ferment in the field: professionalism under fire
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Ferment in the field: Professionalism under fire. Ullamaija Kivikuru NSS Intensive course in Lusaka. Professionalism: Starting point. Theory < Journalism> Practice Theory: concepts andPractice: real k nowledge institutions life with its concerns and needs - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Professionalism: Starting point
Theory <Journalism> Practice
Theory: concepts and Practice: realknowledge institutions life with its
concerns and needs
Thinking Action
Idea of profession as solution to combine them
First wave: Professional ideals in journalism (Jay Blumler)
• Traditional:– eyewitness (on-the-spot reporting or an illusion of it)– observer (does not take stand)• Blumler:– entertainer– social critic– ”member of kibbutz”, participant
Transfer of professionalism(Peter Golding)
• Institutional transfer (leads to ”wholesale” acquisition of modes, practices, standards & imported material)
• Educational transfer (scholarships, expert teachers, import of training schemes and teaching materials, North/South)
• Skills orientation takes easily over, and mainstream professionalism is not adjusted according the the quests of society.
Our time: Civic/public/citizen media, social media: the concept of professionalism under scrutiny
• Audience participation in ’new’ journalism • The public takes over: participatory platforms
(Indymedia Movement, etc.)• Community media (based on voluntarims)
But:
Some forms of professionalism tend to emerge with time (community media, OhmyNews, etc.), both on skills and theory level
Sociology of professions: Main traditions
• Functionalist-idealist view (Durkheim, Weber, Parsons) professions as specialization and development in society
• strengthening social cohesion, replacing pre-industrial moral order and religion
• optimistic vision, part of modernity (“Journalists as marketers of modernity”)
• Critical-realist view (since 1960s) professions as bastions of elitism• weakening democracy, making citizens to passive consumers • turning into new religion
There is always a link to power
• Authoritarian • Commercial • Paternal • Democratic • Postmodernist
(Raymond Williams, Hannu Nieminen)
Said about professional journalism
• Citizenship civic journalism and social media shrink the profession • Liquid media work disperse the profession
• Self-regulation codes of ethics and courts of honor support narrow autonomy
• Professional autonomy helps industry against democracy • Self-regulation removes media outside democratic control
• Journalism education professional training nurtures narrow professionalism
• Multimedia needs in curricula push liberal arts aside