ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by looking at several different roots to a Pragmatist epistemology of the news media, starting with the Marketplace of Ideas, which argues that speech should compete on an open market unencumbered by the state and other influences. It discusses the American Pragmatic tradition, viewing truth as contingent. These two traditions will then be related to news media and journalism studies followed by an examination of the extensive criticisms of Pragmatism. The difference for news media is viewing it as a democratic marketplace of Ideas can cause the audience to have a limited view of the world and the solutions to problems they face. The chapter explores in greater detail the antagonisms inherent in an epistemological system relying on such contradictory positions. Rorty's Neopragmatism rests on the assumption that there is no objective point from which people can judge subjectivity.
