Journalism as Practice

The process of turning the news into just another product has been going on since at least the nineteenth century. But this process of commodification has accelerated since a few, publicly owned conglomerates have come to dominate the global media market. The emphasis on the bottom line has resulted in newsroom budget cuts and other business strategies that seriously endanger good journalism. Meanwhile, the growing influence of the Internet and partisan commentary has led even journalists themselves to question their role.In this book, Sandra L Borden analyzes the ethical bind of public-minded journalists using Alasdair Maclntyre's account of a 'practice'. She suggests that Maclntyre's framework helps us to see how journalism is normatively defined by the pursuit of goods appropriate to its purpose - and how money and other 'external' goods threaten that pursuit. Borden argues that developing and promoting the kind of robust group identity implied by the idea of a practice can help journalism better withstand the moral challenges posed by commodification.This book applies Maclntyre's virtue theory to journalism with philosophical rigor, and at the same time is informed by the most current thinking from communication and other disciplines, including organizational studies and sociology.