The Imperative of Freedom

by John C. Merrill

Since the first version of this classic work was published in 1974, major events in which American journalism has played a decisive role have cast the reporter increasingly as the subject for public examination. The newsman has become news. Though there are more serious, responsible journalists today than at any time in America, the less serious, less responsible also have great exposure. The loss of credibility of the mass media is widely acknowledged, and is a considerable concern to serious journalists. For not only is American policy-making hampered by sensational journalism, but also weakened is the philosophical foundation of a free society; a society committed to maximize the freedom of well-informed choice for individual citizens in a period of massification. This book presents a philosophy of journalism that not only relates to a journalist's everyday activities, but also deals with a broad Weltanschauung for journalism which is built largely on the ideas coming out of the Age of Reason. Areas of philosophy are political philosophy and its relationship to journalism, epistemological concerns-primarily journalistic objectivity and truth-seeking, and journalistic ethics.

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Dr. John C. Merrill was a long-time journalism professor/professor emeritus at the Missouri School of Journalism, University of Missouri. He served four years in the Navy during WWII. After the war he got his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Delta State College and LSU respectively, a PH.D. in mass communication from the University of Iowa and a M.A. in philosophy fom the University of Missouri in 1971.
Professionaly he was affiliated to the Northwestern State College in Natchitoches, Louisiana and to the Texas A & M University. Between 1964 and 1980 he was a professor at the University of Missouri. In 1980 he became a professor at the University of Maryland, where he left after one year to become director of the School of Journalism at Louisiana State University. Three years later he returned to teaching at LSU, from which he retired in 1991. He returnd to Columbia and continued to teach part time at the School of Journalism until 2000 and teaching, lecturing and conducted workshops all over the world.
Dr. Merrill received numerous honors and distinguished professorships. Amongst these were the Honor Medal for Distinguished Service to Journalism of the University of Missouri (1996) and the campus-wide Award for Research from Louisiana State University. In 1975, he and Bill Rivers of Stanford University, were the first members of the Journalism Hall of Fame at Louisiana State University.

Reviews

[Geoff]

The author took some shit for plagiarizing from a student newspaper article here at Mizzou. I read this in the space of two weeks at the counter of The Cherry Street Artisan.

The book itself wasn't all that memorable. Something about staying independent to beat back the creation (or the continuation?) of an organizational press narrative that [insert further grad-student speak here].

[Janica · Rating 5 out of 5]

because it is a beautiful book