Epistemology, Structure and Urgency
The Sociology of Financial and Scientific Journalists
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2642386 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Geoff Cooper (University of Surrey; Drexel University, corresponding author), M F E Ebeling (0000-0003-4208-7098, University of Surrey), Mary Ebeling (University of Surrey; Drexel University) |
| Year | 2007 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 86-97 |
| Publication date | 2007-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sociological Research Online (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1360-7804 • E-ISSN: 1360-7804 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.5153/sro.1558 |
| OpenAlex | W2097295041 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 26 |
This paper, which examines the work of journalists in one field, argues for the value of including journalists' own understandings and practices in analyses of the role of the media. Moreover it suggests that, in this field, there may be more commonalities between the practices of journalism and social science than is commonly supposed. The paper is based upon a set of interviews with scientific and financial journalists, covering their interpretations of nanotechnologies and their development. Whereas much of the social scientific work to date in this area has been concerned with the public understanding of science, and the role that journalism plays in relation to this, our study addresses the parallel issue of how, in a field characterised by high levels of commercialisation, potential investors get information and make judgments about particular applications, and the extent to which journalism plays a key role in this process. Here, we focus not primarily on the ways in which the media frame understandings of a complex technology, important though they may be, but on the practical epistemological strategies that journalists employ to make sense of it. We argue that journalists can be seen to be engaged in epistemological strategies that are analogous to those of sociologists, and that this dimension is too easily missed by approaches that, for example, recommend that the correct unit of analysis should always be journalism rather than journalists. We conclude by suggesting that, whilst the general applicability of our argument to other fields of journalism is necessarily an empirical question, our approach may have more general significance for debates about the critical role of social science
Epistemology · Journalism · Media studies · Political science · Social media · Social science · Sociology · Sociology of scientific knowledge · Technical Journalism · Climate Change Communication and Perception · Computer Science · Law · Misinformation and Its Impacts · University-Industry-Government Innovation Models
Selling Science
Scientific Practice and Ordinary Action
Making news
Knowledge and social imagery
News Narratives about Nano S&T in Major U.S. and Non-U.S. Newspapers
Journalistic practices and science reporting in the British press
Dwarfing the Social? Nanotechnology Lessons from the Biotechnology Front
Rethinking Standpoint Epistemology
Interests and Explanation in the Social Study of Science
Do Artefacts Have Ambivalence
The interaction of journalists and scientific experts
Bourdieu and the Journalistic Field
Embargoes and Science News
Opening Pandora's box
The Framing of Nanotechnologies in the British Newspaper Press
Introduction—Nanotechnology and the Public
Method Matters
Framing Effects on Public Opinion about Nanotechnology
Why Has Critique Run out of Steam? From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern
Constructing a Market, Performing Theory
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,25 |
| Citation span | 2014 - 2021 (8) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |