Abstract
Journalism and Philosophy: Remembering Clem Lloyd
In one of his final contributions to the Australian journalism field, the late Clem Lloyd suggested the American "can-do" philosophy of pragmatism offers promising resources for those interested in theorising journalism. History suggests this kind of theoretical work is particularly challenging. In 1918, sociologist Max Weber argued that the special talent or what he called the 'genius' of journalists is rarely acknowledged, much less understood (Weber in Tunstall 2001). The task of theorising journalism has progressed slowly since then and it has produced more discord than agreement between journalists and media scholars. The scholars argue in favour of systematic, criteria-based analysis and assessment of journalistic practices to generate greater self-knowledge and improve media performance. They have also systematically criticised a great deal of news content since its origins. Conversely, professional journalists tend to disagree not by engaging in debate with scholars but rather by simply ignoring their work: the vast majority of academic literature from journalism studies and cognate disciplines goes unread by journalists and other media professionals (Walker in Tumber 2000). This is not to suggest, as many would have it, that journalists are anti-intellectual. Rather, as Lloyd (1999) indicates, practitioners tend to get on with 'the hard reality of practice' rather than get sidetracked into abstract thinking. Of course, the theory/practice binary is misleading because all communicative practice involves intelligent action, whether or not journalists want to call their work that or interpret it in explicitly theoretical terms. This paper takes up Lloyd's invitation to consider the linkages between American pragmatism and journalistic method. It canvasses the issue of anti-intellectualism in journalism before moving to critically appraise Lloyd's proposal and the historical linkages between American pragmatism and journalism theory. Reference is also made to alternative ways of thinking about the intellectual work of journalism.
Penny O'Donnell
University of Technology, Sydney