Journalism and public intellectuals

Journalism is considered to be the practice of gathering, disseminating, editing, photographing, or broadcasting news about current events, trends, issues or people. Public intellectuals tend to utilize media in a variety of forms, typically through print, radio and online journalism. Journalism is of particular interest to those intellectuals who want to actively communicate with wider audiences outside of the academic sphere.

History

The roots of the modern day intellectual can be traced as far back as 5th century BC. The sophists of ancient Greece were renowned for their practice of charging the very wealthy of Athens for training in the art of debate. Opponents of the sophists, namely Plato and Xenophon who were followers of the philosopher Socrates, argued that these men were merely "arrogant bluffers who failed to match the depth of a genuine philosopher like Socrates". Like modern day public intellectuals, these men didn't fit into the social and cultural structure in the way their opponents preferred. The sophists imparted their skills of verbal dexterity to all those men who could afford the going rate - what was considered by the philosophers like Plato to be the remit of those imbued with god-given talent like himself, became available to a wider audience. Protagoras, one of the most notable sophists of this period, was credited by his denouncer Aristotle for suggesting a method that implied, 'Since there are no two sides to an argument, the weaker argument can always be made to appear the stronger'. This sophistic approach to justice rings true for the modern day intellectual in that one side of an argument may appear superior because of the financial and rhetorical resources enabling the polemicist to make their argument. A contemporaneous account of such a dilemma can be seen in the evolution vs. intelligent design debate: whilst proponents of the dominant evolutionary explanation of human existence benefit from across the board support by their peers and thus find it easier to gain funding for their research, the scientists who seek to develop their understanding of intelligent design receive limited support in the form of minority groups and think-tanks such as the Discovery Institute, which has funded only 50 researchers a year since the center's relatively recent founding in 1996.

The advent of a movable type printing press in 1439 by Johannes Gutenberg, a German goldsmith and printer, was key to the evolution of journalism and the public intellectual. Before this development, the production of knowledge was dominated by the homogeneous work of religious scholars who would transcribe lectures from their elders. By reproducing dominant discourses in this way, it was impossible for alternative accounts that were not certified by the Catholic church to become mainstream. By democratizing the production of knowledge, helped largely by the developments in printing technology, scientific publications could be published alongside religious publications so that contradictory discourses could begin to run alongside each other simultaneously.

Relationship between public intellectuals and the media

Canadian politician Michael Ignatieff, highlighted the shared vulnerability of both the public intellectual and the journalist:

"Intellectual life and journalism are both besieged by the entertainment business. We're part of the celebrity culture, and some of the authority we have comes from being celebrities of a low-candle power variety" (September 23, 2005). Although critical in his discussion of the public intellectual, Ignatieff makes an important observation about the relationship between the two occupations. He highlights the need for both intellectuals and journalists to remain utterly contemporaneous - only at the present moment can the two enjoy the authority fleetingly bestowed to them.

John McGowan makes an important insight as to the nature of the public intellectual. He states: "The term 'public intellectual', suggests that intellectuals have an obligation to speak out on issues in order to encourage citizens to take responsibility". This definition of the public intellectual can show us how the relationship between intellectuals and journalism is fostered. For an intellectual such as Karl Marx whose ideas have withstood the test of time, it is clear that the way he employed his journalistic skills - he began his radical career writing for a marginal campaigning newspapers - made a positive impact on the permanence of his legacy.

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