Introduction

Much of the debate about journalism is conducted within two largely separate camps, those of academics and journalists. Even then, the discussion is a lopsided one, with academics debating the key issues much more than journalists seem inclined to do. This is a book which attempts to rectify the imbalance and stimulate exchanges of ideas and opinions within the professional world of journalists that are at least as wide and as vigorous as those within the media-observing community of academics. This work sets out to bring the two groups together, both in terms of the people who write it and the common ‘language’ in which it is written, one which will avoid unnecessary jargon without any sacrifice of intellectual rigour.