JOUR 625 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Social Responsibility, Authoritarianism, Existentialism
3 Aug 2020
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Document Summary
The relationship between autonomy and accountability as well as freedom and responsibility has been debated for a long time. A lot of theorists say that both are needed for the media to function properly in our democratic society. This needs to avoid the either or way of thinking. This leads to anarchy on the one part of the spectrum and authoritarianism on the other end. This emphasizes the existence of a person and by extension, the ideas of the moral individual, subjectivity, personal choice, and commitment of the person. Existentialists say that because there isn"t a predestined nature of people. People are defined and in the end, evaluated by their own free choices they have taken and actions of those choices. Journalists should choose to freely use their choice in disclosing patterns of social environments and weaknesses of those to promote change. Journalistic autonomy is a concept that is integral to committing to seeking truth.
