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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 and Practice: real k nowledge institutions life with its concerns and needs
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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 and Practice: real knowledge 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
So what? • Such dilemmas and paradoxes are real and healthy as intellectual stimulation for the field which suffers from self-sufficiency and technological fascination. • Challenge to professionalism is welcome as a cure against the “fortress journalism” syndrome