Body of Opinion: NPR,Journalistic Authority,and the Juan Williams Affair |
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| Abstract: | This article draws on and radically adapts the scholarship of medieval epistemology to suggest that at its heart, the Juan Williams clash with NPR represents an escalating conflict between two contrasting modes of authority in western culture with which journalism has long been aligned; scientia and probabilitas—in their modern forms, the authority of “disembodied objectivity” and “embodied” expert opinion. Discussing the controversy through the complex of theories surrounding issues of cultural authority, and employing the paradigm of “long journalism,” the article explores the repercussions of the rise of modern variants of probabilitas, not only at NPR but across the breadth of American journalism. In this light, the Williams affair is an illuminating flashpoint that represents this fundamental conflict, as the growing influence of probabilitas in news construction makes appeals to scientia increasingly tenuous ground on which to base journalistic credibility. |
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