The Evolution of My Thinking About Professionalism

Abstract

The assumption that journalists who have professional values perform in ways that better serve their communities is embedded in the scientific literature on journalism. This notion is also incorporated into journalism education. Professionalism creates a distance between those believed to hold expert knowledge and those who do not. This essay argues that this gap is likely to make it harder for journalists to understand and serve their communities and provides evidence from participant observation that supports that argument.