Study paper from 2008 in the field of Media/Communication - Journalism, Public Relations, Grade: 1.3, Technical University of Dortmund (Institute for Journalism), Course: "What does science understand by journalism? Theoretical concepts between action and system theory" in the summer semester of 2008, Language: German.

Abstract: Silke Dormeier writes in her book "Knowledge Transfer in Radio": "The communication problems between science and the public led to the demand for the popularization of science. Since then, science journalists have been tasked with conveying scientific information to the public. This involves not only reporting on science but also providing direct information from research." Journalism is regularly confronted with demands from society. The aim of this paper is to examine journalism from the perspective of system theory, which views it as an independent system that operates according to its own, self-developed routines.

In the first step, I would like to provide an introduction to system theory. Our modern society is very complex, but system theory aims to reveal laws and divide society into individual, organized sub-areas. Subsequently, the role assigned to journalism within this school of thought will be demonstrated. The following chapter will explain in detail how the journalism system distinguishes itself and the routines it employs to capture processes in society. Since journalism is, as mentioned, an independent system, it must sustain itself - the concept of "autopoiesis" plays an important role here. This term originally comes from biology and has only recently been adopted into models of journalism research. Journalism cannot be viewed completely detached from the rest of society.