Dilemmas and Puzzles of Journalism

Dennis Mcquail

doi:10.21039/cca.4

Abstract

Editor’s Note This paper is a transcript of the keynote lecture given by Professor Dennis McQuail at the “Rethinking Media and Journalism Practice” conference hosted by the University of Winchester’s School of Media and Film in 2013. Sadly this could not be published before his passing in June 2017. Still, we are honoured to have these thoughts which offer a definition of journalism, and set out dilemmas that theoreticians and practitioners across global divides may want to reflect upon as they reconsider the subject area. The paper collates several concerns militating against our understanding and practice of journalism and the media into ten dilemmas. Responding to these should keep us busy for a while as we ponder issues identified and questions raised, as we raise our own. Scholars are invited to note and grapple with key concepts, and to consider the mapping sentence offered, and mindful of historical, socio-cultural and economic specificities in their context, appraise existing, or propose fresh models. Media practitioners, especially practising journalists, are invited to augment the submissions from an esteemed observer of their profession (or craft) with their own experiences. This transcript has been edited and condensed slightly for clarity of communication in written form. The editor’s words are set out in square brackets.

Highlights

The conference is titled Rethinking Media and Journalism Practice
It’s very hard not to [note this] every time you are in another country that you know something about. [It is easy] to have the impression that the typical journalism of news media is more supportive of the way of life, and the interests, and the ideas and the outlook of their own place
That covers everything one might want to say about new media and online media and the end of journalism

Summary

Introduction

The conference is titled Rethinking Media and Journalism Practice. I became aware I suppose (not that I was unaware that there were other places than the United Kingdom) but I became aware that [the] United Kingdom was quite unusual. That experience developed into a longer-term interest in media policy [which] in the last year, especially since my formal retirement, focused on the normative theory of the press. Those are thoughts which lay behind but were the specific origins of that book [Journalism and Society (McQuail 2013)], which was really a small scale project with a Russian colleague.

Defining Journalism

Conclusion