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Emotions in the media: A paradigm shift in thinking about public debate

Emotions in the media: A paradigm shift in thinking about public debate Western civilization long regarded emotions as the enemy of rational public discourse. Emotions belonged in the private sphere, rationality in the public sphere. This was a common truth for scientists, academics and politicians, as well as theoreticians and practitioners of public affairs. It was also true for ordinary people, not to mention the media professionals (writers, publishers and broadcasters) informing, educating and entertaining newspaper, radio and television audiences. Over a hundred years ago, the very first rules of professional media production and the first codes of ethics for journalists were based on the principle that what was published had to be true, and facts were to be separate from values, and news distinct from commentaries. These and later measures to raise the quality of media professionalism were taken in pursuit of rationality. In the offline world of the traditional newspaper, radio or television broadcast, the right (i.e. appropriate, correct, respected, appreciated) mass media meant rational mass media. A media that kept emotions at bay.Today, however, the world’s most important news medium is not a traditional publisher or broadcaster, but Facebook. And in the online environment, private and public are one and the same, while emotions and rationality exist side http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Human Affairs de Gruyter

Emotions in the media: A paradigm shift in thinking about public debate

Sámelová, Anna
Human Affairs , Volume 29 (3): 4 – Jul 1, 2019
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Publisher
de Gruyter
Copyright
© 2019 Institute for Research in Social Communication, Slovak Academy of Sciences
ISSN
1337-401X
eISSN
1337-401X
DOI
10.1515/humaff-2019-0029
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Western civilization long regarded emotions as the enemy of rational public discourse. Emotions belonged in the private sphere, rationality in the public sphere. This was a common truth for scientists, academics and politicians, as well as theoreticians and practitioners of public affairs. It was also true for ordinary people, not to mention the media professionals (writers, publishers and broadcasters) informing, educating and entertaining newspaper, radio and television audiences. Over a hundred years ago, the very first rules of professional media production and the first codes of ethics for journalists were based on the principle that what was published had to be true, and facts were to be separate from values, and news distinct from commentaries. These and later measures to raise the quality of media professionalism were taken in pursuit of rationality. In the offline world of the traditional newspaper, radio or television broadcast, the right (i.e. appropriate, correct, respected, appreciated) mass media meant rational mass media. A media that kept emotions at bay.Today, however, the world’s most important news medium is not a traditional publisher or broadcaster, but Facebook. And in the online environment, private and public are one and the same, while emotions and rationality exist side

Journal

Human Affairs – de Gruyter

Published: Jul 1, 2019

Keywords: mass media; rationality; emotions; online media content; public debate; change

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