One of my May projects is to complete a chapter for “The Journalism Student of the 2020s,” the textbook I am writing. I am studying an article titled Theories of Journalism published in “Journalism Studies” and authored by Stephen Reese of the University of Texas-Austin. Reese’s lead reads, “Journalism seeks to observe and communicate what it learns of social importance, something called news, and in doing so is always in the process of creating a public by bringing it into synchronized conversation with itself.” I think “creating a public” means the journalistic organization’s aim for and the engendering of a segment of consumers and offering them news that the media organization thinks it wants or needs. “Bringing it into synchronized conversation with itself” means that news consumers are like-minded in what is being received in the news product because the media organization has created the content to bring about the characteristic of homogenous thinking. Reese’s article has nourished my vocabulary by using such terms as ethnographies, assemblage and normative. 1. ethnography (eth-NOG-ruh-fee) A. the in-depth study of a culture or a facet of a culture B. a qualitative research method from the discipline of anthropology C. the study and systematic recording of human cultures D. a descriptive work produced from the study and systematic recording of human cultures E. an anthropological branch dealing with the science of cultures Reese writes, “A sociology of news perspective resurfaced with more ethnographic research in newsrooms in the 1950s, and theories of journalism have continued to highlight the ethnographic method, especially in understanding the impact of technology on a more digitally-oriented journalism practice.” All five apply to No. 1. 2. assemblage (uh-SEM-blige) A. democratic discourse B. global connection C. mass produced D. the act of assembling; the state of being assembled “Journalism theories,” writes Reese, “now have as much interest in process as product, in assemblage as outcome, but still need to be concerned with the nature of quality of these spaces.” No. 2 is D. 3. normative (NOR-muh-tiv) A. preclusion B. parapet C. of, relating to, or determining standards D. empirical 4. The discipline of journalism originated with A. Thomas Jefferson. B. Plato. C. the University of Chicago school of sociology. D. normative theories. E. The London Times. No. 3 is C. No. 4 is C. Editor's Note: Dr. Don Rodney Vaughan is the pastor of Mt. Vernon Baptist Church near Eupora and is on the faculty of East Mississippi Community College, Golden Triangle Campus. Contact him at dvaughan@eastms.edu.
