News cultures or “epistemic cultures”? Theoretical considerations and empirical data from 62 countries

Yigal Godler, Zvi Reich

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

In order to gain an understanding of journalists’ conceptions of what being factual means, the present work supplements the existing insights of journalism studies and the sociology of knowledge and philosophy with data about journalists’ beliefs regarding the importance of detached observation and reporting things as they are, spanning 62 countries (N = 18,248). In essence, our goal is to contribute to a future theoretical account of why journalists possess the beliefs that they do vis-à-vis truth-seeking and knowledge-acquisition. Data point to a significant relationship between reporters’ level of freedom and their conceptions of knowledge and reality. We discuss the implications of these findings for the debate about the possibilities of universality and context-dependence of journalistic fact-finding.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)666-681
Number of pages16
JournalJournalism Studies
Volume18
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - 4 May 2017

Keywords

  • epistemology
  • fact-finding
  • facts
  • news culture
  • objectivity
  • sociology of knowledge

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Communication

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