Abstract
Notions of life and death hold a prominent place in our metaphorical repertoires.
As oppositional pairs go, there are few more stark and palpable, and this is probably why it’s not only tempting but also persuasive to present the claim for journalism’s worth in similar terms. If journalism is indeed the ‘lifeblood of democracy’ and all this implies, societies with an unhealthy press are evidently at risk. Pleas for solutions to improve journalism’s conditions therefore tend to go hand in hand with doomsday scenarios about the broader losses for society if journalism-as-we-know it should cease to exist. While such thinking may not always be put in austere terms, it is nonetheless a constitutive part of the discourse that surrounds journalism as well as the basis for many concerns over its future.
As oppositional pairs go, there are few more stark and palpable, and this is probably why it’s not only tempting but also persuasive to present the claim for journalism’s worth in similar terms. If journalism is indeed the ‘lifeblood of democracy’ and all this implies, societies with an unhealthy press are evidently at risk. Pleas for solutions to improve journalism’s conditions therefore tend to go hand in hand with doomsday scenarios about the broader losses for society if journalism-as-we-know it should cease to exist. While such thinking may not always be put in austere terms, it is nonetheless a constitutive part of the discourse that surrounds journalism as well as the basis for many concerns over its future.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Rethinking Journalism Again : Societal role and public relevance in a digital age |
| Editors | Chris Peters, Marcel Broersma |
| Publisher | Routledge |
| Publication date | 2017 |
| Pages | 1-17 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781138860865 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781317506416 |
| Publication status | Published - 2017 |
| Externally published | Yes |