“舆论”与“共同生活”:罗伯特·E.帕克新闻思想中两个被忽视的关键词

Public Opinion and Common Life:The two overlooked keywords in Robert E.Park's scholarship about journalism

本文通过系统梳理罗伯特·E.帕克有关新闻与传播研究的9篇论文,发现两个此前被新闻思想史研究者忽视的关键词:舆论与共同生活。舆论是连接新闻与社会控制的必要节点,它产生于新闻及其引发的讨论之中,并借助其蕴含的集体性力量对社会稳定或社会变革产生条件性的影响。共同生活既是新闻得以成为社会共识之主要来源的基础,也是新闻、舆论与社会控制的终极关切。新闻所建构出的共同生活的主要内容是本地新闻和人情味故事。本地新闻在新闻所建构的共同生活与个体的日常生活之间建立联系,有助于社群成员重拾对于共同生活的密切感与亲身参与感。人情味故事则借助其超越时空和历史语境的象征性,在过往与未来的共同生活中占据独特的位置。舆论与共同生活是理解帕克新闻思想的关键节点,它们所连接的新闻、社会共识、社会控制等概念是新闻社会学研究的重要关注点。

Through complete and systematic perusal of Robert E. Park＇s nine published works about journalism and communication, we found two keywords which have been frequently overlooked in the existing scholarship： public opinion and common life. Public opinion is the necessary juncture connecting news and social control. It is developed through news and accompanied discussions,and functions conditionally on social stability or social change via its connoted collective power. Common life is, on the one hand, the foundation upon which news can become the major source of social consensus. On the other hand, it is the ultimate concern of news, public opinion and social control. The major contents about the common life constructed in journalism are local news and human interest stories. By establishing connections between the common life constructed by journalism and individuals＇ daily lives, local news helps community members to re-build up the sense of intimacy and personal participation in common life. Human interest story holds a unique position in the past and the future common life by virtue of its symbolic meaning transcending time-space and historical context. As such, public opinion and common life are the critical concepts to understand Park＇s thoughts about journalism. The two concepts articulate ideas like news, social consensus and social control, which have become the important concerns of the sociology of news.