Cultural studies in journalism education: Obscurantism equals profundity

This essay first appeared in Quadrant, May 1998. It revisits the intellectual conflict between media/cultural theorists and vocational oriented journalism educators. The author argues that the convoluted theorisations and postmodernist verbiage used by cultural/media theorists to expound their ideas and assumptions are so obscure that very few people outside the field can understand what is being said, nor see their relevance to journalism education. Obscurantism is assumed to equal profundity. The author asserts that journalism educators should draw from their professional experience, write their own textbooks and develop their own 'journalism theory ',