The Nature Of News As Knowledge

Based on the perspective of sociology of knowledge which is different from traditional elpistemology,this study is to discuss the nature of news as knowledge,so as to inject a new understanding into the research of news.The sociology of knowledge is the branch of cultural sociology,so this study can also be regarded as a part of cultural study of news.Based on John Dewey's concept——experience,William James and Robert Park's knowledge typology,Ernst Cassirer's symbolic philosophy,Roy Bhaskar's theory of critical realism and S.I.Hayakawa's linguistic thought,the first and second chapters explain in detail how the human experiences are constructed into different knowledge types through symbols,thus defining the nature of news as knowledge——news is knowledge of acquaintance with society and common knowledge.Ernst Cassirer revealed that there are two fundamentally different dimensions of human experience perception:toward the world of things and towards the world of personality,this idea points to two different dimensions of the nature of news as knowledge.In the third chapter,through the analysis of the typical samples of The Pulitzer Prize,it is found that there are two kinds of basic "ideal types" of news——Experience concretization type and experience abstraction type.When different experiences were given order,news usually use two different abstract means——scientific narrative and literary narrative.On the one hand,it needs to abstract the direct experience into objective facts and causality through scientific language and narrative;the other hand,it needs to abstract the direct experience into social meaning.Science narrative and literature narrative as two kinds of abstract construction patterns are both designed to give the direct experience cognitive order through symbols,and different ways of human understanding of the world.Chapter 4 attempts to explain why news is primarily a form of knowledge of acquaintance with society,that is,explain what factors news as knowledge is limited by.In this study,news is limited by the structural constraints of the living world,because news production and circulation constitute a "closed perception structure",which is difficult to go beyond for journalists and news consumers.This study points out that news objectivity should consider the nature of news as knowledge.Chapter 5 reexamines the relationship between news and society in news and communication researches.Then,based on the understanding of Park's collective behavior and social psychology,it points out how news plays a unique force in the operation of society as perceived knowledge.News plays a different role in the moderm society through its dual meaning of knowledge,can rebuild the social community,to achieve social maintenance and change.