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News as a Form of Knowledge: A Chapter in the Sociology of KnowledgeAuthor(s): Robert E. ParkSource: The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 45, No. 5 (Mar., 1940), pp. 669-686Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2770043

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NEWS AS A FORM OF KNOWLEDGE: A CHAPTERIN THE SOCIOLOGY OF KNOWLEDGEROBERT E. PARK

ABSTRACTFollowingJames's categories, knowledge bout" is formalknowledge; acquain-tancewith" s unsystematic,ntuitive nowledge r "common ense." When theaboveare regarded s beingpointson a continuum, ews lso has a point characteristic f tstransientnd ephemeral uality. The extent o whichnews circulatesdetermines heextent o which the members f a societyparticipate n its political action. News is"something hat willmakepeople talk," tends to have the character f a public docu-ment, nd is characteristicallyimited o events hat bring bout sudden nd decisivechanges. Exclusive attention o some thingsnhibits esponses o othersresultingn alimitation f the range and character f the newsto which societywill respond ol-lectively r ndividually. he function f news s to orientman and society n an actualworld.

There are, as William James and certainothershave observed,two fundamental ypes of knowledge,namely, i) "acquaintancewith" and (2) "knowledge bout." The distinctionuggested eemsfairly bvious. Nevertheless,n seeking o make it a little moreex-plicit, am doubtlessdoing njusticeto thesenseoftheoriginal.Inthatcase, in interpretinghedistinction, am merelymaking tmyown. James'sstatement s, in part,as follows:

There retwokinds fknowledgeroadly nd practically istinguishable: emay call them espectively nowledgef cquaintancendknowledge-about.....In minds bletospeak t all theres, t s true, ome nowledgebout very-thing.Thingsanat leastbe classed,nd the imes ftheir ppearanceold.But ngeneral,he esswe nalyze thing,ndthe ewerf tsrelationseper-ceive, he essweknowbout tandthemore urfamiliarityitht softheacquaintance-type.he twokinds fknowledgere,therefore,s thehumanmind racticallyxertshem, elativeerms. hat s,the ame houghtfathingmaybe calledknowledge-aboutt ncomparisonith simplerhought,oracquaintanceitht ncomparisonith thoughtf t that s more rticu-lateandexplicittill.'

At any rate, "acquaintance with,"as I should like to use the ex-pression, s the sort of knowledgeone inevitably acquires in theI William James, The Principles ofPsychologyNew York: Henry Holt & Co.,I896), I, 22I-22. 669

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670 THE AMERICAN OURNALF SOCIOLOGYcourse f one's personal nd firsthandncounters iththeworldabouthim. t is theknowledgehich omeswith se and wont ath-er than throughny sort of formal r systematicnvestigation.Under uch ircumstancese come inallyo know hings otmerelythroughhemediumfour pecial enses ut throughheresponsesofourwhole rganism.Weknow hem n the atter ase as weknowthings o whichwe are accustomed,n a world o whichwe areadjusted.Such knowledge ay, nfact, e conceived s a formforganic djustmentr adaptation, epresentingn accumulationand,so tospeak, fundingfa long eries f experiences.t is thissort fpersonalnd ndividualnowledge hichmakes achofus athome ntheworldnwhich eelects r s condemnedo ive.It is notorioushat humanbeings,who are otherwisehemostmobile f iving reatures,endneverthelesso become ooted,ikeplants,n theplacesand in theassociations o which hey reac-customed.f this ccommodationfthe ndividual ohishabitat stobe regardedsknowledgetall, t sprobablyncludednwhatwecall tact orcommonense.These arecharacters hichndividualsacquiren nformalnd unconscious ays;but,onceacquired,heytend o become rivate ndpersonal ossessions. nemight o sofar s todescribehemspersonalityraits-something,tanyrate,which annotwellbe formulatedr communicatedrom neindi-vidual o another yformal tatements.Other ormsf"acquaintancewith" re: (i) clinical nowledge,in so far t least s it s theproductfpersonalxperience;2) skillsand technical nowledge;nd (3) anythinghat s learned y theundirectednd unconsciousxperimentationuchas the contactwith, ndhandling f, bjects nvolves.Ourknowledgef other ersonsnd of humannature ngeneralseems o be of this ort.We know therminds n much hesameway hatweknow ur wn, hat s, ntuitively.ftenweknow therminds etter han we do our own. For themind s not the merestreamfconsciousnessntowhich achofuslookswhen,ntrospec-tively, e turns is ttentiono themovementsfhisown houghts.Mind srather hedivergentendenciesoact ofwhich achofus ismore r esscompletelynconscious,ncludingheability o controland direct hosetendenciesn accordancewith omemoreor less

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NEWSASA FORMOF KNOWLEDGE 67Iconscious oal. Human beingshave an extraordinarybility, ywhatevermechanismtoperates,osense hese endenciesnothersas inthemselves.t takes long ime, owever,obecomehorough-ly acquaintedwith ny humanbeing, ncludingurselves,nd thekindofknowledgef which his cquaintanceonsistss obviouslynotthe ort fknowledge e getofhuman ehaviory experimentsin a psychologicalaboratory.t is rathermore ike theknowledgethat salesman asofhiscustomers,politicianfhisclients, r theknowledge hich psychiatristains fhispatientsn hiseffortsounderstandnd curethem. t is evenmore he sortofknowledgewhich ets mbodiednhabit,ncustom, nd,eventually-byomeprocess f natural election hatwe do not fully nderstand-ininstinct;kind fracialmemoryr habit.Knowledgef his ort, fonemaycall tknowledge,ecomes, inally, personalecret ftheindividualman or thespecial ndowmentf the raceor stock hatpossessest.2Onemay, erhaps, enture his tatementince hetype f ntui-tiveor instinctivenowledge eredescribed eems o ariseoutofprocesses ubstantiallyike the accommodationsnd adaptationswhich, y somekindof natural election, aveproduced hedif-ferentacialvarieties f mankind s well as theplantand animalspecies.Onemayobject hatwhatonemeansbyknowledges justwhat s not nheritednd notheritable. n theother and, t scer-tainthat somethings re learnedmuchmoreeasilythanothers.Whatone inherits herefores, perhaps, ot anythinghat couldproperlye calledknowledge.t is rather he nheritedbility oacquire hose pecificormsfknowledgee callhabits.There eemsto be a verygreatdifferencen individuals, amilies,nd geneticgroupss totheirbilityo earn pecifichings.Native ntelligenceis probably ot thestandardizedhing hattheintelligenceestsmighteadone tobelieve. n so far s this s true tudies f ntel-

2 "The biologist rdinarilyhinks fdevelopment s something erydifferentromsuch modificationfbehaviorbyexperience, ut from ime to time the dea that thebasis of heredity nd development s fundamentallyimilarto memoryhas been ad-vanced. Viewed n thiswaythewhole ourse fdevelopments a process fphysio-logical learning,beginningwith the simple experience f differentialxposureto anexternal actor, nd undergoing ne modification fter nother, s newexperiences nthe ifeof theorganism r of ts parts n relation o each otheroccur" (C. M. Child,Physiological oundations fBehavior, p. 248-49; quoted byW. I. Thomas in Primi-tiveBehaviorNewYork: McGraw-HillBook Co., I937], p. 25).

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672 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGYligencenthe uturere, suspect,more ikelyobe concerned ith nthe diosyncrasiesf ntelligencend the curiousndividual ays nwhichndividualminds chieve ssentiallyhe sameresultshan nmeasuringnd standardizinghese chievements.It is obvious hatthis synthetic"i.e.,the knowledgehatgetsitself mbodiedn habit and custom, s opposedto analytic ndformal nowledge)s not ikely o be articulate ndcommunicable.If tgets tself ommunicatedtall, t willbeintheform fpracticalmaximsnd wise awsrather han ntheform f scientifc ypoth-eses. Nevertheless,wide nd ntimatecquaintance ithmen ndthingss ikelyobethebulwarkfmost oundudgmentnpracticalmatterss wellas thesource f thosehunches ponwhich xpertsdependnperplexingituationsnd of those uddennsights hich,in the evolution f science, re so frequentlyheprelude o im-portant iscoveries.In contrastwiththis s the kind ofknowledgehatJamesde-scribes s "knowledgebout." Suchknowledges formal,ational,andsystematic.t is basedonobservationndfact ut onfact hathas been hecked,agged, egimented,ndfinallyangednthis ndthatperspective,ccordingo thepurpose ndpoint f viewoftheinvestigator."Knowledgebout" s formal nowledge;hat s to say,knowl-edgewhich asachieved omedegree f exactnessndprecisionythe ubstitutionf deasfor oncreteealitynd ofwords or hings.Notonlydo ideasconstitutehe ogical rameworkfall systematicknowledgeutthey nter ntotheverynature fthethingshem-selveswithwhich cience-natural s distinguishedrom hehis-torical cience-isconcerned. s a matter ffact, here eem obethree undamentalypes f cientificnowledge:i) philosophyndlogic,which re concernedrimarilyithdeas; 2) history,hich sconcernedrimarilyith vents; nd (3) the natural rclassifyingsciences, hich re concernedrimarily ith hings.Concepts nd logical rtifacts,ike thenumberystem,renotinvolvedn thegeneral lux fevents ndthings. orpreciselyhatreason hey erve dmirablyhepurpose ftagsandcounters ithwhich o identify,o describe, nd,eventually,omeasure hings.Theultimateurposefnatural cience eems o be to substituteortheflux f events nd thechangingharacterfthings logical

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NEWS AS A FORM OF KNOWLEDGE 673formulanwhichhegeneralharacterfthingsnd thedirectionfchangemaybe described ith ogical nd mathematicalrecision.

The advantage f ubstitutingords, oncepts,nd a logical rderfor he ctual ourse f ventssthat he onceptualrdermakes heactualorder ntelligible,nd,so far s thehypotheticormulationswecall awsconformothe ctualcourse fevents,t becomes os-sible opredict rom present futureondition f things.t per-mitsus to speculatewith ome ssurance ow, ndto whatextent,any specificnterventionr interferencen a presentituationmaydeterminehe situation hat s predestinedosucceed t.Ontheother and, heres always temptationo make com-pletedivorce etween he ogical nd verbal escriptionf n objectora situationndthe mpiricalealityowhichtrefers. hisseemsto havebeenthe cardinalmistake f scholasticism. cholasticismhas invariably ended o substituteogical onsistency,hich s arelation etweendeas,for herelation f ause nd effect, hich s arelation etween hings.An empirical nd experimentalcience voids a purely ogicalsolution f tsproblems y checkingpitscalculationt some ointwith he ctualworld.Apurelyntellectualciencesalwaysn dan-gerofbecoming o completelyut oftouchwiththings hat thesymbolswithwhich t operates ease to be anythingmorethanmental oys. n that ase science ecomes kind fdialecticalame.This sa perilwhich he ocial ciences,o theextent hat hey avebeendisposed o formulatend investigateocialproblemsn theformsnwhich heyhave beenconventionallyefinedy some d-ministrativegencies rgovernmentalnstitution,avenotalwaysescaped.Thus nvestigationas nvariablyended otaketheformoffact-findingatherhan f research. avingfoundhefacts, heagencieswereable to supplythe interpretations;ut theywereusually nterpretationshichweremplicitn thepolicies o whichtheagencies r nstitutionsere lready ommitted.These are someofthegeneral haracteristicsfsystematicndscientificnowledge,knowledge bout,"as contrasted iththeconcretenowledge,ommonense nd"acquaintance ith."Whatis, however,heuniquecharacter f scientificnowledge,s con-trastedwith ther ormsfknowledge,s that t scommunicableotheextent hatcommon ense r knowledge asedon practical nd

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674 THE AMERICAN OURNAL F SOCIOLOGYclinical xperiences not. It is communicableecause ts problemsand its solutions re statednotmerelyn logical nd in intelligibleterms ut n suchforms hat hey anbe checked y experimentrbyreferenceotheempirical ealityo which hese erms efer.In order o make hispossible,t snecessaryo describendetailand in every nstance he source nd manner n which acts ndfindings ere riginallybtained.Knowledge bout, o far t leastas it s scientific,ecomes n thiswaya partofthe ocialheritage,bodyof tested nd accreditedact ndtheorynwhichnew ncre-ments, dded to the original und, endto checkup, affirm,rqualify, irst f all, n each special cience nd,finally,n all the re-lated ciences,ll thathas beencontributedy earliernvestigators.Ontheother and, cquaintance ith, s I havesought o char-acterizet, o far s it s basedon the low ccumulationf xperienceandthe gradual ccommodationf the ndividualo his ndividualandpersonalworld, ecomes, s I havesaid,more nd more om-pletelydentical ith nstinctnd ntuition.

Knowledge bout s notmerelyccumulatedxperienceut theresult f systematicnvestigationf nature. t is based on the an-swers iven othedefiniteuestions hichwe address otheworldaboutus. It isknowledgeursuedmethodicallyith ll theformaland ogical pparatuswhich cientificesearch as created. mightadd, parenthetically,hatthere s,generallypeaking, o scientificmethodwhich s wholly ndependentf the intuitionnd insightwhich cquaintancewiththings nd eventsgivesus. Rather s ittrue hat, nder rdinaryircumstances,hemost hatformalmeth-odscan do for esearchs toassist he nvestigatornobtainingactswhichwillmake tpossible o checkup such nsightsndhunchesas the nvestigatorlready ad atthe utset rhasgainedater nthecourse fhisresearches.Oneof hefunctionsfthismethodicalrocedurestoprotectheinvestigatorrom heperilsof an interpretationo which tooardent ursuit f knowledges likely o lead him.There s,on theother and,nomethodicalrocedurehat s a substituteornsight.II

What s heredescribed s "acquaintancewith" nd "knowledgeabout"are ssumed obedistinctormsfknowledge-formsaving

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NEWS AS A FORM OF KNOWLEDGE 675differentunctionsn the ivesof ndividualsndof society-ratherthanknowledgef he amekind utofdifferentegreesf ccuracyand validity. hey re,nevertheless,ot odifferentncharacterrfunction-since hey re, after ll, relative erms-that heymaynot be conceived s constitutingogether continuum-a con-tinuumwithinwhich ll kinds nd sorts f knowledgeind place.In sucha continuum ewshas a location f ts own. It is obviousthatnews s not systematicnowledgeikethatof thephysical ci-ences. t is rather,n so far s it is concerned ith vents,ikehis-tory.Events, ecause hey re nvariablyixedntime nd ocatedinspace, re unique nd cannot, herefore,e classifieds is the asewith hings.Not onlydo thingsmoveabout n spaceand changewithtimebut, n respect o their nternal rganization,hey realways na conditionf more r ess stable quilibrium.News s nothistory,owever,nd tsfacts renothistoricalacts.News s nothistory ecause, or nething mong thers,tdeals, nthewhole,with solated vents nd doesnot seekto relate hem ooneanother itherntheform fcausalor ntheformfteleologicalsequences.History otonlydescribesvents ut seeks oput themintheir roper lace n thehistoricaluccession,nd,by doing o,todiscover heunderlyingendenciesnd forces hich ind xpressionin them. n fact, ne wouldnot be farwrongnassuming hathis-tory s quite s much oncerned ith he onnectionsfevents-therelation etween he ncidentshatprecede nd those hatfollow-as it s with he vents hemselves. n the ther and, reporter,sdistinguishedrom historian,eeksmerely o record ach singleevent s itoccurs nd s concerned ith hepast and future nly nso far s these hrowight n what s actualand present.The relationf an event o the past remainshe taskof thehis-torian, hile ts significances a factor etermininghefuturemayperhaps e left o the cience fpolitics-what reeman alls"com-parativepolitics"3-that s to say, to sociologyr to someotherdivision f the social ciences, hich, y comparativetudies, eeksto arrivet statementsufficientlyeneralosupport hypothesisra prediction.4

3Edward A. Freeman,Comparative olitics London, 873).4 The sociologicalpoint of view makes its appearance n historicalnvestigation ssoon as thehistorian urns rom he study f periods" to the study f nstitutions. he

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676 THE AMERICAN JOURNALOF SOCIOLOGYNews, s a formfknowledge,s notprimarilyoncerneditherwith hepastor with hefutureut rather ith hepresent-what

has beendescribedypsychologistss "the pecious resent."Newsmaybe said to exist nly n such present.What smeanthere ythe specious resent"ssuggestedythefact hatnews, s thepub-lishers f the commercialressknow, s a veryperishable om-modity.Newsremains ews nly ntil t hasreached hepersonsorwhom t has "news nterest." ncepublishednd its significancerecognized, hatwas newsbecomes istory.Thistransientndephemeralualitys of hevery ssence fnewsand is intimatelyonnected ith very ther haracter hat t ex-hibits.Differentypes fnews have a differentime pan. In itsmost lementaryorm newsreports a mere flash," nnouncingthat nevent ashappened. f the vent roves freal mportance,interestn itwill ead to furthernquirynd to a more ompleteacquaintance ith he ttendantircumstances.nevent eases obe news,however,s soonas thetensiont arousedhas ceasedandpublicattention as been directed o some otheraspect of thehabitat r to some ther ncidentufficientlyovel, xciting,r m-portant ohold ts attention.Thereason hatnews omes ous,under rdinaryircumstances,not n theform fa continuedtory ut as a series f ndependentincidentsecomes learwhen netakes ccountf he act hatwearehereconcerned ith hepublicmind-or withwhat s calledthepublicmind. n itsmostelementaryorm nowledge eaches hepublicnot, s itdoesthe ndividual,n theform fa perceptionutin theform f a communication,hat s tosay,news.Public tten-tion,however,ndernormal onditionsswavering,nsteady,ndeasilydistracted.Whenthe publicmindwanders, he rapport,grapevineelegraph,rwhateverlse t sthat nsureshetransmis-sion fnewswithin he imits f hepublic eases ofunction,ensionis relaxed, ommunicationroken ff,ndwhatwas live newsbe-comes old fact.history f institutions-that s to say, the family, he church, conomic nstitutions,political nstitutions,tc.-leads inevitably o comparison, lassification,heformationof class names or concepts, nd eventually o theformulation f law. In theprocesshistory ecomesnaturalhistory, nd naturalhistory asses over ntonaturalscience.In short,history ecomes ociology R. E. Park and E. W. Burgess, ntroductiono theScienceofSociologyChicago: UniversityfChicagoPress, 92I], p. i6).

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NEWSAS A FORMOF KNOWLEDGE 677A news tem, s everynewspapermannows, s read n inverseratio o ts ength. heordinaryeaderwill ead columnnda half

of two- r three-linetems boutmen ndthingsnthehome ownbefore e willread columnrticle, omatter ow dvertisedntheheadlines,nless tturnsut to be notmerelyewsbut a story,.e.,somethinghathaswhat s called echnicallyhumannterest."Newscomes n the form fsmall, ndependentommunicationsthat anbeeasily ndrapidly omprehended.n fact, ews erformssomewhathe amefunctionsor hepublic hatperceptionoesforthe ndividualman;that s to say, t does notso much nformsorient hepublic, iving ach and allnotice s towhat s going n.It does thiswithout ny effortf the reportero interpretheevents ereports,xceptn so far s tomake hem omprehensibleand nteresting.The firstypical eaction f an individualothenews s likely obea desire orepeatt tosomeone. hismakes onversation,rousesfurtheromment,ndperhaps tarts discussion. ut the ingularthing bout t is that, ncediscussion as beenstarted, he eventunder iscussionoon eases o benews,nd, s interpretationsf neventdiffer,iscussionsurn romhenews o the ssues t raises.The clash ofopinions nd sentimentshichdiscussionnvariablyevokesusually erminatesn some sortof consensus r collectiveopinion-whatwe callpublic pinion. t is uponthe nterpretationofpresentvents,.e.,news, hatpublic pinion ests.The extent o whichnews irculates, ithin political nitorapoliticalociety,etermineshe xtent o whichhemembersf ucha societymaybe saidtoparticipate,ot n tscollectiveife-whichis themorenclusive erm-but n tspoliticalcts. Political ctionandpolitical ower, s oneordinarilynderstandshese erms,reobviously ased notmerelyn suchconcert nd consensuss mayexist n a herd r in a crowd. t rests ltimately,t seems, n theability fa politicalociety,side from hateverfmilitaryr ma-terialresourcest possesses, o act notonlyconcertedlyut con-sistentlynaccordance ith ome onsideredurposend nfurther-anceof somerational nd. The world fpolitics,tseems,sbased,as Schopenhaueras said oftheworld n general,n theorganicrelationfwill nd dea. Otherndmorematerialources fpoliticalpower reobviouslymerelynstrumental.

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678 THE AMERICANJOURNALOF SOCIOLOGYFreeman,hehistorian,as said thathistoryspastpolitics ndpoliticsspresent istory. hisputsa great ealof truthnto fewwords,ven f he tatementnpractice eeds ome nlargementndsome ualification.ews, houghntimatelyelated oboth, snei-therhistoryorpolitics. t is,nevertheless,hestuff hichmakespolitical ction, s distinguishedrom ther ormsfcollective e-havior,possible.Among ther inds f collectiveehavior retherecognizedndconventionalormsf eremonialndreligiousxpression-etiquette

andreligiousitual-which,nso far s they reate nanimityndmaintainmorale, laydirectlynd indirectlyn importantole npolitics nd in political ction.But religion as no such ntimateconnections politicswith henews. News s a purelyecular he-nomenon. IIIThere s a proverbialaying otheeffecthat t s theunexpectedthathappens. incewhathappensmakesnews,tfollows,r seemsto, hatnewssalways rmainlyoncerned ith heunusual ndtheunexpected. venthemost rivial appening,t seems, rovidedtrepresents departure rom he customaryitual nd routine fdaily ife, s likely o be reportedn thepress.This conceptionfnewshasbeen confirmedy those ditorswho, n thecompetitionfor irculationndfor dvertising,avesoughtomake heir aperssmart nd interesting,here heycould not be invariablyitherinformingrthrilling.n their ffortsoinstilnto heminds fre-portersnd correspondentsheimportancef ooking verywhereand alwaysfor omethinghatwouldexcite, muse,or shock tsreaders, ews ditors aveput ntocirculationome nterestingx-amples fwhat heGermans,orrowingnexpressionrom omer,havecalledgeflulgelteorter,wingedwords."Theepigramescrib-ingnewswhichhaswingedtswayovermore erritorynd is re-peatedmore ftenhan nyothers this:"Dog bitesman"-that isnotnews.But "Man bitesdog"-that is. Notabene! t is nottheintrinsicmportancef an event hat makes t newsworthy.t israther hefact hat heevent s so unusual hat fpublishedt willeithertartle,muse, rotherwisexcite hereader othat twillberememberedndrepeated. or news salways inally, hatCharles

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NEWSASA FORMOF KNOWLEDGE 679A. Dana describedt to be, "somethinghatwillmakepeople alk,"evenwhen t does not makethem ct.The fact hatnews rdinarilyirculatespontaneouslynd with-out any adventitiousids-as well as freely ithoutnhibitionsrcensorship-seemso be responsibleor nother haracter hich t-taches o it, distinguishingt from elated ut essauthentic ypesofknowledge-namely,umor nd gossip. n order hat report fevents urrentmay have the quality f news, t should ot merelycirculate-possiblyn circuitous ndergroundhannels-but houldbepublished,fneedbe by thetown rier r thepublic ress.Suchpublicationends o givenews omethingf he haracterf publicdocument. ews s more r ess uthenticatedy thefact hat t hasbeenexposed o thecritical xaminationfthepublic o whicht isaddressed nd withwhose nterestst is concerned.The publicwhich hus, y common onsent rfailure o protest,puts he tamp f tsapproval na published eport oesnotgive oits nterpretationhe uthorityf tatementhathas been ubjectedto expert istoricalriticism. verypublichas its ocal prejudicesand its own imitations. more earchingxaminationf thefactswould uitepossibly eveal o a more ritical nd enlightened indthe naive credulitynd bias ofan unsophisticatedublicopinion.In fact, henaivete ndcredulityhusrevealedmaybecome n im-portant istorical r sociological atum.This,however,s merelyanotherndfurtherllustrationf thefact hat very ublichas tsownuniversefdiscoursendthat,humanlypeaking, fact sonlya factnsomeuniverse f discourse.5An interestingight s thrown n the nature f newsby a con-siderationf thechangeswhich akeplace n informationhatgetsinto irculation ithouthesanctionwhich ublicityives o it. Insuchcase a report, manatingrom ome ourcenot disclosedndtravelingo a destinationhat s unknown,nvariablyccumulates

5A universefdiscourses,as theterms ordinarilysed,no more han specialvocabularyhich s wellunderstoodndappropriateo specificituations.t may,however,nthe aseof ome pecial ciencenclude body fmore reciselyefinedterms rconcepts,hichn that asewill end o have more r ess ystematichar-acter.History,or xample,mploys o,oralmost o, pecial oncepts. ntheotherhand, ociology,ndeveryciencehat ttemptso be systematic,oes. Asconceptsassume his ystematicharacter,hey end o constitute"framefreference."

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68o THE AMERICAN JOURNALOF SOCIOLOGYdetailsfromhe nnocent utmainlyllicit ontributionsf thosewhoassist t on its travel.Under hese ircumstanceshatwas atfirst ere umorends o assume, ntime, hecharacter f a legend,that s,somethinghich veryoneepeats ut no one believes.When, n theother and, eportsf currentvents republishedwith henames, ates, ndplaceswhichmake tpossible or nyoneconcernedo check hem, heatmospheref egendwhich athersabout and clotheswithfantastic etailthenews as originallye-ported spresentlyispelled,nd what s fact, rwhatwillpassforfact, ntil orrectedyfurthernd aternews eports,sreduced osomething ore rosaic han egend ndmore uthentic hannews,i.e.,historicalact.If it is theunexpectedhathappens, t is the notwholly n-expectedhatgets nto he news.The events hathavemadenewsin thepast, s inthepresent,reactuallyhe xpected hings. heyarecharacteristicallyimple nd commonplace atters,ikebirthsanddeaths,weddingsndfunerals,he onditionsf he rops ndofbusiness,war, politics, nd the weather. hese are the expectedthings,utthey re t the ame ime heunpredictablehings. heyare the ncidentsnd the chances hatturn p inthegameof ife.The fact s thatthething hatmakesnews s news nterest,ndthat, s every ity ditor nows,sa variable uantity-one hathastobe reckoned ithfrom he time hecity ditor itsdown t hisdesk nthemorningntil henight ditor ocksup the ast formtnight.Thereason or his s thatthenewsvalue s relative, ndanevent hat omes atermay, nd often oes,diminishhevalueof nevent hat turned p earlier.n that case the ess mportanttemhas to giveway to the ater nd moremportant.Theanecdotesnd"believet or nots"which urn p inthenewsarevaluable o the ditor ecause hey analways e ifted utof heprinter's ormo makeway for omethingotter nd more rgent.In anycase tis,onthewhole, he accidents nd ncidentshat hepublic s prepared or; hevictoriesnd defeats n theball field ron thebattlefield;hethings hat one fears nd things hatonehopesfor-thatmake henews. t isdifficultounderstand,ever-theless,onsideringhenumber fpeoplewho rekilled ndmaimedannually y automobile ccidentsthenumber illed n I938 was32,600) that hese reat osses f ife arelymake hefront age.The

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NEWS AS A FORM OF KNOWLEDGE 68idifferenceeems o be that heautomobile as come o be acceptedas oneof thepermanenteatures f civilized ife ndwarhasnot.News, herefore,t least n the strict enseof the term, s not astory r an anecdote. t is somethinghathas for hepersonwhohears r reads t an interesthat s pragmatic ather han pprecia-tive. News s characteristically,fnot lways, imited o events hatbring bout udden nd decisive hanges. t maybe an incidentikethat fthecolored amilyn Philadelphia,rances nd Ben Mason,whowon a fortunen the rish weepstakesecently.6t may be atragic ncidentike the battleoff he coast of Uruguaywhich e-sulted n thedestructionf heGerman attleship,he Graf pee,"andthe suicide f ts captain.These eventswerenot onlynews-that s, somethinghatbrought sudden ecisive hangenthepre-viously xisting ituation-but, s theywererelated n the news-papers nd as we reflectedponthem, hey ended oassume newand deal ignificance:he nea storyfgenuine umannterest,heother hat f ragedy,omething,o use Aristotle'shrase,o nspire"pityand terror." ventssuchas thesetend to be remembered.Eventually heymaybecome egends r be recordednpopular al-lads. Legends nd balladsneedno date ineor thenames fpersonsorplaces o authenticatehem.They iveandsurviven ourmemo-ries nd in that of the publicbecauseof theirhuman nterest. sevents heyhave ceasedto exist.They survive s a sort fghostlysymbol fsomethingf universal nd perennialnterest,n idealrepresentationf what s trueof ife nd of humannature very-where.Thus t seems hatnews, s a form fknowlecdge,ontributesromits recordfevents otonly ohistorynd tosociologyut to folk-lore nd iterature;t contributesomethingotmerely o the ocialsciences ut to the humanities.

IVThe sociological orizon as recentlyakenon new dimensions.Socialanthropology,o ongernterestednprimitiveocietymere-ly,hasbegun o studynotonly hehistoryut thenatural istoryandfunctionf nstitutions.n doing o ithas appropriated oreand more hefield fsociologicalnterestndresearch. sychiatry,6 See Time, ecember5, I939, p. I2.

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682 THE AMERICAN OURNALF SOCIOLOGYlikewise,asdiscoveredhatneurosesndpsychosesrediseases fpersonalityhichsitself productf socialmilieu reated y theinteractionf personalities. eanwhile herehas grown p in theUnited tates nd in Europe sociologyf aw which onceives snatural roductshenorms hichhecourts reseeking orational-ize, ystematize,ndapply n specificases. Finally,here avebeensome nterestingecentttemptso bring hesubject fknowledgeitselfwithinhe imits f a sociologicaliscipline.Theoriesfknowledgeave existedince hedaysofParmenides.Theyhave,however,een ess interestedn knowledge hichs adatum han n truth r validknowledge hich s an idea and anideal. The questionwithwhich he sociologyfknowledges con-cerneds notwhat onstituteshevalidity fknowledge-of state-mentofprincipler of fact-but whatare the conditionsnderwhich ifferentinds fknowledgerise ndwhat re thefunctionsof each.Mostoftheformsfknowledgehathave achievedhedignityfa science re, n the onghistoryfmankind,f very ecent rigin.Oneof he arliestndmost lementaryormsfknowledgesnews.Therewas a period, nd not so longago, either,when herewasneither hilosophy, istory, orrationalknowledgef any sort.Therewasonlymyth,egend,ndmagic.Whatwenowdescribe sthe xact ciences idnot xist ntil heRenaissance. hesocial ci-enceshave, roughlypeaking,nlycome ntoexistencen the astfifty ears.At easttheyhaveonlybegunwithinhe asthalf-cen-tury oachieve,with hewider seofstatistics,nythingike cien-tific recision.News, o far s it s to beregardedsknowledget all, sprobablyas old asmankind,erhaps lder.The ower nimalswerenotwith-out a kindof communication hichwas not unlikenews. The"cluck"ofthemother en s understoodythechicks s signifyingeither anger rfood, nd thechicks espondccordingly.This snottosuggesthat very ind fcommunicationna herdor flockwillhave the characterfnews. What s ordinarilyom-municateds merely kind of contagious xcitement-sometimesmerely sense f well-beingndsecurityn thegregariousssocia-tionoftheherd, t others sense funrest rmalaise,manifested

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NEWS AS A FORM OF KNOWLEDGE 683and oftenntensifiednthemillingftheherd. t seemsikely hatthis ervasive ocial xcitement,hichs essentialothe xistenceftheherd s a socialunit, erves, lso, ofacilitatehe ommunicationofnews, r what orrespondso it n theherd.There s in naval parlance n expression,the fleet n being,"whichmeans, pparently,hat he hipswhich onstitute fleet reincommunicationnd sufficientlyobilized, erhaps, o be capableof some ort fconcertedction.The sameexpression ight e ap-pliedto a community,society,r a herd.A societys "in being"when he ndividualshat omposet areto such nextent nrapportthat,whether apableof united nd collective ction r not,theymaybe described s participatingn a commonr collective xist-ence. In such society diffuseocial xcitementends o envelope,like natmosphere,llparticipantsn thecommonife nd togivedirectionnd tendencyo theirnterestsnd attitudes. t is as if heindividuals f uch societywere ominatedya commonmoodorstate fmindwhich eterminedor hem herange nd characterftheir nterestsnd their ttitudes r tendencieso act. The mostobvious llustrationfthis bscureocial ension r state fmindna communitys thepersistentndpervasivenfluencef fashion.At certain imes nd under ertain onditionshiscollective x-citement,o essential o communicationf not to understanding,rises o a higherevel f ntensitynd, s it does o,tends o imit herange f response ut to increase he ntensityf mpulses ot soinhibited. he effectfthis sthe ame s in thecase of attentionnthe ndividual. xclusive ttentiono some hingsnhibitsesponsesto others. his means n the case of a society limitation f therange nd characterf henews o whicht will ither ollectivelyrindividuallyespond.Therise f ocial ensionmaybe observednthemost lementaryformn theherdwhen, or omereason,heherd srestlessnd be-gins o mill.Tensionmounts s restlessnessncreases. he effectsas ifthemilling roducedn theherd stateofexpectancy hich,as it ncreasedn ntensity,ncreasedlsothe ertaintyhatpresent-lysomencident, clapofthunderrthecracklingfa twig,wouldplunge heherd nto stampede.Somethingimilar akesplace n a public.As tensionrises, he

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684 THE AMERICANJOURNALOF SOCIOLOGYlimits f public nterestarrows,ndthe range f events o whichthepublicwill esponds imited. he circulationfnews s imited;discussioneases, nd thecertaintyfaction f some ort ncreases.This narrowing f thefocusof public attention endsto increasetheinfluencefthedominanterson rpersonsnthecommunity.utthe existencef this dominance ependsuponthe ability f thecommunity,r ts eaders,o maintain ension. t is n thiswaythatdictators riseand maintainthemselves n power. It is this that ex-plains ikewisehenecessityoa dictatorshipf ome ort fcensor-ship.Newscirculates,tseems, nlyn a society hereheresa certaindegree f rapport nda certain egree f tension. ut the effectfnews rom utside he ircle fpublic nterests todispersettentionand,by so doing, oencouragendividualso actontheir wn nitia-tiverather han n thatofa dominantarty rpersonality.Under rdinaryircumstances-in time fpeacerather hanofwarorrevolution-newsends o circulatever an everwideningarea,as means fcommunicationultiply. hangesnsociety ndits nstitutionsnder hese ircumstancesontinueo takeplace,butthey ake place piecemeal ndmore r less imperceptibly.nderother onditions-in ar rrevolution-changesakeplaceviolentlyandvisibly utcatastrophically.The permanencef nstitutionsnder rdinaryonditionss de-pendent pon heirbility,r the bilityfthe ommunityfwhichthey rea part, o adaptthemselvesotechnologicalndother essobvious hanges.But these hanges nd their onsequencesmani-fest hemselves otonlydirectlyut ratherndirectlyn thenews.Institutionsike heCatholichurchrtheJapanesetatehavebeenableto survive hedrastic hanges ftime ecause heyhave beenable torespondochangesn theconditionsfexistence,otmerelythosephysicallyndobviouslymposed ponthem ut thosefore-shadowed ndreflectedn thenews.I have ndicated herolewhich ews lays n theworld fpoliticsin sofar s itprovideshebasisfor he discussionsnwhich ublicopinions formed. he newsplaysquite s importantrole n theworld f conomicelations,ince heprice f ommodities,ncluding

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NEWS AS A FORM OF KNOWLEDGE 685moneyndsecurities,s registeredntheworld-marketnd neverylocal market ependent pon t, sbasedon thenews.So sensitiveretheexchangeso events n every art f heworldthatevery luctuationn fashionr theweathers likely o be re-flectedn the prices n the exchanges. have said that news s asecularphenomenon.ut there ome timeswhenchanges re sogreat nd so catastrophichat ndividualsnd peoples re no ongerinterestedn worldly ffairs.n suchcase men,frustratedn theirambitions nd theirhopes,turn way from heworld f secularaffairsnd seek refuge nd consolationn a flight rom he greatworld nto thesecurity f the ittleworld fthefamilyr of thechurch. he function f news s to orientman and society n anactualworld. n so far s it succeedsttends opreservehe anityof the ndividual nd thepermanencefsociety.Although ews s anearlier nd more lementaryroductfcom-municationhan cience, ewshas by no means een upersededyit. On thecontrary,he mportancefnewshas grown onsistentlywiththeexpansion fthe meansofcommunicationndwith hegrowth f science.Improvedmeansofcommunicationave co-operated iththevastaccumulationsfknowledge,n libraries,nmuseums,nd inlearnedsocieties, o make possible more rapid, accurate, ndthoroughgoingnterpretationf events s they ccur.Theresult sthatpersonsndplaces, nceremotend egendary,renowfamiliarto every eader fthedailypress.

In fact, he multiplicationf the meansof communicationasbroughtt aboutthatanyone, ven n themostdistant artof theworld,maynowactually articipatenevents-at least as listenerifnot s spectator-as hey ctuallyakeplace nsome ther art ftheworld.We haverecentlyistenedoMussolini ddress isfascistfollowersrom balcony fRome;wehaveheardHitler peakingover heheadsofa devout ongregationntheReichstag,nBerlin,notmerelyo thePresident,ut to thepeople, ftheUnited tates.We have even had an opportunityo hear the terms fthe mo-mentousMunich greementen econds ftert had been igned ytherepresentativesf four fthe eading owers n Europe nd the

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686 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGYworld.The fact hat cts somomentouss these an be so quicklyand so publicly onsummatedas suddenlynd completelyhangedthe haracterf nternationalolitics,o that ne can no onger venguesswhat hefuture as instore or urope nd for heworld.In the modernworld he role of news has assumed ncreasedrather han diminishedmportances comparedwith ome otherforms f knowledge, istory,or xample. The changesn recentyears avebeen orapid nd drastic hat hemodern orld eems ohave ost ts historicalerspective,nd we appear o be living romday to day n what havedescribedarlier s a "specious resent."Under hecircumstancesistoryeems o be reador written ainlyto enableus, by comparisonf thepresent ith hepast,tounder-standwhat sgoing n aboutus rather han, s thehistoriansavetoldus, toknow whatactually appened."Thus ElmerDavis in a recentrticle n the Saturday eviewn-nounces s "required eading" or939 twovolumes:Hitler'sMeinKampf ndThucydides' istoryf he eloponnesian ar 43I B.C.).He recommendshehistoryf hePeloponnesian arbecause, shesays, "Thucydideswas notonlya brilliantnalyst f humanbe-haviorboth ndividual nd collective" utwas at the same time"a great eporter."7Onenotes, lso,as characteristicfourtimes,hat incenews, sreportedn American ewspapers,as tended o assume he char-acter f iterature,o fiction-afterhenewspaperhemost opularform f literature-has ssumedmore nd more hecharacter fnews.8EmileZola'snovelswere ssentially eports pon contemporarymannersnFranceust s Steinbeck'sheGrapes fWrath asbeendescribed s an epoch-makingeport n theshare-croppern theUnited tates.Ours, t seems,s an ageofnews, nd one of themost mportanteventsn Americanivilizationas beentherise fthereporter.

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO7 "RequiredReading," SaturdayReview fLiterature, ctober 4, I939.8 See Helen MacGill Hughes,Newsand theHuman nteresttory Chicago: Univer-sity fChicago ress, 940).