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In a theoretical sense, then, the professions have two levels of obligation, corporate and
individual’ (Abbott, 1983: 856).
5. Merrill concentrated on the following six factors: (1) in-country licensing; (2) international
licensing; (3) identification cards or accreditation; (4) university education; (5) in-country
codes of ethics; and (6) international codes of ethics.
6. It is interesting that Windahl and Signitzer should single out civil engineers as a definite
example of professionals, as this occupational group has often been seen as problematic in
this respect. Thus, according to Collins: ‘There is no doubt at all that engineers have valid
scientific knowledge (and indeed have had it. ... for at least 2000 years). But engineers have
had the greatest difficulty in getting themselves organized as a self-governing occupa-
tional group, and they have rarely had high prestige ...’ (1990b: 18).
7. Rosengren et al. also draw attention to the relevance of normative theories of the media in
this respect: ‘Professional quality of programming is most central in the Free Press Theory,
the Social Responsibility Theory, and the Democratic Participant Theory, while under the
Authoritarian, the Soviet and the Development Media Theories, professional quality of
programming is leading a much more precarious existence’ (Rosengren et al., 1991: 68).
8. ‘The symbolic representations of integration are what Durkheim called “religion”’ (Berger
and Luckmann, 1967: 198). McQuail (1987: 88–94) provides a useful discussion of the
relationship between mass media and social integration.
9. See, for instance, the New York Times, 30 October and 2 November 1989.
10. The Committee to Protect Journalists (1986a) has compiled a list which includes the names
of 293 journalists who were killed or disappeared between 1976 and 1986. The list is not
meant to be conclusive as many cases go unreported. Furthermore, it does not include
journalists killed in crossfire or random attacks or those murdered for strictly personal
reasons. Rather, it classifies those who appear to have been targeted for what they investi-
gated, wrote, broadcast or photographed, or because they were identified as journalists
and were perceived as threats. The Committee (1986b) also compiled a list of 328 attacks
on the press in 1985. While the list reflects all the cases the Committee investigated, the
Committee says it should not be regarded as complete as many cases go unreported. The
early 1990s have seen ample evidence of the hazards that journalists in many conflict-
ridden areas of the world have to face. Even in a country supposedly at peace such as Turkey,
journalists were being killed at the rate of one a month in 1992.
11. Others have acknowledged the criterion of vital importance with regard to journalists. But
this acknowledgement is liable to be put in a derogatory context: ‘Aside from the stories they
are paid to tell, professional journalists also invent myths about themselves. One such myth
stresses the socially edifying features of their occupation. According to that story, journalists
gather and disseminate the vital information democracy needs to function’ (Pauly, 1988: 246).
12. Kepplinger and Köcher (1990: 305) point out that the Washington Post and the New York
Times have started to document errors in reporting and to discuss questionable editorial
decisions.
13. Lichter et al. (1986: 27) provide an illuminating anecdote of a television network employee
who said to a prominent politician being interviewed by Dan Rather, anchorman of CBS
News: ‘Senator, Mr Rather will only have time for one more question’.
14. Windahl and Rosengren (1978) make a useful distinction between individual professional-
ization and the professionalization of an occupation.

References

Abbott, Andrew (1983) ‘Professional Ethics’, American Journal of Sociology 88(5): 855–85.
Abbott, Andrew (1988) The System of Professions. An Essay on the Division of Expert Labor. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Altheide, D.L. and R.P. Snow (1979) Media Logic. London: Sage Publications.
Armstrong, David (1990) ‘Medicine As a Profession: Times of Change’, British Medical Journal
301(3 October): 691–3.