Intellectual Character and the News Media Audience: the Role of Intellectual Virtue in Pursuing Successful Knowledge Claims

King, Fraser Alexander

Intellectual Character and the News Media Audience: the Role of Intellectual Virtue in Pursuing Successful Knowledge Claims

dc.contributor.advisor	Bowell, Tracy
dc.contributor.author	King, Fraser Alexander
dc.date.accessioned	2011-11-22T00:06:55Z
dc.date.available	2011-11-22T00:06:55Z
dc.date.issued	2011
dc.date.updated	2011-06-17T02:17:54Z
dc.description.abstract	This thesis explores the role of the audience within contemporary news media and how individual epistemic agents can make knowledge claims based on news media outputs. The aim is to show that the news media‟s audience plays an active role in the inter-relationships between themselves, media practitioners and media organisations. Further, it is argued that individual epistemic agents, as members of the audience of the news media, must exercise intellectual virtues in order to make successful knowledge claims based on news media publications and to be an active audience. The First Chapter considers contemporary media ethics and shows that the audience has largely been viewed as passive and has been under-evaluated when compared to the inter-relationship between practitioners and media organisations. Chapter Two evaluates the role of truth in the news media and how this affects trust of the news media within society. The Third Chapter introduces virtue epistemology, an approach which seeks to address the weaknesses of foundationalist accounts of knowledge by appealing to the cultivation and development of intellectually virtuous character traits of virtue epistemic individuals as responsible inquirers. This thesis argues that the application of Linda Zagzebski‟s theory of virtue epistemology has significant advantages for agents seeking knowledge based on news media outputs. The Fourth Chapter explores the application of intellectual virtues to knowledge acquisition based on contemporary news media examples; and finds that the traits of open-mindedness, inquisitiveness, thoroughness, and intellectual carefulness are of particular benefit to the audience in making successful knowledge claims based on news media publications. The thesis is concluded by arguing that the audience, as individual epistemic agents within a democratic society, have an active role in interpreting and shaping news media publications.
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf
dc.identifier.citation	King, F. A. (2011). Intellectual Character and the News Media Audience: the Role of Intellectual Virtue in Pursuing Successful Knowledge Claims (Thesis, Master of Arts (MA)). University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10289/5917	en
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10289/5917
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher	University of Waikato
dc.rights	All items in Research Commons are provided for private study and research purposes and are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
dc.subject	virtue epistemology
dc.subject	media ethics
dc.title	Intellectual Character and the News Media Audience: the Role of Intellectual Virtue in Pursuing Successful Knowledge Claims	en
dc.type	Thesis
pubs.place-of-publication	Hamilton, New Zealand	en_NZ
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Waikato
thesis.degree.level	Masters
thesis.degree.name	Master of Arts (MA)