ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that, contrary to many of the critics, journalism’s major problems may stem from too little professionalization, not too much. In a nutshell, the fragile intellectual-institutional grounding of journalism seems unable to keep up with the dazzling changes in the technological platform from which news is reported. Looking back just a quarter of a century, the reasons for the lag become clearer. It analyzes a wide range of survey questions about organizational memberships, roles, ethics, and values. It suggests the field’s already weak professional culture eroded further in the 1980s. Despite the highest levels of education in the history of journalism, improved salaries, and lingering idealism among journalists, the press corps in 1992 seemed plagued by self-doubts and stung by public criticism. Journalists at the more prominent, national media in 1982 tended not to be members of professional organizations.
