The Primacy of Principles: Exploring Journalism Educators' Democratic Imperative to do Good Work
Open Access
- Author:
- Winters, Caryn Lynette
- Graduate Program:
- Mass Communications
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- June 18, 2013
- Committee Members:
- Marie Hardin, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Anthony Olorunnisola, Committee Member
Charles Elavsky, Committee Member
Jacqueline Edmondson, Committee Member - Keywords:
- Journalism
Mass Communication
Journalism Education
Good Work
Democracy
Higher Education
Civic Education
Ethics - Abstract:
- By engaging in an interdisciplinary examination of the democracy-education relationship, this humanistic inquiry will identify and explore the principles that define journalism educators’ special obligation to do good work. My thesis is prefaced on the notion that determining the principles that guide what it means for educators to do good work in a democratic community requires an intersectional analysis in which an educator’s professional responsibilities and special obligations as citizens are understood as mutually constitutive of each other. Good work, which stems from Harvard University’s Good Work Project, is work that is excellent, personally engaging, and serves a broader social need. In this project, I position good work, education, and democratic citizenship as the conceptual framework of democracy. Each can be considered important elements of an enlightened democratic community. Each has been the object of considerable bodies of scholarship. Each carries assumptions and obligations for individuals and publics. Yet in many ways, good work, education, and democratic citizenship lie outside of a unified consideration of their interactive nature. By focusing on the role of the Enlightenment in defining the principles that are most cherished by modern democracy, I hope to stimulate deep reflection among citizens, journalists, and journalism educators about those principles that ought to guide our understandings of our roles and responsibilities as citizens and professionals. When good work can be leveraged in this way, journalists and educators are better able to fulfill their duty to build democratic capacity among citizens. This capacity includes the knowledge, skills, and moral judgment necessary to engage in substantive and, potentially transformative, political participation.