Spiral of cynicism: are media researchers mere observers?

Not only journalists, but also media researchers may be contributing to cynicism in political life by depicting reality in ways that tend to be selffulfilling. Assumptions about politics and journalism, likely to be conducive to cynicism in journalism and politics, seem to be common in current mainstream media and communication research. Thus, journalists and media researchers alike share an ethical responsibility for self-critical reflection concerning their functions as observers who cannot escape participation in human affairs and the ethical challenges that relate to it. The first task is that of avoiding the trap of unrecognized participation.