journalism is the news work theory. Within each office there is a type of news culture and these norms and ethics are passed down from older generations to newer generations of journalists (http://tinyurl.com/fmg37). Some of the norms are not for all and among journalists there are debates on what is right and wrong. One of those debates is how detached journalists should become from their community to report with less bias and be equal to all parties. That is usually left to each office and is determined by the news director or editor.
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