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January 5, 2004

Toward a field theory of journalism...

To begin understanding the influence of journalism on culture I think it's important to consider the concept of noetic field. A noetic field (as defined by James A. Berlin in Writing Instruction in Nineteenth-Century American Colleges) is a "closed system defining what can, and cannot, be known; the nature of the knower; the nature of the relationship between the knower, the known, and the audience; and the nature of language." Berlin concludes from this (and I agree) that rhetoric "is thus ultimately implicated in all a society attempts. It is at the center of a culture's activities."

At any given time there is a dominant noetic field and, therefore, a dominant rhetoric.

I notice that changes in the noetic field can be mapped to changes in writing/rhetoric instruction in American universities (I am not suggesting cause). I also notice that changes in journalism map to these changes in writing instruction and the noetic field. For example, objectivity as a value in discourse arose in journalism and writing instruction at the same moment.

Also at any given time, alternative rhetorics fight for dominance on the margins of the culture. These alternative noetic fields also map to changes in writing instruction and journalism. For example, the expressivist movement (emphasis on personal voice) arose in the universities in the 1960s at the same time writers began practicing the so-called New Journalism. Today, we see civic journalism fighting in margins to influence professional practice at the same time that the classical concerns of rhetoric (taught by professors with PhDs in rhetoric rather than English literature) are returning to academia.

I contend that journalism is the most important discoursive practice in our culture. As such, it reflects and drives the noetic field. And this means that it has a profound, even establishing, effect on the dominant rhetoric. Journalism tells us who the knower is, what he can know, how he can know it, his relationship to an audience, and the nature of language as a medium of thought and expression. When I say that journalism is an under-theorized practice (as I have many times), one of the things I mean to suggest is that most journalists practice their profession without understanding their role in the noetic field.

In civic journalism, I see the possibility for a change in the noetic field--something that hasn't happened for about 100 years.

UPDATE (9:26 a.m.): Although he doesn't use the term, Jay Rosen's latest essay concerns the concept of noetic field.

Posted by acline at January 5, 2004 9:07 AM | | Spotlight