Between faith and profession: Christian journalism students as an interpretive community

This project comprises two case studies used to explore the role Christian faith may play in the practice of journalism within an American context. A survey instrument and in-depth unstructured interviews are used to identify students at both an Evangelical university and a Catholic university as members of an interpretive community. The purpose of the research is to demonstrate how a faith-based approach to the study of journalism illustrates the advantages of depicting journalists as members of interpretive communities rather than professionals.The attitudes, beliefs and values of the journalism students are compared and contrasted with those of practicing American journalists. In doing so, the researcher argues that these particular Catholic and Evangelical journalism students demonstrate awareness that their work as journalists will, to a large degree, be influenced by the values they bring to the vocation. They take an approach to the study of journalism that pays close attention to their distinct beliefs, values and attitudes. They have seriously considered and are quite conscious of the fact that the way they understand and describe events derives from a Christian perspective. They are an interpretive community because they look inwardly to understand journalism best practice.